Financial Answers "IN SIMPLE LANGUAGE"

I just came across some interesting research about women and their financial advisors.  Whether you are a women reading this or not or a financial advisor, female or male, you better take note of what is happening in the investment advisory world around you.

 

You’re Fired!

 

This recent research conducted by Allianz Life Insurance Company stated that within one year of a women becoming widowed, 70% of these widows fired their financial advisor.  We have talked about this issue before in some of my “Women & Finance” posts.  For some reason financial advisors are still missing the boat.

 

Let’s take a look why this may be happening.  It seems many financial advisors are not contacting their women clients during this severe market downturn we all are experiencing.  21% of women clients as compared to 6% of men clients said they have not heard from their financial advisors.  That’s one out of every five female clients is being ignored.

 

Another problem that has developed during this financial meltdown is that 14% of female clients stated that they are hearing from their financial advisor less and less.  Whereas, only 4% of men had the same complaint.  Does anyone see a communications problem here?

 

Who really controls the money?

 

Maybe some of us of us have been asleep for awhile but it has been my experience that women really control the money in the family.  If you don’t believe that have a talk with your wife and then call your divorce attorney.  All kidding aside, women do control most of the money and will continue to control most of the money because men don’t live as long or usually get sick and have to be taken care of by women.  This is the way it works so get used to it.

 

We cannot look at women like our fathers did in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s.  Those days are gone and women are more important than ever in today’s modern financial society.  Even in those bygone years my mother handled the money in my family.  My father came home from the shoe factory and handed my mother an envelope with his paycheck in cash in it and she handed him his allowance.  Then my mother would figure out what bills needed to be paid and when and would usually drag me along on the bus to go and pay the bills.

 

It is estimated that somewhere between 80% to 90% of women will be solely responsible for their finances somewhere in their lives.  Yet many financial advisors are not picking up on this reality. 

 

How many women are business owners?  Or received an inheritance? Or are the breadwinners in the household?  It is a different world and if you still don’t believe that women control the finances in this country than you need to look around and do some research.

 

More attention needs to be paid to women

 

Financial advisors, both male and female,  need to be providing more seminars, workshops, and forums for women so they can better educate these women and develop a long term financial relationship…which is what most women want.

 

Surveys have shown that women, more than men, were more responsive to financial advisor’s suggestions and didn’t bailout of these suggested investments as easily as the financial advisor’s male clients.

 

Many of the female clients also said they were more satisfied with the results of the financial advisor’s suggestions.  This to me makes for a better client to work with.  Financial advisors need to start rethinking their marketing plans.

 

Female investors were also more risk adverse than their male counterparts.  And also female investors are more apt to consult with their friends and family where men usually don’t.

 

So if you are a women reading this talk with your current financial advisor and express your investment concerns and tell your financial advisor what you expect out of this business relationship.  If you are a financial advisor than listen, really listen to what your women clients are saying.

 

If you read this far there may be something about this post that you are relating to.  There may be some financial related pain In Simple Language is talking about.  Tell us your story.  We really do want to know.

 

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Thank you for taking the time to visit In Simple Language.  J 

  

Copyright © 2008-2009  “All Rights Reserved”

 

Looking for a financial speaker or financial writer?  Contact Rich today at rsowa@insimplelanguage.com or call Sowa Financial Media now at (502) 569-1714.

 

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Member One Southern Indiana Chamber of Commerce

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Things are certainly changing in who is handling the household finances.  Women are stepping up to the plate more and more.  This is probably a good thing since us guys have been screwing things up long enough.  Let’s see if the women can fix our mess.

 

Recent Surveys

 

There seems to be a lot of recent surveys conducted by financial institutions on how who is handling the family finances is changing.  Women & Co. (www.womenandco.com), a Citigroup financial resource program, released their findings and said that 63% of the women surveyed said that they were responsible for the majority of their family’s financial decisions.

 

Another survey conducted by New York City based Campden Media (www.campden.com) showed that 88% of the women in the study have a high to moderate role in the management of family assets.

 

Women Look to Financial Advisors

 

It seems that more and more women are looking to financial advisors for help in making financial decisions.  The Citigroup survey showed that women said that financial advisors were their primary source for financial information.  Their spouse or partner and reading and research came after their financial advisor.

 

Women approach financial matters in a different way than men.  Men don’t want help in the same way that women do.  There is a lot of truth in the way men don’t want to ask for directions if they get lost.  The same holds true with investing.  Men just want some direction and they’ll do the rest.  They don’t need to make a relationship out of working with their financial advisor.

 

Women, on the other hand, want help but they also want to establish a long term working relationship.  One of the studies concluded that women want to be more engaged and have more collaboration with their resources.  Women take a broader view.  Women at the same stage of their life as men have different priorities and concerns than men.  This may be in part because they know they will usually outlive their male counterparts so they have to think about financial matters in a different way.

