Manage your Money Confidently

Managing money amidst other life priorities is no easy task. As women, it’s easy to want to be quite indifferent when it comes to taking charge of your finances and making financial decisions. If we are being truthful, we know the reason why. It’s because anything finance could be pretty boring. All those numbers and figures can trigger a headache, that’s a known fact.

However, it’s high time you stopped letting it take the backseat. You need to take the high road and be in total charge of your financial success. This is because having financial knowledge is the first and most important step in attaining financial security which would then go on to empower you and boost your self-confidence.

Everyone deals with some sort of financial issue at one point or the other and for women, it is safe to say it’s much more prevalent with issues such as the gender wage gap. Also, society is configured in such a way that financial matters are seen as a man’s job and something women are not equipped to take proper care of. It has also been found that the reason why most women stay in abusive relationships is that of financial insecurity. All of these and more go on to show why women are more likely to be financially insecure.

There is a gender gap in financial literacy as women understand way lesser than men do. This gap must be filled up. Here, you would learn about how being at the helm of your financial issues and having your finances in order will allow you to be free. This is because managing your finances ought to be empowering in every way and not intimidating.

8 Reasons Why As A Woman, You Need To Be Financially Literate

As a woman, you need to be more confident and knowledgeable about your finances for these reasons:

Financial Independence: To different people, this may mean different things. To you, it might mean having enough money and assets such that you don’t have to work again while to another person, it might mean just having enough money to take care of their living expenses. Either way, the general message remains the same. Financial literacy improves independence as it would guide you in making informed choices with your financial resources. It also allows for flexibility in making career changes and starting a business.Women live longer: On an average, the life expectancy of a woman is a little over 81 years, in contrast to that of men which is 76.5 years. This speaks volumes especially as old age more often than not comes with hospital bills. This is why financial literacy is important especially when it comes to putting aside money for retirement, and so because of this longer lifespan, women would require more savings for their retirement.Wide gender wage gap: Life occurrences like maternity leave that has women taking breaks from their careers for childbirth often stalls career advancement. That aside, on an average, women are paid less. Case in point is that if a woman and a man both decide to save up to a certain amount by the time they turn say 60 because a woman earns less, she would have to save a larger percentage of her salary. This is yet another reason why actions must be taken and financial knowledge acquired to allow for adequate planning for retirement and for life in general. Increasing the financial literacy of one woman at a time will go a long way.Unforeseen Circumstances: Life is very unpredictable and bad things happen. Such as a divorce. Not the most pleasant thing to think or talk about but the rates are staggering as a study states that one in five women fall into poverty because of divorce. No one should have to wait until divorce rears its ugly head before having to understand how to make beneficial financial choices or better still, benefit from previously made ones. Being in more control of your finances would have you less affected by circumstances like this.More likely to spend fewer years in the workforce: As a woman, the caregiver role is often yours to bear and acting in such capacity means more women have to either work part-time, settle for jobs that are more flexible but pay less or leave the workforce earlier than men. This means that there are fewer opportunities for women to accumulate wealth and assets and so the little time there has to be fully utilized.The world needs more female leaders: Although, more women are already making strides in business, a 2019 list at https://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/women-ceos-sp-500 states that women hold about 5% of CEO positions at stock market company S&P 500. Improved financial literacy of women can help curb this inequity and bridge the gender gap in leadership.Living in the now is essential: Yes, there’s no better time than now to get financially literate and start making more informed financial decisions. It’s never too early to start investing and making plans for the future. The earlier you start, the more benefits there are.It’s empowering: Nothing else could possibly give you more confidence to do something especially by enabling you to increase your control over your own life and situation than being financially literate and having your finances in order.

Women live longer, earn less and consequently, save less and so, because of this, it’s expedient for all women to be financially literate so as to be better prepared against unforeseen circumstances, make more informed financial choices, save towards retirement. As a woman, when all of these are in order, it empowers you, allows you to be free, builds your self-confidence and above all, helps you to live Marvelously All Day every day.

In this section, you will get to learn from the finances and financial independence related posts and through this, build confidence and be empowered financially.