Women tend to view money and finances differently from men. They usually want security rather than power and this can make them more conservative and afraid of making a mistake.
Many women think money matters are boring and hard to understand and would rather hand the whole thing over to someone else to handle. It’s not that difficult to get your financial life under control (your control). Remember, a man is not a financial plan. Here are ten practical solutions for women to achieve financial empowerment:
Get An Education
Unless you are very creative or entrepreneurial, a good education is mandatory. A diploma or certificate will earn you more than high school education and a university or college degree is even better.
Find a course or program you are interested in and go for it, whether in person or online. If you can’t afford it you can get a student loan. There are also all kinds of scholarships you can apply for and they are not limited to your high school grades.
Don’t shy away from getting an education just because you’re busy with your current job. There are plenty of degrees that can be completely earned online. This means that you can schedule your work however you want. Best of all, you’ll find that this is much more affordable than a traditional college in that you don’t have to worry about paying for room and board or fuel.
One site is www.scholarshipscanada.com that gives a listing of available money. Also, taking the time to upgrade your education can lead to advancement in your current career.
Choose The Right Career
With that education under your belt it’s time to get a well-paying job. Don’t be limited to traditional “women’s work” although teaching and nursing do pay well. Look at management and sales positions (no, not retail sales), project coordinating, etc. You want to be the doctor, lawyer or executive rather than the assistant, clerk or secretary. Don’t exclude the trades if that’s where your interest lies. A position that you can temporarily put on hold (such as when raising a family) or one that has potential for a home business would also be ideal.
Ask For What You Want
What do you want from your job? Do you deserve a raise? Do you want flextime to be with your kids? Or work part-time from your home? Think about what you have accomplished for the company and how any change in your routine can benefit them. Then, don’t be afraid to ask for what you want and why you should get it.
Learn About Finances
Now that you’re earning a good salary make a commitment to spend some time to improve your financial IQ. Read a book, Chilton’s Wealthy Barber is a classic. Also a good read is Smart Women Finish Rich by David Bach or get inspired by Thomas J. Stanley’s Millionaire Women Next Door), sign up for a money-management class or research a topic online. Remember you don’t have to know everything.
Keep Your Independence
Even if you are married or are in a live-in relationship and have joint accounts, keep an account in your own name. You will have peace of mind knowing you have your own funds to rely on should something unexpected happen.
Strength In Numbers
Get some friends and co-workers together and form a money club. It’s less intimidating to discuss financial matters with your peers who may be in the same boat as you and can offer suggestions and advice you may not have thought of.
Some money clubs are informal get-togethers and some have an organized program that involve doing research on financial topics and discussing the results, having speakers and holding shares in the club name. You can be as formal or informal as you want, you can still benefit from others opinions.
Establish Your Credit
Apply for credit in your own name. Don’t settle for being a co-signer or “additional card-holder”. You need your own credit history if you ever want to get a loan or mortgage on your own.
Use A Budget
Make a budget and stick to it. You don’t need great math skills to know that spending more than you earn is a recipe for disaster and can lead to financial ruin.
Pay Yourself First
This is really the number one lesson in obtaining financial security. It’s easiest to arrange an automatic withdrawal plan tied to the direct deposit of your pay. If you don’t think you can manage the traditional suggestion of 10%, start with less and increase it periodically. It’s better to aim a bit higher than you feel comfortable with though. You can always decrease the amount if necessary but you’re less likely to increase it even if it’s manageable.
Protect Your Loved Ones
If you have assets and/or dependents, make sure you have a will. When you choose a beneficiary and guardian make sure you think long term of things that could happen, don’t just name your spouse as is customary.
In my own will I will leave my personal assets to my kids. I have a fear that if my husband outlives me, he will marry some bimbo and they’ll have a grand time spending all my hard earned money and leave my kids hanging (don’t laugh; I’ve seen it happen!). On a similar note, regularly review your beneficiary information on life insurance policies (especially at work which we tend to forget about) and RRSPs.
Life is full of learning opportunities. Keep your mind open to new information every day. It’s your future, make the most of it.
This weekend marked the six month anniversary of a day I will never forget. On July 23rd, 2010 a CF-18 Hornet crashed at the Lethbridge County Airport while performing a routine low-speed passing manouevre during a practice run in preparation for the Alberta International Air Show.
As President of the Air Show Association it was my responsibility to ensure our crisis management plan was activated and all emergency procedures were followed. Responding to this type of incident requires a coordinated effort between many individuals and organizations, which is why having a crisis management plan in place is crucial to get you through any emergency.
