This week’s theme is: smart women retire rich, where I’m focusing on some core principles for women when it comes to managing money.
Today is a continuation of yesterday’s topic where I focused on the likely reality that married women will be the sole decision-maker of their household finances at some point in retirement - either through necessity, divorce, or widowhood.
Yet, I find that most married women still aren’t as involved as they could be in the family’s financial decisions. If that sounds like you, today’s tip is aimed at helping you take a more proactive approach with your family’s money decisions.
Here are 3 things you can do to better understand finances and investing:
You don’t need to know what an inverted yield curve means for the bond markets and the economy, but you should have a good working knowledge of your household finances - money coming in and where the money goes every month, a solid grasp of your assets, debt, insurance policies, bank accounts, net worth, etc. A basic understanding of taxes, investment principles, and various account types like IRAs and trust accounts. There are plenty of personal finance 101 books that can help you develop a well-rounded understanding of money and investing, and it would be well-worth your time to read a well-written book on the topic.
As humans, we have such fragile egos and we hate to look dumb. So as a result, we often don’t ask questions when we should when we don’t understand something. But I would suggest developing a curiosity about personal finance and investing. Ask questions. And if you don’t want to look stupid, well then, google search is your best friend...Hey Siri - what is a money market fund?
Rest assured that Siri won’t think any less of you of your intelligence for asking basic questions.
I know this is probably going to sound crazy to you, because I have a podcast about money and investing and I do this for a living, but my husband is the primary decision-maker in our household when it comes to money. He is a gifted CPA and is more than capable of making financial decisions. I decide how we invest our money and he does all the personal finance stuff like our household budgeting, paying the bills, and doing our taxes. But just because he handles much of the day-to-day decisions, doesn’t mean that we don’t discuss major financial decisions together. So I encourage you to have a deeper level of communication with your spouse, if you aren’t heavily involved currently with your household finances. It can help your overall communication as a couple, and will help you keep a better pulse on what is happening with your family’s finances.
That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip.
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