Essential Personal Finance Tips For Women in 2010
Women live longer. Actually, 1 in 8 elderly women in the US lives in painful poverty, as opposed to 1 in 12 men. This was confirmed by the 2003 figures of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Unfortunately, a lot of women out there view money or money-related things as essential evils, rather than opportunities.
To many women, wealth is a 4-letter word, commented Ginita Wall, the CPA co-author of the best seller “It’s More Than Your Money — It’s Your Life!” They’re mainly afraid of wealth’s negative sides — power, greed, and corrupt connotations.
Fortunately, there’re steps for women to take for improving their financial future:
Setting a clear financial goal
Women in general have a pretty complex connection with money, comments Lois Frankel, who authored “Nice Girls Don’t Get Rich.” Thus they don’t consider that accumulating wealth is at all important. Eventually what they focus on is just what they get.
After all, most women are engaged in setting other goals. You can’t find one woman on earth who won’t be able to tell what she wishes the weighting scale to read as she’s on it.
But women hardly have any magic number in their mind regarding what they’re putting away each and every year, said Frankel.
Train yourself to become financially independent
If you’re banking on Prince Cool, you’re in deep trouble. The truth is that, all marriages will end sooner or later, either by death or by divorce, said Wall. So it’s generally the woman who’s left behind.
While women handle the majority of the everyday finances, most women leave the task of long-term financial plans to the husbands. A mistake!
Always try to be aware of your finances, even though your spouse is currently in charge of that, says Wall. “Stay tuned about what’s happening and stay involved.”
Frankel agrees. You should attend meetings with your financial planner, to listen to things and read all the way through the statements coming in. You should try to get a clear idea of precisely the amount that comes in and where it’s headed and what both of you are currently saving (or may be investing) for particular future goals.
Buy a home of your own
“Women surely need to purchase their first home ASAP,” says Frankel. It’s a bitter truth that many women out there think that their Prince Charming will carry them all the way and over the threshold. No matter what, the first home is by all means the most essential and urgent investment for you.