Mary Lee has spent her work life in the financial world as an entrepreneur of a financial payments company. But despite her expertise in this area, Ms. Lee says she realized she needed more information about her own personal finances.
“For me, I thought I just needed to get a broader understanding of what’s currently available in terms of financial vehicles, how I can maximize what I have, and to ensure that I have the best advice,” she explains. “There’s so much going on right now, both from a tax perspective, and understanding the implication of investing. From the proliferation of different financial vehicles, there’s no way I can know all this stuff.”
Women today are busier than they’ve ever been, so even those who work in finance or have been involved with their family finances often don’t have the level of financial know-how they want to have before getting into areas like investing or exploring other money solutions.
“It’s not so much that women don’t have the inclination or the education to do it. It’s really a time and division of labour issue,” says Ms. Lee, who decided to gain the information she wanted by joining a women’s only financial literacy series through Nicola Wealth.
“In that room, these are very accomplished women who have great education and so forth,” she recalls. “But look at our lives, we’re raising children, we have a career, we’re dealing with aging parents, you just don’t have time.”
She lauds the convenience of the financial literacy program as being a big selling point for her getting involved and says that busy women need these tools to boost their feeling of financial freedom.
“I know what I don’t know, and I know that my life is not spent, 90 hours a week, figuring this stuff out,” says Ms. Lee.
According to the recent Financial Happiness research by U.S. financial services company, Empower, almost half (46 per cent) of the women surveyed consider not having to rely on anyone else financially “very important,” compared to 39 per cent of male respondents. For older generations of women, that number rises to 52 per cent.
Getting the necessary information doesn’t need to be complicated, explains Gayle Ramsay, head of everyday banking, segment and customer growth at BMO. “Just going in to talk to a banker in a branch is a good start,” says Ms. Ramsay. “If you’re not really sure in terms of what you’re doing, then it’s important to have that first conversation about goals, short-term and long-term, and a banker can actually help you with that.”
For the heavier lifts – like retirement planning and investments – Ms. Ramsay says it’s a good idea to seek out a financial advisor or financial planner.
“They can help you ask those questions that you need to ask, and then look at your financials and help you figure out how to get to that path of achieving that financial security,” she explains.
Finding a network of women in need of the same counsel and support, like the one Ms. Lee discovered, is also an invaluable resource, explains Michelle Connolly, head of financial planning and insurance solutions at Raymond James.
She recalls a colleague who brought together several women from different ages, marital statuses and backgrounds to participate in six workshops, “that touched on different wealth literacy aspects.”
“Not only did they support each other as peers, but after the conclusion of the respective cohort, most kept in touch and supported each other on all things wealth for years after,” says Ms. Connolly.
In her opinion, fear is a big barrier for professional women seeking financial knowledge – fear of failure, fear of not knowing and fear of being judged.
“There is nothing wrong with asking for help,” says Ms. Connolly.
“When you are engaged and ask questions, the likelihood that better decisions are made, ones that align with your needs, goals, and values occur,” she continues. “If you understand the planning [being] undertaken and why, or how it ties back to your needs, goals and values, you naturally buy-in, follow through and likely have a higher chance of long-term planning success.”
Since selling her payment services company, Ms. Lee has had more time for philanthropic pursuits and was heavily involved in building a program called Girls in E-Mentorship (GEM), that focuses on high school students and gives those young women career guidance before they get to university.
Specifically, GEM’s research mandate is about finding the needs and gaps experienced by this demographic and Ms. Lee says, “the financial piece is huge,” adding that financial literacy programs will be something she recommends to these young women so they can have their ‘a-ha moments’ early on.
“It’s about peace of mind, control and independence,” explains Ms. Lee. “One thing I’ve always said is, ‘make your decisions based on hope and not out of fear’ – and if you understand your financial situation then there is no more fear.”
