It seems Nicole clearly does have a plan, but her plan has nothing to do with taking financial matters into her own hands. Rather, she will depend upon her next Prince Charming.
Nicole is young, gorgeous, and well connected in celebrity-ville. I’m sure she will be just fine. The toll it may take on her personal self-esteem and the example she is setting for young women throughout the world is another issue. I’ll leave it at that.
Granted, I am an outsider looking in. Yet, as an outsider, this story illustrates to me some common choices many women make, such as:
• A man is my financial plan.
• I choose to be financially ignorant. Maybe if I ignore it, the problem will go away.
• I’ll take what appears to be the easy road today, although it can very likely become the hard road in the future.
Nicole’s story also reveals another truth: If you don’t know where to put your money, it will be gone. Nicole had a lot of money but, because she did not know where to put it to create a secure financial life for herself, she lost it. She not only lost it, but she ended up in even more bad debt.
Money Does Not Equal Money Smarts
Whether you have a lot of money or a little money, one fact remains: If you don’t know what to do with the money you have, it will be gone.
Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson’s famous sidekick on The Tonight Show for many years, was a perfect example. Mr. McMahon made millions of dollars throughout his lifetime. He was an icon of American television—a bright, charismatic, respected, and well-liked gentleman. But just because a person has a lot of money doesn’t mean they know much about money.
If you don’t know where to put your money, it will be gone.
Towards the end of his life, Mr. McMahon faced foreclosure of his multimillion-dollar Beverly Hills home and owed American Express $747,000. Those were only two of his many financial troubles.
How could that happen? Mr. McMahon put it quite succinctly when he said, “I made a lot of money, but you can also spend a lot of money.” His was a simple case of overspending. Well, maybe not so simple… when you’re talking about millions!
The stories of Nicole Murphy and Ed McMahon illustrate that having a lot of money does not ensure that you are financially independent—or even financially secure, for that matter.
Women and Money Today
Today women rank “financial issues” as the number-one most pressing concern in their lives—more pressing than family, health, or time.
We women know we need to do something, so why don’t we?
What holds women back from getting actively involved in building their financially secure future? A 2010 study found these top three reasons:
1. Women have little knowledge about money and investing.
2. Women find the subject of finances too complicated, confusing, and overwhelming.
3. Women say they have no time to devote to their financial life because of children, job or career, and daily obligations. (Yes, we women are pros at putting everyone else first and ourselves last.)
It’s not difficult to see why women place money at the top of their worry list. The facts regarding women and money, especially as we get older, are downright scary.
1. Women are poorer in retirement than men.
• Women are twice as likely to live their retirement years in poverty.
• In the United States, an alarming 87% of the elderly living in poverty are women.
• Even more surprising is that the majority of these women now in poverty were not poor when their husbands were alive.
• Here’s an interesting twist: A woman might go through the couple’s nest egg paying for the healthcare costs of her ailing partner and deplete the financial resources she needs for the rest of her life.
• Not only do women live longer than men today, but women often marry older men. That means many women will be widows who will have to support themselves for 15-20 years.
2. Women are poorer in divorce than men.
• Divorced women with children are four times more likely than married women to have an income that is under the poverty line.
• In the United States, in 2000, the average income for a middle-aged, divorced woman is only $11,000 per year.
Here is a shocking study that made my jaw drop. This article is from the Saturday Star newspaper in Johannesburg, South Africa, dated January 19, 2008.
They may promise to have and to hold for richer and for poorer; but wives seem most interested in the richer part. In a study of married men and women in Britain, 59% of wives said they would divorce immediately if their future economic security was assured.
Almost 60% of the women surveyed said they would leave their marriage if they could afford it!
A similar study was done in Sweden where 37% of women stated they would divorce if they had the money to take care of themselves. Not as high as in Britain, but still a big number. It’s pretty clear that women, money, and marriage are closely related.
3. Women, on average, are financially unprepared.
• 58% of female baby boomers have less than $10,000 in retirement plans.
• 33% of women investors admitted they avoid making financial decisions out of fear of making a mistake.
• Women tend to own investments and securities with a very low rate of return.
• Women are three times more likely than men to NOT know what types of investments offer the best returns.
According to the research of authors Christopher Hayes and Kate Kelly, “Women’s decision-making tends to be based on security and concern for others. Their decision-making tends to be directed toward gaining enough money to get by rather than to get rich. This desire for security also means that most of their decisions favor ‘safe’ investments rather than those that might return more.”
What It Really Takes
I won’t go on and on about the horrific state of affairs so many women fall into when it comes to their financial lives, especially as they get older. I’m assuming that you have already made your decision to move forward in improving your financial life and achieving your financial dreams. You should not need to be convinced on why this is important. You know it’s important to you. (Do, however, please share these statistics with women who might be unaware.)
So what does it really take to have your financial dreams come true? Do you remember from the study what things hold women back?
• Lack of knowledge
• Too much overwhelming information
• No time
The reality is that any woman can acquire the knowledge. Any woman can sift through the information to find what she needs. It starts with learning the vocabulary of money and investing. Just learning the definitions of financial words will greatly increase your knowledge on the subject.
And the issue of no time? What if your house were on fire? Would you say, “Sorry. I don’t have time to put out the flames.”? No, you would immediately stop whatever you were doing and take action.