 

Wealthy Women

 

Wealthy women in particular want their financial advisors to be focused on building a long term business relationship and not on financial transactions. 

 

Another major difference that was disclosed in one of the surveys showed that women are not necessarily interested in power, like their male counterparts usually are, but rather women see wealth as a means to independence and equaling personal productivity and empowerment.

 

One of the studies also disclosed that very wealthy women want a holistic approach to wealth management.  They want to emphasize establishing family governance structures.  And they are very interested in educating their children about financial matters.

 

Overall the most effective way of working with women, especially high net worth women, is to establish a long term business relationship with them.

 

Charitable Decision Making

 

Fidelity Investments (www.fidelity.com) did a recent survey through its Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund program which included 1,003 respondents.  The survey showed that women with annual incomes of $150,000 or more were the main decision makers in their family’s philanthropic decisions.  What we are seeing is more and more women taking over the family finances.  And as I stated previously, the guys had their shot now let’s see what the ladies can do to straighten out the mess we made.

 

If you read this far there may be something about this post that you are relating to.  There may be some financial related pain In Simple Language is talking about.  Tell us your story.  We really do want to know.

 

·         Please ask your questions of In Simple Language and we will answer you as soon as possible in the comments section of the blog article you asked about.

 

·         Please give In Simple Language your comments and suggestions about this post and/or future topics of interest to you.

 

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Thank you for taking the time to visit In Simple Language.  J 

  

Copyright © 2008-2009  “All Rights Reserved”

 

Looking for a financial speaker or financial writer?  Contact Rich today at rsowa@insimplelanguage.com or call Sowa Financial Media now at (502) 569-1714.

 

Check out the “SERVICES” tab above the beginning of the post for all available services.

 

Member One Southern Indiana Chamber of Commerce

 

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I know it is hard to be positive in this economy because of all of the negative news.  And the last thing anyone wants to hear is another problem whether it is here and now or is coming down the road to run us over.  However, do you really want to bury your head in the sand and hope that everything is going to be alright rather than putting some effort into addressing the problems?

 

The purpose of this particular post is to make people aware, especially women, that there is another freight train rolling down the tracks heading right for them.  This is not to scare you. I don’t want to do that. I want you to be informed so you can take action as soon as possible and lessen the impact when that train hits.  And it will.  Because that train is part of life and is called the “getting older express.”

 

Plan Today the Best That You Can

 

Unfortunately with today’s economy in the crapper-named after Sir Thomas Crapper inventor of the toilet, not John Crapper-people are more focused about today and not thinking about tomorrow.  Downsizing and job losses are forcing us to rethink our retirement planning.  Losing half our retirement monies to the stock market has taken its toll on when and how we will retire.

 

This is a difficult situation but one we must face.  What we are not hearing about anymore is that 76 million baby boomers are continuing to retire or semi-retire and statistically speaking one out of two of them, that’s 38 million, will face some kind of long term health care issue at least once in their lives.

 

And a large portion of those 38 million will be divorced or single women who have made less money than their male counterparts, don’t seek financial advice, and haven’t saved enough money for retirement let alone planned  for long term health care needs.  We have the makings of another financial crisis coming around the bend.

 

A Luxury or a Necessity

 

A recent survey by America’s Health Insurance Plans has shown that planning for long term care by women has gone by the wayside.  With the economy in shambles, many women are looking at long term care as being a luxury rather than a necessity.

 

A group of women surveyed between the ages of 30 and 59 has shown that women are looking differently at their long term care planning needs because of the declining values of their portfolios.

 

Many women-and men-are under the mistaken notion that Medicare or Medicaid is going to take care of their long term care needs.  Medicare is health insurance and has very little to do with long term care and Medicaid, a state run program, only kicks in when you become literally destitute. Flat broke!

 

 

Long Term Care Insurance

 

I do not sell or represent any companies that offer long term care insurance but I am a big advocate of it.  My brother recently died and was under long term care for the last five years.  If he had not been in the military, with a military related disease, he would have been wiped out.

 

Long term care insurance is only one of the answers.  It can be expensive so you need to shop around.  Women are most susceptible to the needs of long term care insurance because they almost always outlive the men.  A blessing or a curse?  You decide.

 

I would suggest that you learn what you can about long term care insurance through your state’s insurance department and plan accordingly.  Do something today while you still qualify. My brother had his retirement all planned out and none of us imagined that this disease would come out of nowhere, incapacitate him for almost five years and eventually kill him. Go on the internet and get the free state information on long term care today.

 

If you read this far there may be something about this post that you are relating to.  There may be some financial related pain In Simple Language is talking about.  Tell us your story.  We really do want to know.

 

·         Please ask your questions of In Simple Language and we will answer you as soon as possible in the comments section of the blog article you asked about.

 

·         Please give In Simple Language your comments and suggestions about this post and/or future topics of interest to you.

 

·         Like what you read?  Send it to a friend.  Click on “share this post” right above leave a comment below.

