Welcome to another Monday and a new week.
In continuation of last week’s International Women’s Day celebrations, we will still be looking at how women can break the bias when it comes to financial literacy and wealth-building or creation.
According to a survey of 150,000 people from over 140 countries, only 30% of women could be considered to be financially literate. In the same survey, it was discovered that rather than attempt; women declined answering financial questions they were unsure of more times than the men. The women in essence chose inaction or avoidance rather than risk being wrong.
If you would recall last week, we mentioned that women would rather rely on known facts before investing whilst their male counterparts would usually follow their instincts. A fact that has contributed to the growth in the share of global wealth controlled by men. Research indicates that this behaviour is not necessarily about confidence or knowledge but rather, a combination of many reasons.
It is believed that the relationship of women to financial literacy is influenced by more than one factor. Some of the influencing factors include – education, family background, exposure, and social network amongst other things. These influences materialize over time, especially from childhood. It is believed that our money habits are typically developed by the time we are seven years old.
One of the ways of breaking the hold of “analysis paralysis” is to become fearless and endeavor to explore more opportunities outside our comfort zone. The adage, “fortune favours the brave” is the most apt expression to describe what women need to do in this regard.
Trust me, it is not as easy as it sounds but needs to be done. For example, we can commit to investing in a new asset class (NFTs or angel investing, etc) in the 2nd quarter of the year.
Actively seeking female mentors or role models is another way of breaking the bias. Solomon rightly said the companion of fools will be a fool. In order to become better, we need to learn from those who have “been there and done it”. Associating with these mentors, ensures we normalize talking about investing and wealth creation.
Starting early is another failproof way of ensuring we do better for those coming behind us. Many of us can easily recall money mistakes we made simply because we didn’t know any better. One way of ensuring we break the cycle is to be open about these mistakes to the females we have in our social cycles. Like I mentioned last week, we must endeavoUr to make disciples of as many people as possible.
Here’s wishing us all a fantastic week ahead.
Toyin Oguntuyi