Smart Women Finish Rich
“Every day, people come to me in their 50’s, ready to start planning for their retirement,” says Celeste Friend, a financial advisor with Morgan Stanley. Unfortunately the numbers don’t add up as well if you wait that long to
start.
What Friend hopes more people will realize is that “the sooner you begin to invest, the less you will need to invest over a lifetime.” She explains that based upon the average return for mid-cap stocks “if you invest $2,000 a year starting at age 19 through age 25 for a total of $14,000 by the time you retire at 65 you will have close to $2.4 million. By comparison, if you start saving $2,000 a year at age 26 and continue to do so until age 65, for a total of $80,000, you will have approximately $1.8.”
For women, the scenario is even more daunting than for men. While women spend an average of 11.5 years unemployed, often due to child or elderly parent care, men spend an average of 16 months without employment.
Women have not taken the lead when it comes to planning their financial future. “What got me focused on this area was when I began as a financial advisor, I called a friend from high school and asked her “What are you doing about your investing?”. My friend answered she didn’t know, “her husband handles that.”
This lack of initiative can hurt women especially those involved in a divorce, or facing life as a widow. Eventually, most are forced to take a close look at their financial future when the situation is the least conducive to effective planning. Friend’s workshop is designed to help women become more proactive in their financial planning. Offered through the Office of Continuing Education, and based upon David Bach’s best selling book, “Smart Women Finish Rich,” it will feature issues such as organizing finances, where to find the money in your budget to save and invest, tackling credit cards, taxes and the impact it has on investments, as well as why you need to save as early as possible.
It is not necessary to purchase the book; a workbook will be supplied to help participants determine factors such as their net worth. Friend offers to meet individually with workshop participants to help them with their financial planning. Through this effort, women can begin to identify the components of their financial nest egg that she refers to as ‘baskets’. A woman’s financial resources can be divided into these baskets to help accomplish personal savings goals such as “retirement, saving for a child’s college expenses, or dreams such as a trip to Hawaii or that house on the golf course.”
It helps to develop “emotional stamina when you realize that by choosing not to go through the drive-thru, or buy that latte, or daily candy bar, you can save for the goals you’ve placed in your baskets,” says Friend.
She feels this seminar can be particularly helpful for women who may be in the process of restarting their lives following a divorce, or women just beginning their careers. She also hopes to help couples plan their financial futures by offering a workshop based upon the book, “Smart Couples Finish Rich,” in the near future.
“Smart Women Finish Rich” will be offered on two dates, April 20 and June 28 from 6 to 8 p.m. Registration and payment for the class must be made by the day before each seminar. The cost for one person is $20, and if you bring a friend along, the cost for two is a total of $30. Information on the seminar can be found by calling the division of Continuing Education at (423) 697-3100.
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