Smart women, smart money

"I do not claim that all women, or a large portion of them, should enter into independent business relations with the world, but I do claim that all women should cultivate and respect in themselves an ability to make money."
- Ellen Demarest

There are many reasons why a woman must put financial security high up on her list of priorities. Some important reasons are that women tend to live longer than men, earn less money than men and generally will have less to live on in retirement. These are reasons enough for women to think about getting their financial houses in order, whatever it takes.

Financial security is a critical matter. Ignore your financial well being and you may find yourself eating cat food in old age, wishing you'd put away a little something in your youth. There are many things that you can do to improve your situation. It's not too late to make your future years better ones. The most important thing you can do is to learn about finances however dreary and dreadful you may think it to be.

Find the right resources and you may actually enjoy the process! Read up on financial news, get together with other friends to exchange information, get yourself a guide or mentor to help you understand finances.

Here are some encouraging facts about women and money matters -

• Women are often smarter than men about money.
• They admit it when they don't know something.
• They seek help.
• They avoid risk.
• They do their homework.
• They set goals.

And the best part - balancing and juggling money comes naturally to them.
They have been doing it for years!

So, hone in on your money saving and making skills.
Remember that you need to invest wisely in your futur

Why women make better investments

Women put their nose to the ground and do all the sniffing they should before they invest in funds or the stock market. They take the effort to research the areas of operation of the companies they decide to invest in. The result? Investment clubs run by women seem to be making much more profits than men!

Women like to stick with it. Women don't make decisions to sell their stocks at the tiniest whim, they hold on to what they buy and the outcome is huge savings on transaction fees. Women normally see a reason to switch from one fund to the other only if the mutual fund is making losses. Get wise though, if your stock shows a sudden rise, look out. It might be because it is making risky investments.

Women understand their family priorities like children's education or a daughter's marriage and therefore rate stability higher! Women prefer not to invest until their family is more or less settled. Men on the other hand get into the market early to gauge their money skills it is more a test of skill than investment, which may encourage risky transactions. But don't wait all your life or for a personal tragedy to galvanise you into action, investing in the market early might fetch that much more returns.

Women make faithful workers and will stick to a company just because they are comfortable or because they are happy at home and office aggravations don't matter. In the process a woman might not be getting paid as much as she deserves. It is good to be able to continue to work at the same organisation for a long period, but it may be wiser to find out your market worth and ensure that you are being paid your due.

Women tend to set their money aside for the future, without any concrete plans for these reserves. But as important, as a retirement plan may be, it is also a great idea to motivate yourself from time to time, with little treats that will get you and your family to appreciate the concept of savings.