Money skills are life skills

It's always an adventure to present in front of a young audience and talk about the importance of financial confidence and of taking control of your financial future. Young people have the most important asset when it comes to investing and compounding: the time ahead of them. May it never go to waste!

Yet, again and again, I am confronted with the question: Where do I start? Especially young women ask this question. How do I actually start building up my financial literacy and experience in investing? Hence this article, in the hope that it can serve as a reference for all those who want to get started. My focus here is mainly on solutions for women, but I urge anyone who would like to share links to additional resources to do so in the comments. We need to empower all young women, young men and young people of all gender identities, to make the most of their potential wealth creation over their lifetimes. They can't afford to miss out.

First and foremost, I would suggest to ask your bank for advice about how to start investing. The quality of their answer and the guidance they will offer will immediately tell you whether you are in the right hands. If you feel uncertain or uncomfortable in any way, say so: demand details and keep asking questions. You are the customer. You don't have to politely pretend you understood everything, if you didn't. You can demand a service that makes you feel well taken care of. After all, it's YOUR money. Ask also for educational materials that will help you learn the basics of investing. Custody accounts, risk profiling, asset classes, diversification, costs. There is a lot to learn as you start investing. Simply ask - you will see that you'll receive more than you can potentially digest.

Digestion? That is the question!

Who are the providers who make accessing finance easy? The good news is that there are a lot of emerging platforms that do precisely this. They'll take you by the hand, offer you easy-to-digest information, jargon-free or jargon-explained. (No mansplaining, for sure!) Some of the platforms I am a huge fan of are:

?ellexx.com : a platform that strives to close all the gender gaps across women's lifecycles. Facts, articles and concrete solutions. Empowerment at its most powerful!

smartpurse.me?: a platform that really allows you to smarten up your purse or wallet. Bit-size chunk learning suggests, hands-on education and coaching on how to make your money work for you!?

femaleinvest.com?: a platform dedicated to making investing more inclusive, packed with information, education and events. A safe place to learn, connect and grow.

There are numerous budding financial coaching platforms / service providers out there. My only word of advice when searching for guidance: ?be careful to check the background of financial coaches: many do not have a relevant track record in wealth management. Finance has many fields, so it's experience in wealth management you are looking for. Having said that, if you need someone to first help you fix your money mindset (from scarcity to abundance, from limiting beliefs to empowerment), then a financial wellness coach can help you to take that important step. And you'll also find a lot of tips shared by experienced investors, that make for a very good read: check out, for example, thebaddaddy.com. It offers a very interesting overview of how to start investing and makes some very interesting points worth reflecting on (even if the suggested approach may not be for everyone, it's definitely a good read).

It's also important to "run the numbers" as I always say. And my 24 year old son asked me "what do you mean by run the numbers?". So this is what I mean: play around with a compound interest calculator. For example, on moneychimp.com. Plug in an initial investment amount, no matter how small. Enter a hypothetical interest rate or (given we are in a negative rate environment) a targeted investment return. Enter how much you could add to your investments every year (every little counts!) and let the calculator show you how much your wealth could grow over 10 years, 20 years or more. That will give you a sense of just how important it is to start investing. Did you know that with a 7% annual return, your investment will almost double over a decade. If you think that is too optimistic, let me point out that the average annual return of the U.S. Stock Market (S&P 500) has been above 10.5% over the past 30 years.

Now it's time to get hands-on. Put your money to work. Any bank has an online platform nowadays so you are spoilt for choice. Here is an overview that might be helpful. Again, the question is how much do you need to know before you use them, because they often leave everything up to you. Platforms like?ellexx.com, smartpurse.me (mentioned above) or?inyova.com?will guide you to simple, pragmatic investment solutions to get you started. And solutions that align with your values are important. After all, your money is a force for good! Use your money's power consciously.

Importantly, one key ingredient for any person's financial future is saving up for retirement: any bank can open a 3a pillar savings account for your pension contributions which is tax optimised and which you can pay into all your life. This is a must have!

Equally important to investing, is investing in your negotiation skills - because the money you leave on the table when negotiating your pay represents a huge amount of wealth over lifetime. So don't leave money on the table. Negotiate your worth. You deserve it! On this topic, check out Women in Negotiation.

Last but not least, here are a couple of international women’s networks I would highly recommend. They are not specific to investing, but every young woman needs a support network throughout her life. Sisterhoods you can count on always and forever, no matter what you need, at any life phase: thefemalequotient.com and winconference.net

So I hope this short overview was helpful and I invite everyone who reads this to contribute and share what helped them get started on their journey to investing. Helping others to take control of their financial future is something we can all contribute to! Thank you!