I show women how to build and protect their wealth because I think it’s time women rise up and take back their financial power.
And after fifteen years of experience working closely with people at all financial levels, I’m here to let you know some of the natural differences between men and women when it comes to money, and why some women resist wealth in their lives.
Women See Money as a Resource
In my experience, women aren’t always inclined to create financial goals that don’t live in the context of larger life goals. Intuitively, women see money as a way to enable the life we desire—relationships with family and people we love, the ability to make choices and enjoy ourselves.
Often, women don’t identify with the language about money that in many cases comes out of Wall Street, which is pretty male-dominated.
I call that Wall Street Speak.
We Think Our Partners Are Better At Handling the Money
Many women don’t want money necessarily for the sake of money, and because we don’t identify with the language about money we read in the press and see around us, we decide that “Money just isn’t my thing.” Or “I’ll let my husband handle it.”
Ladies, one piece of empowering yourself financially may be giving up the idea that money is someone else’s issue to handle in your life. You might have made it up that men are better at handling money and investments, or that you aren’t naturally gifted at handling money. In my professional experience, none of these things are true about women versus men. In fact, in many cases, it’s the opposite.
We Think We’re No Good at Math
For years, the public perception, and thus, the truth, was that boys were better than girls at math. And both genders, and their teachers and parents lived into the myth.
As a result, we have fewer female mathematicians, fewer female scientists and fewer female engineers.
If you were raised to believe the myth was true, you may have had difficulty in the study of math or science and blamed it on your gender.
Actually, Forever 21, a national retailer of girls clothing, printed a t-shirt that said across the chest, “I’m too pretty to do math.”
But, you know what, in 2008 the first studies came out that debunked this myth completely.
Since then, there have been a number of studies that show clearly that boys have no natural advantage over girls when it comes to math and science, and, of course, Forever21 pulled their t-shirts from the shelves.
We Lack Financial Confidence, Despite Evidence That We Do Just Fine
According to a recent study by MassMutual Financial, only 26% of women report that they are confident making their own financial decisions.
However, as I often feel inclined to mention, research tells us that women left to their own devices tend to produce equal or even higher investment returns than men.
A 2001 survey of investment advisors, a 2005 report by Merrill Lynch and a 2011 study by Barclays Capital and Ledbury Research all reached that same conclusion.
Women take fewer uncompensated risks, we’re more focused on the end goal and we recognize our own fallibility.
That’s not to say that I think you should go it in the stock market alone, but it’s still interesting to note that women report low confidence in making financial choices even though we seem to do just fine when we take the bull by the horns.
We’re Afraid of Power
Finally, I believe that women resist wealth because we have it collapsed with power, and not many women seek out power, which can make us seem more masculine. I have met many women who were afraid that financial success would repel men and keep them single. And, truth be told, there are men who won’t be with a woman who is professionally or financially more successful than they are. But certainly not all men, and certainly not the men who would make the best partners.
Wealthy women have amazing power
Power to do wonderful things for themselves, their loved ones, their family, their communities and our world.
Money comes with it the power to do what you choose, and you can create miracles.
What all this adds up to is that you don’t have to and shouldn’t relate to yourself like you have a gender disadvantage in money; there’s no structural reason your husband or father or boyfriend or uncle should handle the money.
You Can Empower Yourself
So, I invite you today, to move beyond the mindset that anything about your gender is a disadvantage on the topic of money.
To make a decision, today, that no matter what you’ve done in the past or what your mindset has been, you’re going to reverse engineer your financial success—you’re going to achieve financial freedom. I promise, your intentions have power.