By- Varun Pal [Published in Chandigarh Times, Pg. 4, 08/03/22]
Women need to become aware of securing personal finance as a means to earn empowerment and independence
Even as women run around to ensure that everybody’s best interest are on track, they often miss out on considering their own security-finances. As we look around us, we find that money managing arena is male dominated and all decisions are centered around the male members of the families. Either women do not have the deciding power in financial matters or do not have any interest. But why?
Finance: A Life SkillIt has been observed that women look at finance or investing as a professional skill and as such they stay away from it. But finance professionals believe that it is a life skill, which you need to learn. It is as important as learning to cook food or driving a car. Yes, you need to learn finance as a life skill not because you want to practice it but because you want to understand what is happening with your money and ask the right questions. Money is not everything but it is very important to help you take care of everything and for that to happen smoothly, you need to understand money, ask the right questions to ensure that whoever is taking care of your money does it well.
Tackling tough timesTo recall one experience, we met a senior doctor whose husband had just passed away and she had no clue of what all financial assets they had as a family. Life is very uncertain-death, separations, etc. are bitter truths of life which we conveniently prefer to ignore but in case it does happen we are not prepared to deal with it. Think of this client of ours, who was going through one of the biggest emotional losses of her life along with her only daughter in class and having another uphill task of finding out where the money is. It took an event like this for her to understand that she needs to learn about finance, enough to ask the right questions and to understand where it is invested. You will not want to be in such a situation ever. Now think of it the other way round, if she knew her money well, it would have been one thing less for her to cope with in those emotionally trying times and in fact would have been one of her biggest supports while trying to bring back life back on track.
Learn about moneyIt is high time that women start participating in all discussions involving money in their households, whether asking who earns how much, where does the money go in the family, how much is spent where, how much is saved and invested and so on. Believe me, it is not rude. It does not tantamount to trying to question or break the relationship. It is the only right thing to do. So, this Women’s Day, take a pledge to take control of your life, your happiness, your health and most importantly your money. Believe me, it is worth it, for your safer future and that of your loved ones. Happy Investing, happy learning.