CHANGE YOUR MONEY MINDSET
Did you know:
Women earn the majority of college degrees in the US
Women contribute $7.6 trillion to the US Gross Domestic Product annually
Women own more than 9.9 million business with 8.4 million employees in the US
Women account for 70-80 percent of consumer purchasing in the US
Women guide most of the philanthropy in the US
Women earn higher average investment returns than men
AND YET…Women have less confidence than men when it comes to finances, affecting more than 1/3 of the financial literacy gender gap. Combine this with the pay gap and women are in a tough situation.
How do we gain more confidence, build financial literacy skills, and improve our wealth?
Two of the smartest decisions I ever made were:
Starting a side hustle that gave me the opportunity to build residual income with a global customer base.
Hiring a financial adviser to help coach me on retirement planning, investing, asset allocation, insurance plans, and more.
There’s another REALLY smart thing I did. I got over the bullshit I had been conditioned to think about money:
That I shouldn’t want it.
That I’m not smart enough to invest.
That having wealth is out of my reach.
Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest, once said, “money power”. She said it on Instagram several years ago (I can’t find the post). That post hit me right in the gut.
She is right. Money allows you to have the power to choose. To choose where to live, where to send your kids to school, where to work, how to poise yourself to continue up the ranks, what causes to support and with how much.
Money is not having to choose between your kids new school clothes and your skincare routine. Money is not having to freak out when your car needs new tires. Money is power to choose to feed, clothe, and shelter yourself with the bare minimum and beyond. Money is power. Money is choice.
I don’t know about you, but I and most women I know want the breathing room to have less stress and more choice.
How do you start changing your core beliefs for the better?
Jen Sincero’s book You are a Badass at Making Money, and her first book You Are a Badass, are phenomenal for helping you get your mind right.
Then, RBC has a Women’s Workbook you can check out: https://www.rbcwealthmanagement.com/_us/static/documents/cmp/women-and-wealth-a-planning-workbook.pdf
Lastly, NextAdvisor recommends finding a role model. Someone you can see yourself emulating. Ask them what they did to get where they are.
Remember, nothing changes if nothing changes. There are macro-level forces perpetuating the pay gap, wealth gap, and confidence gap. You don’t have full control over that. You DO have full control over your changes at the micro- (or individual) level. And collectively, our micro-level efforts will ripple up, eventually, if we choose today to consistently invest in our financial well-being.
Stats from:
https://www.rbcwealthmanagement.com/_us/static/documents/cmp/women-and-wealth-a-planning-workbook.pdf
https://time.com/nextadvisor/in-the-news/study-women-know-more-finance-investing/