How empowered do you feel right now…both economically and financially?

Lockdown influences everyone. For some there is a real concern about their earning capacity and concern about how safe their income is. For others they have more money than normal due to cutting back on travelling, holidays, sports clubs etc. What they’d prefer is to have more free time.

Maybe it’s time for all of us to do what we can to feel more empowered and to do what we can to help others. #womenempoweringwomen.

So often my female clients are fearful of money and have spent significant time sticking their head in the sand. But at some point, you do need to face up to your situation and deal with it, no matter how scary it feels.

There are many reasons for not dealing with finances. Maybe you think the financial services industry doesn’t look very attractive to females? Maybe you’re copying how you saw managing the money played out in your own family where the male in the household looked after the finances and made all the necessary decisions.

But let’s face it, as women, if we don’t change how we deal with our finances we are encouraging future generations of women- our daughters, granddaughters, nieces, and every female we know- to follow our example. We need to step up and accept responsibility about our finances. And what better time than now during the remainder of 2020 when so much change is happening.

I need your help to look at why women aren’t taking responsibility, and what we can do within the financial services industry to encourage women to be financially empowered.

The survey asks whether or not females are actively managing their finances and planning for their future. And if they’re not, what’s the reason.

I would love to get as many women as possible completing the survey, since I need statistic evidence as to what the issues are that are stopping women from being financially strong.

The survey is completely anonymous if you want, or you can complete your email details to get a copy of the findings.

And in the spirit of women empowering women, for each response to the survey, I will contribute £5 to the marvelous charity Dress for Success whose mission is to empower women to achieve economic independence. A contribution of £50 will help train a woman for an upcoming job interview so she can be ready to be the best she can be.

If 500 women complete the survey that would be a contribution of £2,500 which would help train 50 women. During this period when women are suffering disproportionately due to so many working in the hospitality and retail sector, that would be a wonderful achievement for the charity.

So please do complete it and spread the word far and wide so not only may we be able to do something within the financial services community but we can also help women back into the workplace.

You can complete the survey here >>>

Wealth for Women Survey

The closing date for the survey is 11th Dec 2020

Mary Waring

Mary Waring is a Chartered Accountant, Chartered Financial Planner and Money Mindset Coach, helping women transform their relationship with money so that they can become free and powerful. She is also the bestselling author of "The Wealthy Woman: A Man is Not a Financial Plan."

About the Author

If you enjoyed this post, we recommend the following as additional reading.

This was taken about halfway up the block on the east side of Broadway, between 79th and 80th Street. It's at the north end of the "Filene's Basement" store on the corner, and it's a place where I've often seen homeless people holding up a sign that asks for assistance...

With very rare exceptions, I haven't photographed these homeless people; it seems to me that they're in a very defensive situation, and I don't want to take advantage of their situation. But something unusual was happening here: the two women (who were actually cooperating, and acting in tandem, despite the rather negative demeanor of the woman on the left) were giving several parcels of food to the young homeless man on the right.

I don't know if the women were bringing food from their own kitchen, or whether they had brought it from a nearby restaurant. But it was obviously a conscious, deliberate activity, and one they had thousght about for some time...

What was particularly interesting was that they didn't dwell, didn't try to have a conversation with the young man;they gave him they food they had brought, and promptly walked away. As they left, I noticed the young man peering into his bag (the one you see on the ground beside him in this picture) to get a better sense of the delicious meal these two kind women had brought him...

**********************

This is part of an evolving photo-project, which will probably continue throughout the summer of 2008, and perhaps beyond: a random collection of "interesting" people in a broad stretch of the Upper West Side of Manhattan -- between 72nd Street and 104th Street, especially along Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue.

I don't like to intrude on people's privacy, so I normally use a telephoto lens in order to photograph them while they're still 50-100 feet away from me; but that means I have to continue focusing my attention on the people and activities half a block away, rather than on what's right in front of me.

I've also learned that, in many cases, the opportunities for an interesting picture are very fleeting -- literally a matter of a couple of seconds, before the person(s) in question move on, turn away, or stop doing whatever was interesting. So I've learned to keep the camera switched on (which contradicts my traditional urge to conserve battery power), and not worry so much about zooming in for a perfectly-framed picture ... after all, once the digital image is uploaded to my computer, it's pretty trivial to crop out the parts unrelated to the main subject.

For the most part, I've deliberately avoided photographing bums, drunks, drunks, and crazy people. There are a few of them around, and they would certainly create some dramatic pictures; but they generally don't want to be photographed, and I don't want to feel like I'm taking advantage of them. I'm still looking for opportunities to take some "sympathetic" pictures of such people, which might inspire others to reach out and help them. We'll see how it goes ...

The only other thing I've noticed, thus far, is that while there are lots of interesting people to photograph, there are far, far, *far* more people who are *not* so interesting. They're probably fine people, and they might even be more interesting than the ones I've photographed ... but there was just nothing memorable about them.

Why a husband should pass all his assets to his wife!

To be strictly correct the proper headline for this article should be: “Why the higher tax paying spouse should pass their assets to the lower paying or non earning spouse”. But I love starting off with something controversial. Why put a sensible headline when you can create havoc with a bit of controversy! Women get…

What’s the difference between an IFA and a Financial Planner?

There are a number of terms used in the financial services industry to describe advisers. A few of the more common ones are Wealth Manager, Independent Financial Adviser (IFA), and Financial Planner. Do all these terms mean the same thing or are you likely to get different services dependant on who you approach? Probably the…

Well, what a week that was..

Well, the past week has been rather interesting hasn’t it? This time last week I was counting down the last working week until my holiday, due to start on Saturday. Today, I’m planning my one daily trip out to get exercise and actually see that other people actually exist! Luckily, I live by the river…

How empowered do you feel right now…both economically and financially?