Financially Empowering Women

Consistent with my desire to financially empower women, I have been working with other researchers to understand why women are not financially empowered. Why are women not as prepared for retirement? Why are women not as financially literate? Why are women not as confident? One area where we hope to add to the body of knowledge is the area of cohort theory where we are finding very different financial behavior from generation to generation and the empirical results that we have found to-date contradicts what most people would think. According to cohort theory, important historical and societal events affect values, attitudes and ideology of individuals during earlier formative years. The precise delineation of each generation is debatable and depends upon the consequential event defining the personality of that generation, inducing similar life trajectories. Rational females should develop financial skills required for good financial decision making but different female cohorts exhibit varying levels of indep

Last year President Obama remarked on equal pay for equal work, which got people talking.  He said that “Today, the average full-time working woman earns just 77 cents for every dollar a man earns He went on to say that “in 2014, that’s an embarrassment.”  We know this data is correct and no one is  disputing that there is a wage gap, but some want to debate that the  difference is due to women’s life choices — such as women choosing to leave the workforce when they have children or take care of parents or simply provide support for their husbands to enable them to make a better salary. The pay gap of 23 cents is only part of the story.  Maybe you say to yourself that the gap does not matter since your husband is making a good salary.  That is fine for now.  But what about when you are in retirement?  Women receive smaller pensions and less social security than men because of this pay gap.  So it is important to understand that many decisions that we make throughout our life don’t just effect today, but have

Over the past eight years of financial turmoil, more Americans from all different backgrounds have suffered from shocks to their wages and benefits.    Some people are still out of work.  In addition, home values and personal saving have also taken a hit.  Another disruption to many Americans, something many people don’t consider, has come in the form of disabilities.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, almost 57 million people had a disability in 2010.  And on top of all that we know that half of all marriages in America end in divorce.   What is my point in stating all these facts?  Clearly in life the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.  So why do we have the hubris to think that we don’t need a plan?  No plan B, no contingency.   In fact, a recent Bankrate.com survey found that roughly 3 out of every 4 Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck, with little to no emergency savings.  Less than 1 in 4 Americans have enough money in their savings account to cover at least six months of expenses (

As a nation, Americans owe billions on outstanding credit cards and the average U.S. household with at least one credit card owes over $15,000 in credit-card debt.  Many Americans are in trouble as they endure harassment from debt collectors, yet only a fraction of people seek aid from a credit counselor. Many people confuse credit-counseling agencies with debt-settlement companies, who are often fraudulent organizations who make promises they can’t keep. Credit counselors advise people on how to make better budget and lifestyle decisions and develop a debt-management plan to pay back their creditors. Many counseling sessions are minimal in cost. Meanwhile, debt-settlement companies offer to negotiate with a person's creditors to reduce the amount of debt they own—and they usually charge a very large fee for their services. These debt-settlement organizations have deterred many people from getting good advice from credit counselors who can be trusted.  The National Foundation for Credit Counseling® (NFCC®), f

There are many academic and non-academic studies that talk about the power that women have over money.  A recent 2013 study that showed that 40% of households with children under the age of 18 were headed by breadwinning women.  That's four times higher than the number of breadwinning women who headed their households in 1960.  Along with earning more, women are taking control of their family's finances.  In marriages where the wife brings home a bigger paycheck, the woman is twice as likely as her husband to make the financial decisions.  This is good because when we take over the finances, we are developing essential skills that will be relevant for our entire life.  At Financially Empowering Women, our goal is to help you acquire knowledge and develop your financial skills.  While the skills are similar for both men and women, we know that women often approach finances differently than men and today’s guest agrees. Sharon Lechter, CPA, CGMA, is an international expert on money and entrepreneurship as well

Today’s show features Marty Guerrero, author of “Exposed: Auto Repair’s Dirty Little Secrets to Rip You Off!”, where she explains how we can take back our power when dealing with auto mechanics who often charge fees for services which are either unnecessary or, in some cases, aren't even done.  She exposes mechanics’ tricks and offers additional advice on things that you should know about your car to stay safe on the road. Find more information about Marty and her book on her website: www.martyguerrero.com

Women constitute 51 percent of the population and are earning, inheriting and controlling more money than ever. Yet a recent survey across the United States, United Kingdom and Asia surveyed women with a personal income of at least $100,000, or investable assets of $500,000 or more, and the research indicated that more than half of women surveyed do not have financial advisors. In the U.S., 47% of female wealth creators and 75% of women under 40 report not having an advisor. The numbers are high even in the upper end of the market.  While having a financial advisor is not required to become financially empowered, many women can benefit from some type of financial guidance but for whatever reason don’t choose to pursue it.  Maybe they don’t know whom to trust or maybe they simply don’t think that they can afford it. Professor Laura tells the story behind Financially Empowering Women and her vision of sharing financial guidance to women who, for whatever reason, do not have someone that they trust to help them.

