What Women Want

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Today we add to the GreaterFool family of bloggers courageous (or reckless) enough to place their thoughts, beliefs and best advice before the rabble this pathetic site has attracted. Tatiana Enhorning works as a Financial Advisor at Turner Investments, where she builds and maintains portfolios. She has extensive experience in the asset management business, on both the institutional and retail sides. – Garth

   By Guest Blogger Tatiana Enhorning.

According to DeBeers, it’s diamonds. According to your gym, it’s men with muscles and according to your mom, it’s a successful husband and a bunch of babies. These might be true for some. Being financially literate wouldn’t usually jump to mind.

My late grandmother was fortunate in many of these areas. In addition to having the idyllic life of a respected doctor’s wife, she had four healthy children, money was plentiful and they spent winters down south. She was university educated, fluent in several languages and truly the woman behind the man. My grandfather revered her and conforming to traditional marital roles worked for them. She was adept at taking care of business at home while he built his career and took care of business outside the home, which included their finances and investments. And what’s wrong with that? She wasn’t interested in the finances, she was far too busy anyway!

Well the answer is nothing was wrong…until everything was wrong.

My grandfather spent his life providing for the family and building wealth, so that his wife would never want for anything. But when he passed, my grandmother suddenly found herself in charge of a mountain of financial documents she had never dealt with before. Life happens. Most of us know someone who has suddenly found themselves without their life partner. The average widow is now only 56 years old and widowed women account for 45 percent of all women over age 65, according to Statistics Canada, and senior widows outnumber senior widowers by four to one.

We can’t prevent life events from happening, but we can prepare for them. Division of labour within a household is necessary but managing the entire family’s financial future is not just another household task. Unlike mowing the lawn or doing laundry, if you’re not used to dealing with money, let alone investments, it’s hard to pick up on short notice.

Once she was on her own, my grandmother often expressed that she couldn’t buy something at the grocery store because she “didn’t have enough money”. This shocked me — they had always had enough! When I looked at her assets, I was surprised to see a disconnect. From a financial standpoint, she had more than enough to live comfortably. Yet the ample assets on her statements were not making her feel secure. It was excruciating to see her not only in mourning, but also anxious about money. Nothing her family said could reassure her and it became very clear to me that having a large nest egg does not necessarily equate to financial comfort. A number on a page can be rendered meaningless if it has no context. My grandmother was very intelligent, but she was not financially literate, so she couldn’t extrapolate how long her money would last or whether she could continue to live comfortably. She was, therefore, left worrying she could run out of money at any time.

Of course, I cannot say what every woman wants. But I imagine not having to stress about money would be desirable for most people.

Whoever you are, as a reader of this blog you have likely learned many things over time which could benefit someone you care about — especially those who may not find finance as interesting as you do. Countless clients have told me over the years that it’s common for women in particular, not to get as involved in the finances because they feel they don’t have enough knowledge or don’t know where to start. If you know anyone like that, then sharing your knowledge and encouraging them to play a more active role can help ensure they achieve what everyone wants — to be financially free and comfortable throughout their life.

It may not be riveting to learn, but we can’t avoid it forever. Understanding the fundamentals and how one’s finances can be used to achieve long term goals can be very powerful in gaining a sense of overall financial wellness. Not everyone needs to be an expert, but everyone should get involved.

Cover the basics:

Get organized
Gather financial documents and ensure you can access all accounts. Make sure wills, executors and power of attorney documents are updated and in a secure place. Compile the contact details of all family financial advisors, accountants, bankers and lawyers. Hope for the best, while being prepared for the worst.

Get educated
It’s not necessary to follow the markets every day or take financial courses to make sense of personal finances. Get to know your financial professionals, attend the meetings and get used to how the investments work. Get curious and get your questions answered. Clarify the jargon, understand the fee structure and whether or not the risk is right for you.

Get advice
If the above seems daunting, ask a professional Financial Advisor for help. Money can be very tough to talk about, so finding someone who is trusted and easy to talk to is important. Like the relationship with your family doctor, the more trusting and open the lines of communication, the better and more personalized the advice can be. The right Financial Advisor can help you make a plan, understand the securities that will work best for your goals and guide you through the many transitions life may have in store.

My grandparents hadn’t realized how critical financial literacy would become to my grandmother’s overall wellbeing later in life. But if they had, I’m sure she would have endeavored to build a general understanding of their assets and how they work. If she had this financial knowledge base ahead of time it could have, at very least, reduced the acute and overwhelming stress she was thrust into.

By starting now and increasing financial literacy progressively over time, women can achieve and maintain the financial comfort and confidence everyone wants.

Tatiana Enhorning is a Financial Advisor with Turner Investments. She builds and maintains portfolios for clients across Canada, and has been in the business as an asset manager for more than a decade.