Women in India have broken the glass ceiling in many fields, from managing households inside the four walls to managing businesses worldwide. However, despite these many changes the one area that still needs more women involvement is finances and investments.
Though women have achieved financial independence, still they are dependent on their male partners for taking financial decisions.
Even some women tend to stay away from financial management and investments because they find it complex to understand finances and they have someone else doing it for them. But, this is a complete misunderstanding as women just need to be a little more confident and some financial literacy to take their financial and investing decisions independently.
What women need to understand?
- Money management is not rocket science; perhaps it is a life hack that everyone must learn and practice.
- It is a matter of resolve for a better future.
- If you can manage your household you are capable enough of making financial decisions.
- To be more confident with your decision and money management skills you can read and learn as any other new thing.
- Become aware, take control so that you can stand by your spouse’s side and help with the financial decisions and investment.
Here are the strategies women can implement in their daily lives to enhance their financial well-being:
Educate Yourself
Before diving into it, you need some time to learn and read about money management and investment. On average, women are less comfortable making financial decisions and exhibit lower levels of financial literacy compared to men. And approximately only 32% of women are managing their investments.
So, if you’re among those who don’t, you need to overcome some of your discomforts by educating yourself. What you can do for this is –
Read books, go through articles, take help of the internet and enhance your knowledge.
Set a Budget and Track your Expenses
Setting up a budget and tracking your expenses is one of the most important and basic money management skills. Doing this helps you to know- where your money is going, and where is the scope for saving. Another thing which can save your money is going only for your needs not for your wants.
However, apart from this setup, financial goals are also important. Analyse your future requirements and plan your goals. Try setting realistic and short-term targets in the beginning, practicing this will improve your financial management and will also motivate you to keep going in the future.
Plan your Investments
Investment planning is one of the financial decisions in which women still hesitate to participate. With some, it’s due to their ignorance while few are still not allowed to. But both things are wrong. Even if you are an earning woman and not planning your finances and investment yourself then it would be not completely true to say that you are financially independent.
Financial independence is achieved only when you are earning, managing, and planning your finances on your own.
Plan for Retirement
Women, on average, face a larger retirement savings gap than men.
This is because specifically in Indian society most women think they don’t need retirement planning as their partners are responsible to handle these things. Ultimately, even after so many working years, their personal retirement savings is zero. So in case, when they separate from the partners or when their partner is no more they have to face so many problems. To avoid such situations every woman needs to acquire financial literacy and plan for their retirement.
Being a woman your focus should not be confined only to your family, but it should be to secure your future along with your loved ones.
Learning financial management and investment is not that tough, but to start with you need to acquire some financial literacy. Start investing with less risky products and diversify your financial portfolio to minimize risk and maximize returns.
