We frequently get deeply immersed in our mundane activities to make a living. So much so that we forget the mere joy we feel as we get our paycheck to meet our expenditures and allocate the remaining sum as our savings.
In this process, we neglect the idea of engaging in investing, which is the next essential step to grow our financial health to enable us to fulfil our life goals. Investments are the most pragmatic way to build wealth and can lead to compounding benefits.
Traditionally, men have known to lead the financial investment decisions for the family. However, with a gradual increase in the number of working women, both men and women are now driving these choices jointly.
Furthermore, as women are increasingly becoming independent and playing a key role in the decision-making process for themselves and their families, the pressure on women to gather relevant knowledge of personal financing tools and to manage their individual investments have risen profusely.
As Warren Buffet says, “do not save what is left after spending, spend what is left after saving”, is the outlook women must have to proceed in the investment domain.
Whether a woman decides to pursue her career into the corporate world, work as an entrepreneur, take a leap from her career to pursue a talent, take a break and raise her family or do more than one of these things simultaneously, it is essential that she enjoys financial independence to secure herself as well as the dependent family members. The right investment made at the right time will provide her a safety cover such that it cushions the various financial retrievals in both planned and unseen situations. These may include: medical emergencies and situations like that of single motherhood, legal battles, being laid off from workplace, loan requirements, retirement and so forth.
With more and more women entering the workforce, there has been a surge in individual aspirations to take on the entrepreneurial road and establish their own start-ups. A large part of the start-up sector, however, still remains male dominated due to two major reasons: firstly, due to the low risk-taking appetite of women and secondly, women not necessarily always having access to adequate funds to kick- off businesses independently.
A start-up venture requires a well laid out business plan infused with a good amount of financial investments to minimize debt. To support such entrepreneurial goals investment plays a vital role and therefore women aspiring to become business owners need to calculate and take on appropriate investment options early on in their careers.
Undoubtedly, every woman must know that financial investments enable us to realize both our long-term and short-term goals. As women take-on the reins of life in their hands, they very quickly ought to realize that money is a key deciding factor that impacts the simplest of decisions that one is required to make almost everyday i.e. towards meeting basic livelihood needs, planning for the family (including children’s education) or those decisions that may have a long-term implication like asset acquisition (buying a house or office space or land parcel etc.).
With respect to long-term goals, we need to invest now and ensure we have sufficient funds to actually be able to aspire and plan for them, such as traveling, be it with family or friends. It is important to choose and employ the right investment today to ensure our investments perform positively with the growth of markets and industries to deal with uncontrollable factors like ever-growing inflation and depreciating value of money.
All said and done, women must be able to establish a broader outlook that encourages wealth creation to have a more secure future. They must be able to take full control of wealth creation with support from the right experts, advisors and specialized mobile apps. It is necessary for women to undertake financial planning for the long-term to be able to step-up from the traditional view of being the ‘budget queen’ to being the ‘investment expert’ by taking on the right course of action to grow their money.
Having wealth creation, as the ultimate target can eventually enable women to become more confident of their financial decisions, help them in expanding their financial knowledge and further generate better opportunities to manage their income and expenses for life with complete financial freedom.
(Views expressed in this article are a personal opinion of Priti Rathi Gupta, Founder of LXME-Digital Investment Platform for women)