While Social Security is important to most Americans, it is especially crucial to the financial security of women. Women live longer than men and they are less likely to receive a pension from their employer. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, in 2010, 46 percent of elderly unmarried women relied on Social Security for 90 percent or more of their total income. Social Security helps keep women aged 65 and older out of poverty. Social Security is dedicated to promoting public awareness about the programs they administer so we are fortunate to have Carl Robinson, Public Affairs Specialist with the Social Security Administration on this show to talk about Social Security and women. Carl RobinsonPublic Affairs Specialistwww.socialsecurity.gov/myaccount

It seems a good time to talk Medicare since we are in the middle the 2015 Medicare Annual Enrollment period which ends on December 7th.  Medicare is the federal health program that provides health coverage to 50 million Americans ages 65 and older and younger adults with permanent disabilities. Medicare is a vital source of retirement security for 23 million women ages 65 and over, who tend to have lower incomes to pay for health care. Women also tend to have more chronic conditions than older men and more than half of all older Medicare beneficiaries are women.  On this show,  Medicare Consultant, Mary Jeanne Cullen helps us understand how it works. Contact information for Mary Jeanne Cullen: MedicareAssist, LLC PO Box 22 Springfield, NJ 07081 908 400 9123 www.medicareassistnj.com

This episode is about making the decision to finally claim your financial power; it’s about learning from your mistakes and deciding not to be a victim of poor financial decisions.  I have been in finance all of my working life and I have met hundreds of women who have chosen to be financially dependent – usually dependent upon a man.   I’m not just talking about uneducated or non-working women.  Often they are college educated, who also contribute to the household finances.  On this show I have invited a guest, Diane, who has recently committed to become financially empowered.   Diane is college educated and has often been the primary breadwinner in her marriage, yet she didn’t pay attention to her finances until recently when she decided enough was enough and that her life had to change.  Listen to Diane’s story.

Allowing our emotions drive decisions will almost always result in a large financial mistake.  We know that emotions often get in the way of our decisions and there is no exception when we talk about the average American family’s single largest asset - their home, which conjures up all kinds of emotion.  Home is that safe place where you feel comforted and loved.  For many women it is a place of security, it is where we raised our children, had our first…” fill in the blank”.  We have many memories associated with our homes and we often make emotional decisions regarding our homes.  In this episode of Financially Empowering Women we will hear from Real Estate Expert, Virginia Cassidy (Ginny) who works as an agent with Remax in Mountain Lakes NJ.  Ginny is a professional real estate agent with a certificate in interior design.  Her introduction into the real estate business was working with “expired”  listings.  These are homes that have already been on the market and did not sell. These homes presented a chal

For many of us, our human capital (we measure this as the PV of all of our future earnings) is greater than our financial capital.  As a financial adviser, I view Human Capital as a very important asset in our overall wealth.  On this show we are going to talk about how woman can grow this very important asset class by discussing empowerment in your career. The most fundamental way for you as a working woman to increase your human capital is to get a raise.  Of course we want to convert this human capital into investment capital so that you can save and grow it for future needs such as retirement. Recent studies show that women’s earnings on average are about 77 percent of men’s.   Now there are reasons for this, such as, women taking time out of the work force for care-giving or women choosing careers that are not as highly compensated, but there are other barriers that we as women create.  Additional studies on the gender pay gap conclude that a key reason men get higher salaries on average is that they’re

Many of you have heard me say that when we plan for retirement, we should look at the things that we can control and put together our best plans to increase our probability of success.  Well that is all well and good but there is one thing that we cannot control and it is an area of life that scares us all.  Yes, we are talking about rising health care costs.  Many people find the idea of planning for these costs so daunting that they choose to ignore these costs altogether when planning for retirement.  Well, you know that ignoring something doesn’t make it go away, and furthermore, the idea of ignoring this problematic issue is incongruent with our philosophy of claiming our financial power.   One problem is that most people overestimate what Medicare will cover.  Medicare in general covers much less than traditional employer plans and it certainly does not cover long-term care needs if we are unable to help ourselves with the major activities of daily living.   So how do you plan?  There are calculators o

Today’s show is focused on international investing. While many investors have been shying away from investing in Europe and Emerging Markets, a well-diversified portfolio will have international investments that go beyond today’s news.  Our guest today is Bill Chisholm from Thornburg Investment Management who helps us understand why international investments are important.  Over the past 10 years, international investments have outperformed the US market, as measured by the S&P 500, 7 out of 10 times International equities represent more than half of the world’s market capitalization.  That has changed over the years.  When we look at performance, the US market, international developed markets and the international emerging markets, all have very different patterns of return.  In statistical jargon, they are all weakly correlated, so by including them together in a portfolio, an investor can improve their dollar return over the long-run by smoothing out volatility.  Most people don’t realize that volatili

