NerdWallet: “What Women Should Know About Their Investing Power and Needs”
NerdWallet, June 13, 2024 — “Women face different challenges, and some advantages, when it comes to managing their money over the long term,” writes Kimberly Palmer in today’s article pointing to Jessica Spangler’s newly released “Invest Like a Girl.”
“I think there’s an irony when it comes to investing for women. We have ballpoint pens for women and razors for women,” Spangler says. “You see products that are supposed to be different because they’re for women, and a lot of that is hokey-pokey garbage.” Likewise, she adds, investing fundamentals don’t change based on gender identity.
But there are significant gender differences when it comes to investing that are important to explore: Women tend to live longer, for example, which means they need more money to support themselves post-retirement. They are also more likely to experience career breaks because of caregiving responsibilities and earn less because of the wage gap in this country, all of which can impact their investing strategy, Spangler says.
“We’re often behind when it comes to saving for retirement. We have to think about investing early, investing often and investing aggressively as much as we can,” Spangler says. “Investing is the most efficient way to become financially independent, and we’re actually great at it.”
Financial experts, including Marguerita Cheng, CFP Pro, suggest these steps for getting started including: Begin wherever you are.
You can begin with relatively small amounts of money, says Marguerita Cheng, a certified financial planner. “People think you need to have a lot of money to invest but the opposite is true. When you invest, you build wealth.” Since investments can gain or lose value over time, you want to choose an amount that is comfortable for your budget.
If you’re working with a financial professional, Cheng says, it’s important that you don’t feel pressured to make decisions before you’re ready. She says she provides her clients all of the information they need, including necessary paperwork and any government deadlines for funding retirement accounts. Then, she gives her clients the space they need to process that information. “If women express hesitancy, it’s really important for advisors not to be pushy,” Cheng says.