Crisis Management – You’re Never Fully Prepared
About two months prior to the air show we had a meeting to review our emergency response plan and went through a few exercises involving potential emergency situations that could take place at our event.
Examples ranged from the low level emergency of someone twisting their ankle in a gopher hole or suffering from heat stroke, to a medium level emergency of a missing child, all the way to a high level emergency of a plane crash and potential fatality.
Even though the statistics suggested that there will be a high level emergency at a major air show once every 10 years, we all knocked on wood that there hadn’t been a major incident in our 19 year history.
After the crash many people in our organization did not envy me since I had to deal with the endless media inquiries. But after finding out that the pilot was ok and that we had the military support to continue the event, I honestly didn’t mind speaking to the media.
That was a major part of our crisis management plan, since we needed to alert the media about the incident that occured, and let everyone know that we would still carry on the event as planned. I was just thankful to the volunteers, fire fighters, EMS crew, and military who responded to the incident so quickly and enabled us to continue on with the event.
In the end our crisis management plan was not perfect since you cannot plan for every type of emergency. But because we did have a plan in place and we practiced potential emergency scenarios prior to the event, we were able to communicate with each other effectively in order to successfully respond to the incident. If we did not take crisis management seriously, and if we failed to prepare for any potential disasters to occur, I believe these events could have turned out much differently.
Emergency Essentials For Your Personal Finances
So how does this experience relate to personal finance? While everyone’s situation is different based on their age, income, goals and tolerance for risk, I believe that there are a few emergency essentials that will help protect your finances in case of a crisis. Review these frequently to ensure you’re prepared for any bumps in the road:
- Protect Yourself – A good financial plan means having appropriate life insurance, adequate disability insurance, and an up-to-date will. Review these periodically as your needs can change during different stages of your life, especially if you get married and have children, or if you change careers.
- Expect the Unexpected – Most experts recommend keeping an emergency fund of 3-6 months expenses in a readily accessible account. While I prefer not to keep idle cash lying around, it’s important to have a plan in case you need to access money outside of your normal income streams. I also prepare an annual forecast of my income and expenses to help avoid any unforeseen events throughout the year.
- Set Realistic and Measurable Goals – What gets measured gets managed. Whether you are saving up for a down payment on a house, adjusting to single income living, or you are trying to figure out how much to save for retirement, you need to set realistic and measurable goals in order to achieve the best results.
- Give Yourself a Cushion – Avoid the temptation of lifestyle inflation. Bank your raises, try to live on one salary, and don’t buy more house or car than you can afford. I am currently enjoying the benefits of a variable rate mortgage, but I have my payments set at the five year fixed rate. This way I’m giving myself some extra room to breathe in case interest rates rise, while at the same time decreasing my ammortization with each payment.
I learned a great deal about crisis management during the air show last summer, and I definitely pay more attention now when reading through the emergency plans at work. Having a personal finance emergency plan is often overlooked but can be essential in achieving your overall goals while hopefully averting any financial disasters.
What does a personal finance emergency mean to you and how would you respond?
With the Canadian dollar more or less at par with the U.S. dollar and our neighbour to the south in slow recovery mode, I have become interested in adding some U.S. dividend stocks to my portfolio.
I have been happy with my Canadian stocks but let’s face it, if it’s good dividends we’re after, we are pretty well limited to financial, telecom, utility and resource stocks. We have to go beyond our borders to get more diversification. Many U.S. companies have few or no Canadian counterparts especially in consumer products, manufacturing and health services, and the multinational companies have global appeal.
Even with the 15% withholding tax on dividends (except in an RRSP), some of the blue chip corporations have a high enough dividend yield to make it worthwhile, especially if the dividends continue to increase. For example, McDonald’s recently increased their dividend from $2.25 to $2.44, increasing the yield from 3% to 3.3%.
Some other companies that are predicted to increase dividends this year are:
| Company | Price | Dividend | Yield |
| Johnson & Johnson | $62.56 | $2.16 | 3.5% |
| Coca Cola | $63.13 | $1.76 | 2.8% |
| Proctor & Gamble | $65.53 | $1.93 | 2.9% |
Another good bet for a U.S. dividend stock is Merck. At $34.23 the price is a bit more within my range. And with a dividend of $1.52 giving a yield of 4.4% it may be worth thinking about.
Some prices are still too high though for my budget. I would have to purchase small amounts over a period of time to have a worthwhile portfolio and I haven’t yet decided if that’s the right track for me – although I have always wanted to own a piece of Wal-Mart.
You can download a list of the S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats at www.standardandpoors.com/indices.
Are there any U.S. dividend stocks on your watch list?