The "Why" of Women Investing

If you teach a man to fish, he'll eat for a lifetime. But you teach a woman to fish and she’ll feed the whole village.” – Hillary Clinton

The above quote truly explains why each one of us, the women tribe must strive and take a step ahead towards financial education.

I recently read an article about women who have broken the glass ceiling and ventured into unconventional careers, traditionally dominated by men. A lady bus driver Prema Ramappa in Bangalore, Shatbhi Basu, heading a professional bartending institute, Harshini Kanhekar from Nagpur the first and only woman firefighter in our country and many more. It is heartening to see, women aspiring, believing and achieving.

But another sad truth was revealed in the latest round of National Family Health Survey done once in a decade. In 2005-06, 43% married women in the age group of 15-49 yrs were working which has declined to 31% in 2015-16. And if you have to further drill down on how many of these working women take their investing decisions, the number will shrink dramatically.

When it comes to investing, it is unfortunate how most women develop cold feet. Most depend on their fathers, husbands and spouses or even sons in the later part of their lives to help them with their investments, seldom taking control.

It surprises me how women go to great depths in choosing the colour of their walls and curtains, child’s school, the latest home appliances and fixing household budgets, planning holidays amongst many other things. But will shun money related conversations akin to avoiding a mad cow on the road.

Just as it is important to know the whereabouts of your spouse Ladies; it is equally important to know the whereabouts of your money too.

Let us approach some common apprehensions with logical reasons:

But I am a housewife, my husband makes money and invests it too

That is great! Things change, circumstances can change. Do you know that average life expectancy for women in India is at 68 years while for men it is 64 years. (Source: niti.gov.in) While averages can be misleading, in all probabilities many women will outlive their men, might end up being beneficiaries of insurance benefits. Investing can be intimidating to start and learn in later stages of your life, hence it is prudent to take interest. Also when you are responsible for many small & large household decisions, why not surprise your spouse with gaining financial awareness and help him with investing decisions as well?
With divorce rates going up and women in receipt of alimonies, life has its own way of challenging us out of our comfort zone. With sudden piles of cash come sudden well-wishers with dubious financial wisdom. Being Aware is better than Beware! 

I make my money but I have no interest in managing it. We have divided our functions

So you are an independent woman but ‘dependent’ in the truest sense. No empowerment is complete without financial empowerment. And financial empowerment can only be achieved by taking charge of you investments. Money is just a means to the end, and this end may be really far. Wealth you create is not just a digit in your bank account but it is your safety net which needs to grow and it is not just your right but your duty and responsibility to know how you grow this cushion for crucial and unforeseen times ahead. I have seen more and enough women leaving lucrative careers to fulfill their prime responsibility as care givers; be it to their ailing parents or growing kids. As Nassim Taleb says, month salary is an addiction. If this addiction is withdrawn for some unfortunate reasons where you have to stop your employment, it is your investment income which will top up to provide the sense of security in absence of the salary.

And on dividing functions, just barter by dividing some household chores to the men in your life. So learn to invest or learn to delegate (to a financial advisor)

The men: My father/husband/brother blah do a good job with investing

There are no studies which prove the superiority of men when it comes to handling investments. On the contrary, women are known to be emotionally stronger than men, less prone to panic and fickle decision making. These are qualities of passive investing which can have great benefits over the long term to the overall portfolio. A recent research paper submitted by University of Florida and Singapore Management University tested the hypothesis whether Alpha males are worse investors and tend to underperform? Investors with higher-than-average testosterone levels “trade more frequently [and] have a stronger preference for lottery-like stocks” they concluded. I do not wish to generalize here and world’s greatest investors are men indeed, who have developed the skill over their lifetimes. But Girl! the broader point is your average Joe is no different than the average Jane that you consider yourself.

I have no time for investing activity

As a woman, you find time to groom yourself, you find time to spend with your family, to cook them their favorite meal, you find time to shop for those much needed shoes and accessories you need to wear for the upcoming functions and you find time for your holidays. There is no such thing as being busy, it is all about priorities. You need to find time. Start with 30 minutes a week dedicated to reading about investing and slowly gather pace. The pace will automatically go up as your interest goes up.

I am scared of investing, I see people making losses in stocks so I save money in my bank account

Investing is a broader term. It encompasses various options and tools to effectively grow your money across assets like fixed income, equity, real estate and the all-time favorite gold. Saving in your bank account will never be enough till they find a rightful place to be employed and earn you more money. It is criminal to keep your money lying idle, be it in your bank, under the clothes shelf or the kitchen cabinet.  The pace of growth of your money will have to be higher than the pace of growth in the prices of things you will need to buy, experiences you need to give yourself.

Have any more excuses? Bounce them off to me and we can reason them out till you start taking interest in your financial journey.