While money is not the be all and end all of what we are here on this planet, it can certainly hfielp you improve the quality of our life. That is why it’s important to be sensible and safeguard it. Unfortunately, there are a lot of major problems, that women in particular face concerning money. Below is a rundown of these issues and the way in which you can deal with them.
Some Don’t Plan For Their Retirement
While retirement may seem a long way off, it can creep up on your unawares. Especially when you are planning your finances. The problem is that it can be hard to start to put away money now when you are talking about such a long time in the future. But in fact, it is the extended amount of time that you have before you retire that makes your finances manageable.
It is also common for women who may have had an interruption in their career to raise children to rely on their partner’s retirement fund. However, this is not the best way of providing for security in their golden years.
If you are in a company that is offering a 401K, it’s important that you take advantage of that. While It can be more convenient to have the money in your hand now, there are a lot of benefits that come with a 401K. These include your employer also putting away money for your retirement. This means you get a much better return on your payments that you would if you were just saving.
Some Don’t Invest
If you are not currently employed but have some capital, then you can make investments for your retirement fund. You can choose to invest in the stock market, which is known to have around 9% return rate over a period of time. This is much better than a bank interest rate, and of course, over time you can accumulate a hefty sum.
However, you do need to be able to cope without the money that you have invested. This will allow you to keep in in the investment until it becomes profitable. As market rates of certain stocks and shares go both down as well as up, you will only win at this game if you keep your money in until it son an upswing.
Or some people choose to invest in property. The idea being that they either buy it outright or with a mortgage, with the view that property will increase in value over time. So after 20 years the property is then sold again, and the profits provide a retirement fund for them to live on during their twilight light years.
This can work well, even if we don’t have enough money to buy a property outright. Many people choose to get a ‘buy to let mortgage’ and then rent the property out. The rent covers the mortgage payments, and so the end profit of the sale remains yours.
Some Don’t Recognize The Effect Of The Pink Tax
Of course, something that all women face but many are unaware of is what is known as the “Pink Tax.”
This refers to the fact that women often have more basic items to buy, and that there is a premium on the cost of those items. Sanitary items, makeup, underwear and clothes all cost money, and can’t be done without. Some stores have even got in trouble for charging a premium on women’s clothing when they are not doing the same for men.
Combine this with the gender pay gap, and it’s not easy to see why women are still worse off what their male counterparts. This all smacks of covert gender inequality and the best thing that you can do to combat it stay educated and campaign against the problem.
Some Are Not Aware Of The Issues Around Gendered Pay
Of course, another gendered issue of pay is that money that mothers received when they are on maternity leave. Ok, so we see some paternity leave too now, but things are definitely not equal.
Also, it is expected that women can cope on maternity leave because they have a partner that is supporting them. However, for many women, this is not the case. This means that they have to survive on a severely decreased income at a sensitive time in their lives, or return to work against their wishes. How is it possible that we as women are penalized for reproducing when the human race needs this to survive?
Of course, the ethos is that “stay at home moms” are devalued in our culture. Both psychologically and financially, as they are not paid but the government to do this task. Which is strange because when they do go back to work, they then have to pay other people for doing pretty much the same childcare tasks.
If you are a stay at home mom, make sure that you family’s income is divided in a way that you have equal access to both the household money and money of your own. Don’t get into a situation when you are reliant on another for your money and have to ask them every time you want something.
So what can we do about it? Well, it is illegal for employers to pay men and women working in the same place and doing a similar job different wages. But it is hard to enforce in practice.
First of all, you may not always know what you coworkers are on, and it can be difficult to ask. Also even if you do know that they are earning more, you can be seen as a troublemaker if you demand the same legal wage. Maternity pay differs from company to company as does child care accesses.
If you think that you are being mistreated on any of these points due to your gender, then it is best to get in touch with your company union representative. They will be able to advise you on whether to proceed further with your complaint.
Some Have To Pay Off Their Tuition Fees
It is more prudent to save and invest while you are younger. This is because your money has longer to mature and earn you better returns. But many people can’t do this because they have to prioritize paying off their college debt.
More women than men complete their college degrees, that is why more women are left with the crippling college debt to pay off. This can affect your financial well-being, especially if you don’t manage to get a job that reflects your qualifications.
The best way of dealing with this is to be proactive. Make sure that you gain practical work experience while you are in college. Send out your resume before you graduate to companies that you’d like to work for, even if they don’t have any current vacancies. Call they every so often to follow up. This will help you to get the best paying role you can, which means you will pay off that college debt much faster.
You can also work through college so you don’t need to borrow so much money, but just ensure that this does not jeopardize your studies or values.
If you have already graduated, you can make some cut back in your day to day life, which will allow you to overpay your loan and get it settled quicker.
Skip that Starbucks on the way to work, and make a sandwich take with you instead of buying your lunch from the canteen. Sell unwanted items that are just gathering dust like old clothes, shoes, and even online gift cards. Things like this can seem small, but they can add up to thousands, which can be used against your debt.
Some Don’t Respect Credit Charges
If you work hard, it can be pretty tempting to treat yourself now and again, even if you haven’t got the cash right there and then. The problem was that to do that without any money, you will need to buy on credit. Credit is when the store or provide loans you the money to complete your purchase.
This is usually a bad idea because they don’t loan you that money for free. They make you pay a credit charge, Which is a percentage fee on the money that you still owe them. That way they make money off of your choosing to purchase things on credit.
If you are not aware of how paying this credit charge will fit in with your monthly budget, then it’s best not to get it. If you don’t respect the credit charges on items you finances can easily spiral out of control.
Some Don’t Have An Emergency Fund
You know when you played Monopoly as a kid, and you always kept $100 dollars back, so when it looked like you were out of the game, you could stage a comeback. Well, that is what an emergency fund is. Whether you are in a relationship or single it pays to have some money tucked away for a rainy day that’s just yours, and you’re alone.
Too many women pool all of their funds with their partners, which can make it difficult to access if the relationship breaks down. Remember that life is not always easy and things happened that you just didn’t see coming. That is why you need some financial help in reserve that is just for you.
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