Finance – Adelaide Financial Advice

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Women have many natural abilities and skills that may make them better suited for this task than men. Here are four reasons why you might want to let your wife do the investing from now on.

1. WOMEN ARE CARETAKERS AND NURTURERS

Many people forget that as investors, women are nurturing our future nest egg. Your investments in your future should not be something that should be handled aggressively or erratically. Traditionally female qualities of caretaking, nurturing, creativity, and patience make them good investors.

Women are more patient with their investments and more likely to let their investments sit and grow. Men are more likely to trade their investments more often, which can lead to lower returns overall.

2. WOMEN ARE RISK-AVERSE

When it comes to long term investments, many millennial women who, according to research by BlackRock, are risk averse when it comes to investing. In fact, only 33% of millennial women are willing to take on higher risks for higher returns compared to 61% of millennial men.

Most women aren’t as interested as their husbands are in trying to hit home runs with their investments but rather focus on their long term success relative to their goals. Also, they are often willing to give up the potential for higher returns in order to take less risk with their investments. Women could provide a nice balance to men when it comes to making investment decisions as a couple. Women’s focus on long term goals and success could be an asset to many families when doing financial planning.

3. WOMEN TAKE THE TIME TO RESEARCH

Women make great investors because they do not make rash decisions. Instead, they spend considerable time researching different options to ensure they make the right choice for their families.They may take a long time to do research before they settle on a course of action, and often consult with a pool of experts.

4. WOMEN LIVE LONGER THAN MEN

According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, women now have a life expectancy of 81.2 years whereas men have a life expectancy of 76.4 years.

It seems a bit morbid, but this is a prime reason why you should let your wife do the investing. It’s important for women to understand investing and investing decisions so they feel comfortable making them for themselves should something happen to their husbands.

However, both partners in a marriage should be decision makers, but if your wife is not as involved as she could be, perhaps some of the tips above will convince you that women’s natural tendencies towards research, patience, and being nurturing can make them an asset when it comes to financial planning.

So, if talking about money and retirement isn’t something you normally do with your wife, give it a shot. You might be surprised at how the process can bring the two of you closer together.

Thanks in part to the Baby Boomer generation and their fixation on living longer and maintaining their health, we can all anticipate longer lifespans.

The German demographer James Vaupel estimates that the average girl born now in Western societies will live to 100. Many of today’s boys, he says, will also make it to a century.

Our lives have been improved by technology, advances in health and the many measures at our disposal to prolong our productive years.

But quality of life is the real issue and the pressures of providing for everyone, with the cost of healthcare, aged care and nursing homes, senility and other diseases and their impact on families – have made ageing a key social issue.

100 years ago, men could expect to live to about 55, and women 58. Today, the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates, men can hope to hit 79 and women, about 83. The ABS estimates that there are currently almost three million Australians aged 65 and over, and close to 4 million baby boomers will join them in the next 15 years.

This is all great news for our nearest and dearest, but who will fund the retirement, healthcare, facilities and infrastructure required for this new era of the aged?

In 2006, there were 14 million Australians aged 15 to 64, typically referred to as ‘of working age’, and 2.7 million over 65. The ratio of workers to retirees was roughly five to one. By 2056, on conservative assumptions, the bureau projects that those of working age will grow by half, to 21.5 million, but the number of us 65 and over will treble to 8.1 million. The ratio of workers to retirees would then be about three to one.

How can the kids and teens of today be expected to finance so many retirees? Especially when those aged 85 and over, with the most chronic needs for care, are projected to increase from 322,000 to 1.72 million?

Treasury and the Reserve Bank warn we are facing a shortage of workers. Yet as the first baby boomers turn 65, that is still our pension age for men, the same as 100 years ago. Women can take the pension at 64. We can take our super payouts tax-free at 60, or with low taxes at 55.

Confronting ageism in the workplace, encouraging seniors to contribute later in life, rolling back the age at which people can take their super, and investing in aged care as well as in research into the causes of disease and disability in older age are some measure we can take to tackle the challenges ahead.

But of paramount importance is preparation. Each and every one of us should be mindful that we stand a chance of living much longer lives than our parents, and we need to ensure our lifestyles, ambitions, plans and dreams correspond with our financial means.

It’s never too early, or too late, to put the structures in place that will enable you and your family to enjoy the benefits of long, happy, healthy lives.

Source: Australian Bureau Statistics

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