Women and the Wealth Journey

Asked about their biggest financial regret, a sizeable portion of women participating in a recent study¹ said they didn’t invest enough. The women also reported that they wished they’d chosen a career with higher pay, not taken on as much credit card debt and lived within or below their means. While these issues may be common among many women, the great news is that financial regrets, like mistakes, are correctable if not avoidable. For women, this means growing your financial knowledge base and sense of confidence to tackle your goals over the long term. Indeed, focusing on longevity – and the requisite long-term financial and wealth planning – is particularly important now that women are living much longer. In Canada, for instance, women on average live four years longer than men².

Significantly, there is a clear trend towards financial empowerment for women in Canada. An increasing number of women are creating wealth (due to greater workforce participation as they become the leading holders of post-secondary degrees) or inheriting wealth (as they come into money from parents and/or spouses). In fact, by 2024 the privately held wealth of Canadian women is estimated to rise from $1.2 trillion to $2.7 trillion, representing 50 per cent of total private wealth in this country.

And while every woman has unique life circumstances and a different approach to money matters, there are also some common elements. For many women, money is an emotional subject closely tied to safety, security and independence. Add to this the fact that many women are currently swept up in caring for elderly parents while at the prime of their careers, managing the household and raising teenagers. This can create feelings of anxiety, loss of time and control in the “sandwich” generation of women.

“Women see money as a means to an end. And as such, they want to connect money and investing to their lives,” says Sarah Widmeyer, Richardson Wealth’s Director of Wealth Strategies. “Don’t simply tell me about the biggest pile of money I can accumulate, explain my money in terms of what it can do for me – if something happens, can I still stay in my house? Can I afford to send my kids to the universities of their choice or take in my aging mother to live with me?” Widmeyer says.

“There’s a big difference in how men and women consider themselves to be doing well financially. Men are more likely to be satisfied with seeing a healthy return on their investment portfolio, if not competitively wired to seeing how their portfolio return ranks against others, whereas women want assurance that they are on track to meet their financial goals and will have enough accumulated to last them through their declining years.”