In today’s show we discuss two very disparate topics; Women’s empowerment as consumers, and What are ETFs? Women’s Empowerment as consumers:  Money is one of the major sources of power. Understanding, controlling, managing, spending and earning money provides status, power, freedom and control of everyone and everything that money can buy.  As women, holding these abilities over money tips the scales and balances power, which is why I think the idea of financially empowering women is so very important. This is why we produce this podcast and offer seminars - to inspire women to become empowered and that is why we support organizations (from the local chapters of NOW to various other groups) that support women.  One such group is The Women’s Choice Award, which is dedicated to empowering women by supporting women’s decisions as consumers.  The Women’s Choice Award for Financial Advisors was created by WomenCertified®, Inc in partnership with WIFE.org (Women’s Institute for Financial Education).  Today we spe

For mothers of special needs children financial planning is not an option but rather a necessity! The child’s quality of life will depend upon your actions or inactions, as well as your ability and willingness to prepare today for tomorrow. Planning for children with special needs must be coordinated within the parents’ personal financial plan. When we work with a family with special needs we need to balance Comprehensive financial planning for the entire family with the needs of the child while incorporating the various disability and government programs available, in order to utilize the best planning techniques. Special needs attorneys play a critical role in the planning process for families with special needs members.  Special Needs Trusts, guardianship, and support in getting desired services and benefits are all reasons to work with attorneys.  It is very important to work with an attorney who specializes in these areas.   In this podcast, we have invited Laurie Hauptman, from Hauptman and Hauptman

Women provide the majority of informal care to spouses, parents, parents-in-law, friends and neighbors, and they play many roles while caregiving—hands-on health provider, care manager, friend, companion, surrogate decision-maker and advocate.  The demands on caregivers’ time are also substantial but women don’t abandon their caregiving responsibilities because of employment. Instead, they try to juggle combined pressures of caring for a loved one with their need for income and preparing for retirement.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the estimated percentage of informal caregivers who are women is between 69% - 75%.  Although men also provide care, female caregivers may spend as much as 50% more time providing care than male caregivers and are less likely to be employed full time. The percentage of women caregivers who report experiencing emotional stress due to their care giving role: 40% vs. 26% of the male caregivers. Traditionally, women have been socialized to fulfill the caretaking role in the ho

One thing preventing women from taking control over their financial lives is that we are often second-class citizens when it comes to earning money in most of corporate America where there has long been a salary gap along gender lines. The good news is that many female small business owners have discovered that business profitability is agnostic to the sex of the owner.  If you are a small business owner or a woman who is considering starting a small business, this program is for you.  We have invited Jehan (Gigi) T. Sanders, JTS Strategies LLC,  a Freelance Banker and Relationship Officer to help us understand the secret to a successful business.  Gigi tells us that it is all about relationships. In the ever so changing economy, business relationships are a mile wide and an inch deep with marginal growth.   Gigi’s  experience has taught her that when relationships are an inch wide and a mile deep margins are greater, growth is better, reputation is stronger, referrals are more meaningful and business grows.

We have invited Laurie Hauptman from Hauptman & Hauptman, P.C. to help us understand when you need an elder care attorney so that when a crisis hits, you’ll be emotionally, psychologically, and financially prepared to cope with this very difficult time. Laurie A. Hauptman, Esq. (www.hauptmanlaw.com) is a graduate of SUNY Binghamton and Hofstra Law School. For 8 years she was a trial attorney at a personal injury law firm before joining forces with her husband Yale in establishing Hauptman & Hauptman, PC.  A law firm devoted exclusively to elder and disability law. Laurie is a frequent lecturer on elder law and special needs topics. “What does an elder lawyer do?” is a common question we are asked. The answer is that we put together a plan to help people pay for their future long term care expenses.  We are different than estate planning lawyers in that estate planning lawyers answer the question “What happens if I die?” Elder lawyers answer the question “What happens if I live?” The adult children o

Divorce can be devastating, both emotionally and financially.  One joined life becomes two separate lives with separate finances and different directions.  Assets must be split, pensions must be split, custody of children determined, and child support and or alimony established.  Even in the best of circumstances where both parties are in full agreement and both want the divorce, the pressure is on since the same combined income that was used while they were married now must be stretched to pay expenses to operate two households instead of one. Historically most people never attempted to project what effect the various decisions might have on each spouse’s long term financial well-being.  No one was available who fully understood the ramifications of these decisions on: Your projected lifestyle Your future net worth Your tax liability Your retirement Today’s guest is Claudia Mott, MBA, CFP, CDFA and owner of Epona Financial Solutions.  As a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst™ (CDFA) she has been trained to