David Lerner Associates: Financially Speaking, Women and Men are Different

(Newswire.net — January 13, 2015) Syosset, NEW YORK — In the financial world, women often end up in very different circumstances than their male counterparts, but women have never been in a better position to achieve financial security for themselves and their families. More women than ever are successful professionals, business owners, entrepreneurs, and knowledgeable investors. Their economic influence is growing, and women’s impact on the traditional workplace is still evolving.

Women have never been in a better position to achieve financial security for themselves and their families.  To take full advantage of this position women need to educate themselves about finances, make financial decisions, seek professional help when needed and implement plans to ensure that they, and their families, will have financially secure lives.

Some key distinctions
On the path to financial security, it’s important for women to understand what they might be up against, financially speaking:

• Women have longer life expectancies. Women live an average of 4.8 years longer than men.  A longer life expectancy presents several financial challenges for women

• Women generally earn less and have fewer savings. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, within most occupational categories, women who work full-time, year-round, earn only 82 % (on average) of what men earn. This wage gap can significantly impact women’s overall savings, Social Security retirement benefits, and pensions.

• Women are more likely to take career breaks for caregiving. Women are much more likely than men to take time out of their careers to bring up children and/or care for aging parents. This can have siginificant financial implications. 

• Women are more likely to be living on their own.Whether through choice, divorce, or death of a spouse, more women are living on their own. This means they’ll need to take sole responsibility for protecting their income and making financial decisions.

• Women can sometimes be more conservative investors. According to the US  Department of Labor, women tend to be more conservative investors than men.  This means their savings might not be on track to meet their financial goals. 

• Women need to protect their assets. Without an asset protection plan, a woman’s wealth is vulnerable to taxes, lawsuits, accidents, and other financial risks that are part of everyday life. Women have many day-to-day repsonsbilities, but they do need to include implementing a plan to protect their assets as part of their financial life.

Actions Women Can Take

• Be in control of your money. Create a budget, manage debt and credit wisely, set and put in priority financial goals, and execute a savings and investment strategy to satisfy those goals.

• Become a knowledgeable investor. Learn fundamental investing concepts, such as asset classes, risk tolerance, time horizon, diversification, inflation, and the role of various financial vehicles .

• Retirement Planning. Save as much as you can for retirement. Estimate the amount of money you’ll require in retirement, and how much you can anticipate from your savings, Social Security, and/or an employer pension. 

• Advocate for yourself in the workplace. Have confidence in your work ability and advocate for your worth in the workplace by researching salary ranges, negotiating your starting salary, seeking highly visible job assignments, networking, and asking for raises and promotions. 

• Balance work and family life. Investigate and negotiate flexible work arrangements and make certain your spouse is equally invested in household and child-related responsibilities.

• Protect your assets. Identify potential risk exposure and execute strategies to reduce that exposure. As an example, life and disability insurance is vital to protect your ability to earn an income and/or care for your family in case of disability or death.
• Create an estate plan. To guarantee that your personal and financial wishes will be carried out in the event of your incapacity or death, think about executing basic estate planning documents, such as a will, trust, durable power of attorney, and health-care proxy.

Women are the key to their own financial futures– it’s critical that women educate themselves about finances and be able to make financial decisions. In many cases, women can benefit greatly from teaming up with a financial professional who can help them understand their options and implement plans developed to provide women and their loved ones with financially secure lives.

IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES

Material contained in this article is provided for information purposes only and is not intended to be used in connection with the evaluation of any investments offered by David Lerner Associates, Inc. This material does not constitute an offer or recommendation to buy or sell securities and should not be considered in connection with the purchase or sale of securities.
David Lerner Associates does not provide tax or legal advice. The information presented here is not specific to any individual’s personal circumstances.

To the extent that this material concerns tax matters, it is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, by a taxpayer for the purpose of avoiding penalties that may be imposed by law. Each taxpayer should seek independent advice from a tax professional based on his or her individual circumstances.

These materials are provided for general information and educational purposes based upon publicly available information from sources believed to be reliable– we cannot assure the accuracy or completeness of these materials. The information in these materials may change at any time and without notice.

Some of this material has been provided by Broadridge Investor Communications Solutions, Inc.

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