How to Create More Women Investors

Nearly 1 in 5 women had nothing saved for retirement in 2020, according to a CNBC survey. Women Pre-pandemic, women investors brought about $70,000 less to retirement than men according to a 2019 study.

Are women just too busy shopping to invest??? Are women just naturally worse investors because of our lady brains? Do women not realize how long it takes to become a millionaire?

Or could it be that women are up against bigger barriers when it comes to getting paid equally and gaining access to an investment account?

The Truth Behind the Numbers For Women Investors

Articles written about women’s money are often written in a way that makes it sound like women are just poor planners and naturally bad at money management.

Take this paragraph form a CNBC article for example:

“It’s a harsh reality of modern retirement planning: Women live on average five years longer than men, yet they accumulate less for retirement. According to the 2019 Bank of America Merrill Lynch Workplace Benefits Report, women come to retirement with $70,000 less than men.”

The very first sentence reads like “women have the audacity to live longer but are too dumb to save for it!”

It’s insulting and it’s misleading. Women are much less likely to have a workplace retirement account than men (which reminds me: open an IRA TODAY if you haven’t already!) due to women holding the majority of part time jobs which don’t offer benefits.

It’s not the woman’s fault that the job doesn’t offer benefits. It’s the jobs fault. That’s why it’s so important to examine how we speak about women investors and really examine the path forward for the next generation.