Women, Money, Shopping and Retirement!
Women need to think about money far more than men. More importantly they need to think about money far more than the men around them.
Let us start at the very beginning. Girls are taught to be pretty, carry and purse and spend. Men are taught to build – Lego for boys and Barbie dolls for girls. Girls are almost psyched into believing that there is something called ‘shopping-therapy’ and all problems are solved by going shopping. I find women with multiple UNUSED shoes and dresses – just like that. This is not the girl’s fault at all – it is just the way that girls are psyched right from their child hood. They are more tuned to spending than building. Sad, but true.
Girls have to fight their way to good education. Unless a girl is really brilliant even middle class families may not be willing to invest Rs. 2.5 crores in their education – say to become a MD or a MS or do super specialization. So the investment that goes into educating a girl child will be less than the investment in educating a boy. Sad, but true.
Girls give up their career far more easily than their husbands. So if a girl has spent Rs. 45L on her education, stays in a metro and is earning Rs. 20L a year…she will give it up for a husband staying in a non metro and earning Rs. 30L – you can put a decimal in between these numbers if you feel they are too high – but I guess you get the drift of what I am saying. Also girls/ women give up their careers in the middle for transfers/ change of jobs – which again means a gender gap in salaries. Sad, but true.
Girls have babies. Absolutely true!! A girl takes a break to have a baby(ies) and that means a break for 3 months to 3 years. It is not easy to get back into a job in such a competitive world, and the gender pay gap widens. Does not require an explanation, does it?
Women are the care givers! whether it is a child with special needs, or the kids writing the Xth standard exam, or a parent/ sibling needing care, the first port of call is the woman. No, I am not criticizing this, I am just saying why women tend to have lesser saving or investment than their husbands/ brothers. Fact of life. No, not sad, but 100% true.
Women do not learn about investing. Their fathers, husbands, brothers….somebody looks after their money EVEN if they are in the field of banking, mutual funds, insurance. I have no clue why this happens, but well qualified women are more than willing to abdicate their financial duties. Sad, requires a lot of change. Women, go take charge!
Women live longer – which means they will have to plan their Retirement better. Fact, all over the world women live longer than men.
Just a summary of women and money. Other way to look at it is to say “why women need to change their attitude towards money and invest more for Retirement”.
Geetika Gupta
Very True, I consider myself one such rare example. My Mother didn’t believe in letting girls play with Dolls. She believed i have to go out and fend for myself and i did so. I saw her saving and i saved too. But Investing money was altogether a different journey. There was no body to guide and to tell me where to start except my upbringing that i have to fend for myself.
Today i understand financial goals and goals based investing and have separate portfolios for each goals. I think i am on correct path ( Thanks to Subra Sir and many other bloggers on net). I am still learning.
Scenario with In-laws and Husband is different but not better. They are business oriented. All the money in the house goes to business and if there is a financial requirement, money is taken out of the business. Husband is first one to have a private sector job and thus no temperament for Saving & Investing. When i talk about what i am doing financially, he is least interested but not disapproving. He lets me do whatever i want to ( Thank GOD for that !!!!)
LuckyOye
Only a matter of time before Humans/Women stop direct reproduction and The State takes over production of Tax Payers/Citizens. Will likely happen first in Japan, for certain within my lifetime.
Twin Amma
Sir, it is absolutely true on why women despite being qualified, tend to earn less. Thanks to marriage, child birth, parenting duties. We love it, but also wish life was a bit more uncomplicated. I am a single child and my parents have zero retirement fund(part due to house and part due to my marriage). While I am happy to provide them in their rest days, I am also worried that I myself might never be able to retire voluntarily because of this. I have to work, atleast to provide them.
I wish to save sensibly towards my early retirement(to be at peace with kids and life), how do I do that? Any blogs of yours that address this?