To read Part 1 of this series, click here. And, well, it took me more than a week to get back here. Life happened. I published a 21-page tale about all things and nothings (unrelated to this substack), and that took time and mindspace.
Women manage household finances all the time. How can you keep your purview to just their investment capabilities and not their expense management skills as well, someone retorts after reading Part 1 of this series.
That’s exactly my question too. Why do women, many of whom actually manage the expenses of the household, shy away from taking charge of growing their revenue? The latter is more lucrative and better return on time and energy invested than the former surely?
Expense management is more clinical, structured, cast in stone, if you may. It seems more intuitive, and more confidence inducing, because a majority of it is linked to running the household. The groceries budget, the helpers’ salaries, kids’ tuition fees, household revamp expenses.
Investment management, on the other hand, feels like an ocean of unknown terrors, not much structure in place, even lesser intuition in place. Should I buy a pharma stock or a hi-tech stock? I can’t possibly decide that based on which category I spent more on personally last month, can I?
I try to de-mystify this, talking to the many women in my groups who actually participate actively in investing, if not leading it themselves. What works for them and why?
Money means “self-worth”. That is the predominant emotion amongst the women I talk to. I learnt the hard way with my early salary how I could burn my hands if it is not managed well, and now I manage it on my own, they say.
My spouse and I plan both expenses and investments together as a family, many say. A percentage of them go on to talk about how they employ an investment manager who helps think through and execute on this shared planning. An equal percentage doesn’t do shared planning but owns the investment process, and also executes on it, if not for the entire family, at least for their own self. Funnily, a lot of them call themselves “conservative investors”, only looking at “safe bets”.
Many of these women grew up in households where their mothers had a handle on money management, not just expense management. Some had been consciously taught from a younger age (by their dads in most cases) that they have to own their money and drive their finances.
But that’s not necessarily true in all cases. Some simply had tumultuous childhoods, with money difficulties and vagaries at home pushing them to take matters in their own hands once they grew up.
A common thread in many cases is how the male members of the family (husbands and / or fathers) have actively encouraged / enabled the women to invest or at least be involved in the decision making process. That definitely gives a boost to confidence levels.
Another boost is the advent of easy-investment platforms that have made investing more accessible without having to worry about complex terminologies and unclear charges.
Net net. This is what I can surmise.
There are a bunch of women out there who invest on their own, and not all of them are in the business of investing as a career. They simply decided to take charge of their investment planning, self-worth a big driver, and they all seem to have done well with that decision.
Tune into Part 3 of this series that will come up in a few days time for some tips and tricks on where to start and how to plan.
P. S. Views strictly personal. None of the events mentioned in this post refer to the organisation that I am currently associated with.