Venari Partners’ financial wellbeing sessions kick off with International Women’s Day initiative.
International Women’s Day is observed on 8 March worldwide. It is an important day to take stock of women’s achievements, while drawing attention to issues around gender equality. It is a key time to recognise the progress that has been made in observing women’s rights, and the many activists who struggled tirelessly for their advancement. Nonetheless, International Women’s Day also provides an opportunity to reflect on things that need to improve – not least financial inequality among genders.
The UN reports that globally, women are paid 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. In the UK, recent analysis has suggested that on average women ‘work for free for nearly two months’ each year. This disparity in remuneration may be part of the reason for the smaller proportion of women who invest their money, which in turn might explain why, generally, women are more cautious and risk-averse when it comes to investment than men. While the number of women investors has grown in recent years – a 2021 Fidelity study showed that 67% of women surveyed were investing outside of retirement, up from 44% in 2018 – men are still more likely to invest their money. A Capital.com survey from 2021 reported that just 15% of women believed themselves to be ‘informed’ investors, compared to 28% of men.
Suffice it to say, for women looking to invest, it can be hard to know where to begin. Given the lack of general awareness about how best to save and make your money work for you, it is, sadly, all too common for people not to meet their financial goals and plan wisely for the future. This can be difficult at the best of times, and even more so amid a cost of living crisis. Financial difficulties can lead to stress and other mental health issues, so it is doubly important to get on top of your finances sooner rather than later.
Getting the ball rolling
At Venari Partners, the wellbeing of our staff is paramount for a successful and happy workplace – and that extends to financial wellbeing, too. Accordingly, we have introduced financial wellbeing workshops for our staff – and we were delighted to launch this in earnest on International Women’s Day, with an information morning specifically for the company’s female employees. Finance Director and coach Michelle Dunn was on hand to provide an enlightening and engaging session, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all attendees.
I thought today’s session was absolutely brilliant and I am so happy I was able to learn about investing and saving from my own colleague. It helped me fill gaps in my knowledge I didn’t even realise I had. It was great to see females helping females about how to be smart with money without all the nonsense jargon. Loved it!
Michelle gave the team plenty of food for thought and did an excellent job of demystifying different approaches to short-, medium-, and long-term investments, with discussions of topics such as stocks and shares, handling pensions, and saving schemes like ISAs and LISAs. There may be many options for investing, but the key is to set your own personal financial goals, then think about how best to get there; once you know how much you need, you can work out what to do to make that happen.
I thought it was really useful to get a well-rounded insight into which types of investment methods are best for which scenarios. Personally, I haven’t taken enough time to think about investment types much more than my pension contributions and a savings account, so it was brilliant to talk through other options I hadn’t considered.
‘There is no one size fits all approach, which is the most important thing,’ Michelle says. ‘Many people amble along without thinking clearly about a plan, only to realise, too late, that they can’t afford what they want. It is great that our workplace appreciates that financial wellbeing is important for the staff; I am pleased we were given the time and space to share some information and insights on savings and investments.’