Kristine Beese, award-winning speaker on women and money, CEO of Untangle Money.
Having financial security is a goal we all aim to achieve. Kristine Beese, award-winning speaker on women and money, CEO of Untangle Money, outlines financial fundamentals and talks to us about the difference between men and women and why it’s important that they manage their own financial futures.
Did you know?
Statistically speaking, women’s financial lives are different from men’s.
According to Kristine, the financial industry is failing women, as evidenced by the wealth gap. She suggests that as a woman you should start investing in yourself today in order to afford retirement, you cannot afford to wait, contrary to what the financial industry implies is possible.
The wealth gap: for every dollar a man has a woman only has 32 cents Source: https://www.aauw.org/issues/equity/pay-gap/
What can you do?
Since financial products have been failing women, here are some things you can do differently to help you better invest and save:
- Start today
- Have a plan know what you need and find a plan that will get you there
- Invest your money: make it work for you
- If you are a woman and don’t want to DIY or use a roboadvisor, Kristine suggests you work with a female advisor
- Learn enough so that you know you are comfortable with your investments
Start investing Now!
Time is your biggest advantage when investing money. Investing $100 when you are 25 with 6% interest will give you a thousand when you are 65 but if you invest the same amount at 45, you’ll only get $300 when you reach 65. Less than a third. It bears repeating: time is your biggest advantage when it comes to money.
Another reason is inflation. Because of inflation, your money buys less and less every year (this is the impact of prices going up). With a 2% inflation rate (much lower than what we’re currently seeing), without investing your money would lose half of its value in 35 years.
Investing vs Saving: Getting your money to work for you
The graph above shows how different your money would look if you put $1 a year into a savings account vs an investment account between 2020 and 2080.
It’s obvious that investing is not only more profitable but keeping in mind the nature of inflation which causes money to lose value in time an investment account is the more reasonable choice of action.
How much will you need for retirement?
There’s no one right answer for this question as the number you need changes based on where you are, how old you are, how much money you make etc.
According to Kristine the average young Canadian needs to put between $700 to $1200 away to save for their retirement. To put this into perspective: Wealthsimple’s retirement calculator says that a 25 year old making $75,000 would need about $2 million for a good retirement amount.
Having a plan for the future: Avoid anxiety about money
The first step to avoid the money shock and save for your retirement is to have a good financial plan in place. Your financial advisor should be able to tell you how much you need for retirement, where you are right now, and how you can get to the needed number. This usally is a back and forth process, with trade-offs made tomorrow – for today, and trade-offs made today – for tomorrow. .
Don’t let money anxiety take over, make the right decision and take control of your financial future. The Untangle Money MINI helps you feel great about your money by giving you the two numbers you need to pay attention to in order to keep your finances on track.
Want to learn more about saving money? Book an appointment with Untangle Money today! https://calendly.com/untangle-money-meetings/15min and learn more about Untangle Money here: https://www.untangle.money/
Connect with Kristine Beese
LinkedIn: Kristine Beese
Twitter: UntangleMoney or kristine_beese
Instagram: untanglemoney/
Tiktok: @untanglemoney
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