Closing the Gender Gap for Women Investors

As a single divorced mom, I experienced most of the common setbacks that affect women investors – lower pay, spending money out of my retirement account, time out of the workforce which meant no retirement account contributions, and letting my spouse handle our investing while I handled our day-to-day finances. This resulted in losing almost everything but our house and retirement accounts when the 2008 financial crisis hit.

I think the biggest thing women investors can do to overcome any gender gap is to simply talk about investing strategies and opportunities with other women. Men seem to have these conversations effortlessly and women seem to be silent about money. We should have these conversations with our own network of women colleagues and friends. I see men share investment opportunities in start-ups and real estate all the time. I rarely hear these “tips” from other women.

Over the last three years since I started my own coaching and consulting company to help women reach the next level, I have been sharing my money story with clients and others. I share the learnings and education I have earned the hard way. I’ve even hosted wine, women, and wisdom evenings to share this information to help other women overcome this investing gender gap. 

Now that I am remarried and in a better place financially, we have a financial plan and we have put a support network in place to meet our financial goals – our goals together and individually. We started with a financial planner and insurance brokers. I share my financial planner selection criteria with anyone interested. It helps to have clear goals when choosing someone to help make your financial dreams come true. 

Whenever I mentor others with regard to money, I advise that they start with the easy things to build their retirement accounts – max out any 401k or 403b contribution, take advantage of any matching dollars, and put an easy savings plan in place with your payroll direct deposit so you never miss the money. Then when you have a little bit saved, you can move on to other investment opportunities with stock or real estate. I think sharing financial information and learning is important. I have since spread out into investing into real estate through my 401K, an opportunity I never would have encountered had I not spoken about finances with my best friend. 

If you are interested in taking more control of your finances, I am hosting a discussion with 4 female Finanical planners/wealth managers on March 31st at 4 pm PDT. ***PM for and invite and zoom link.***