 

·         Did you remember to bookmark this blog?

 

Thank you for taking the time to visit In Simple Language.  J     Copyright © 2009

 

Looking for a financial speaker or financial writer?  Contact Rich today at rsowa@insimplelanguage.com or call Sowa Financial Media now at (502) 569-1714.

 

Check out the “SERVICES” tab above the beginning of the post for all available services.

 

Member One Southern Indiana Chamber of Commerce 

 

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Let’s take a look at women & finances again, only this time with a little different twist.  I want to take a look not only at women but African-American women.

 

What’s The Difference?

 

I’m doing my usual research for items of interest for In Simple Language and I come across information about a study that was completed recently in Atlanta.  This study surveyed over 1,000 African-American women over age 18 with incomes of at least $25,000.  This study also included about 450 non African-American women so we have to assume that most of the responses given in the study were from the African-American women.

 

It seems the study suggested that most of these women were having a difficult time maintaining their life styles because of their family obligations.  Many of these women are helping handle financial obligations of their families which is creating problems for themselves.  They were loaning money to family members, the survey didn’t say whether or not they were being paid back, and not investing for themselves for today or for their retirement years.

 

No Plans Or Planner

 

Amazingly enough, 7 out of 10 of the respondents didn’t have a financial advisor let alone a financial plan.  They were just winging it.  The survey showed that many women were not only giving much financial support to their families but also to their religious organizations.  They put themselves in second and third place when it came to financially supporting themselves. 

 

The survey also showed that many of these women had held jobs, consistently, and had probably accumulated a decent amount of money.  Yet, they were handling family finances, paying for their children’s education and helping their parents with their financial health issues.  And again, not doing much of anything financially for themselves.

 

The survey also said that African-American women tend to be very loyal to family members.  Does that mean that the other women in the study aren’t?  Yow! 

 

No Time

 

This survey also stated that African-American women are less likely to have a financial plan in place as compared to other women.  Why?  The study said that they just hadn’t gotten around to it.  Over all, African-American women are financially confident.

 

Their just like everyone else. Too busy with their families and religious organizations so they just haven’t gotten around to working on their own financial plans.

 

If you read this far there must be something about this post that you are relating to.  There must be some financial related pain In Simple Language is talking about.  Tell us your story.  We really do want to know.

 

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• Please give In Simple Language your comments and suggestions about this post and/or future topics of interest to you.
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Thank you for taking the time to visit In Simple Language.  J  Copyright 2008

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In discussing yet another posting about women & finance, I have come across another recent survey that discusses the issue of women and their relationship with a financial advisor.

 

Who Do You Trust?

 

I’ve discussed this “trusting of financial advisors” topic in past blogs but not in any detail.  It seems that women do trust their financial advisors.  However they trust their accountant, banker, and insurance agent more.  Sounds like some financial advisors need to get their act together on how they work with women. 

 

Basically women are complaining that their financial advisors are not listening to them.  Since I was a financial advisor-stockbroker for 16 years-I have seen this many times.  There is something about  being a financial advisor that makes many people want to prove how smart they are by talking way more than they should.  Maybe it’s just an ego thing with those people.

 

So Whose Listening To You?

 

Any successful financial advisor worth their salt became successful and stayed successful, both monetarily and longevity of their business, because they were good listeners.  They talked with the client when it was necessary and appropriate but were listening more often than not.

 

How can you solve a person’s financial problems if you don’t know what they are?  Yet it still holds true today.  Too many financial advisors talk way too much and especially when it comes to talking to female clients.  I’ve heard this complaint over and over again from my female relatives and friends that have dealt with financial advisors.  And this is true of both male and female financial advisors.

 

Communicate

 

The name of the game today and always has been effective communication between client and financial advisor.  Yet, this communication gap, of talking too much and not listening, is still alive and well today.   There is an old saying, and yes maybe it’s a tired old saying, but it does make sense.  That saying is, “we have two ears and one mouth.  There must be a reason”.

 

 I have been a member of Toastmasters International, a communications and leadership organization, for about five years.  And although a lot of what we do has to do with speaking, there is still that element of listening effectively that is practiced and encouraged through the various roles we take during our meetings.  Unfortunately, I have not seen many classes on effective listening that are available anywhere.  It is something we need more of.

 

If you have read this far than there must be something about this post that you are relating to.  There must be some financial related pain In Simple Language is talking about.  Tell us your story.  We really do want to know.

 

• Please ask your questions of In Simple Language.
• Please give In Simple Language your comments and suggestions about this post and/or future topics of interest to you.
• Like what you read?  Send it to a friend.  Click on “share this post” right above leave a comment below.
• Did you remember to book mark this blog?

 

Thank you for taking the time to visit In Simple Language.  J Copyright 2008

 

Looking for a financial speaker or financial writer?  Contact Rich today at rsowa@insimplelanguage.com or call Sowa Financial Media now at (502)-569-1714.

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