10 Best Strategies to Empower Women Financially
Over the years, the situation surrounding women and finances has evolved rapidly. More and more women are gaining financial empowerment. They are entering the workforce in large numbers and making more money than ever. Thanks to increased educational resources, more women are emerging as leaders and innovators. However, there is still a lot left to do. Women’s financial well-being is still dire.
Due to gender stereotypes and inequality, women earn and save less money. They are less likely to invest and build their wealth – placing them at a higher risk of poverty. So, what can we do to fix this? We need to focus on empowering strategies that give women the financial freedom and confidence to establish wealth for themselves.
In This Blog
1. Become More Fearless and Gain Financial Literacy
Education is everything. For women to manage their money well, they need to move ahead and gain an understanding of the basic principles of finance. This includes things like budgeting, borrowing, and investing. Many online resources can help the ladies out there improve their financial literacy. My financial blog is committed to providing women with the knowledge they need to get ahead in the financial world.
At a minimum, women should learn about interest rates, debt, compound growth, and building their wealth through stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. On average, women are a lot less confident than men in making financial decisions. Yet, there is a growing body of research that suggests that women have better instincts. There are also studies showing that women are better savers and they are also less likely to react impulsively in response to market downturns than men.
2. Create a Financial Plan
To gain financial empowerment, you need to establish some goals. This may sound simple, but it’s not the easiest thing to do. For this reason, my book Financial Planning for Her aims to simplify the process of setting and achieving financial goals for women. This financial planner will help you see the big picture and establish short-term and long-term life goals. It will essentially help you map out your financial future.
Remember that it is a lot easier to make money decisions and stay on track with them when you have clear goals in mind. The planning experience also brings you clarity and peace of mind.
Further reading: How To Achieve Financial Goals
3. Focus on Saving
Financially empowered women know the power of saving. They put away money for their future goals first and then spend it on things they want.
When you save before spending, you prioritize yourself and the well-being of your future self. Therefore, a good practice is to start saving and pay yourself first.
Further reading: 5 Easy Money-Saving Challenges That Really Work
4. Own Your Money
As women, we juggle a million things every day, whether that’s family or career. It is easy to feel exhausted in all of the chaos. Consequently, many women hand over the financial responsibility to a family member or their partner. They think that they are either too busy for it or that they simply don’t understand it. Many people think that doing finances is a “man’s thing.”
However, a big part of being financially independent is knowing exactly what’s happening with your money. That includes knowing where it’s coming from, where it’s going, and how it is being invested. It also includes making sure you know how protected your family is in case anything unforeseen happens. For couples, it is okay to split financial responsibilities. But it is not healthy for one of the two, especially women, to turn a blind eye to it. Thus, have regular discussions about money with your partner. Own your part.
5. Get Involved in the Financial Market
The best way for women to gain financial empowerment and wealth is by diversifying their financial portfolios. That means investing in assets such as commodities, art, precious metals, bitcoin, and real estate.
The power of investing your money can have a great snowball effect. Once you make the right decisions, your money will start growing without you having to make an effort.
Further reading: Should You Trade Or Invest? Know the Difference
6. Dump the Debt
Debt is one of the biggest factors that keep people from gaining financial freedom. Even if people earn a lot, they don’t live below their means and accumulate debt. This practice can be highly detrimental, especially to women, in the long run.
Financial security is extremely important for women. For this reason, take a look at your income to debt-ratio. According to lenders, this ratio should be no more than 36%.
It is important to note here that not all loans are bad. Student loans and mortgage loans are considered to be “good loans.” On the other hand, high-interest credit card balances are often considered to be bad.
7. Follow Female Financial Entrepreneurs
Surrounding yourself with female financial role models is an effective way to make wise money decisions. Female money educators have been through it all. They know what it takes to make it in a man’s world.
Following like-minded women can help you become a part of a bigger movement that is working towards creating financial equality. We can all agree that it’s about high time that women become accountable, save money, ditch debt, and build real wealth. Hence, following female financial role models normalizes talking about building wealth for women.
8. Plan for Retirement
An average woman lives longer than a man. That makes it all the more important for women to plan for retirement. You need to make sure that you have the finances to pay your bills even when retired. This means getting serious about saving now.
Start by determining how much you need to save to maintain your lifestyle after retirement. Start making contributions to the retirement account from your workplace. Saving for retirement may look daunting at first because there’s so much you need to save. But it’s never too late to save. Even if you fall short of your original savings goal, you can work a few extra years and retire a little late. Or you can minimize your living expenses. You can even start a side hustle to increase your income. The possibilities are endless if you want to look.
9. Don't Be Afraid to Ask Questions
Being a financially empowered woman means that you are not afraid to speak up and talk about money. You should not shy away from the challenges and issues that you face on your journey. Remember that everyone faces those issues.
The only way to achieve one’s financial goals is to deal with every situation in an optimistic manner. Ask questions and expect your needs to be understood instead of people “mansplaining” things to you.
10. Aim to Strike a Balance
With so many daily responsibilities, women are great at balancing multiple things all at once. They are also great at prioritizing. So, being financially empowered is much easier for women than they think.
You will understand that you don’t need to make huge leaps when it comes to saving or spending. You will not need to hoard cash or deprive yourself of basic things you love. It is, however, important to understand that delaying gratification can pay off in the long run.
In the end, aim to strike a balance. Balance your approach to finance and every aspect of it, whether it’s saving or investing. And realize that financial empowerment does not happen overnight. It takes time and effort, but you will get there by being patient and consistent!
Further reading: Money Management for Women: Grow Your Money
If you enjoyed this article on 10 Best Strategies to Empower Women Financially or have any questions for me, please feel free to leave them in the comment section below!
Recommended Resources: If you’re interested in learning more about online trading, check out my book “Trading for Success; 8 secrets why women are better forex traders” and take a deep dive into my blog.
And if you’re concerned about improving your finances, I have developed the best money tools based on my expertise and extensive experiences such as educational books on personal finance and trading basics, and a range of digital and audio products. All of these are to help you achieve towards getting you your desired outcome most efficiently and enjoyably, enhancing the learning process.
