“MONEY” Isn’t a Dirty 4 Letter Word

There is a problem in our society and how women relate to money. It’s a problem that goes back a long time, but it is solvable. Society has traditionally taught women that there are social taboos that you simply do not talk about; politics, religion, and money, to name a few. Specifically to money, the business of money was considered “Man’s talk” even though women made all household decisions, private schooling decisions, and healthcare decisions. For many women, money was part of their responsibility at work, but because it was such a normal part of their daily lives they never labeled it as anything other than “a part of their day-to-day chores. They didn’t realize that they were actually very effective money managers. This is still happening today. In general, women are managing the household budget making the dollar stretch as far as it can, spending $16 Trillion annually, and allocating funds for future use. Yet, most women don’t see themselves as being “financially savvy.”

It generally takes two generations, about 20 years, for society to change how they view and accept a changing behavior. Women and money sits about where we were in the 1950’s and 60’s regarding the acceptance of women athletes and female involvement in sports. During WWII there were female professional baseball teams, but the moment the war was over and the men came back to play ball, the women’s leagues were no longer supported by the public and quickly disappeared. In the 1950’s and 60’s women didn’t compete in athletics. Oh, we did have female figure skating champions or a gymnast here or there, but nothing where women were competing in an overtly aggressive manner. Sports were not considered feminine, and “nice” girls were dissuaded from ever competing.

That is where we are today with women and finance. A change in society’s thinking and acceptance is coming, but we haven’t been invited on to the field to compete with the boys when it comes to money…yet. It wasn’t that long ago that the words “breast cancer” couldn’t be spoken in polite society. But, now, even the biggest, baddest NFL players wear pink through the month of October, and look at how many lives have been saved. Change is afoot, my friends.

Women have a unique perspective on finance that comes from their role in the household, their purchasing power, and their increasing responsibilities as leaders in the workforce. Women need to own this power in managing money. Today, women need to be talking about money with greater transparency and honesty so that we can begin to solve some of the issues surrounding money, in particular, as they pertain to us as women. There is nothing SEXIer than a Sophisticated, Engaging, eXciting and Intelligent woman who understands her own financial identity and money. Just as breast cancer did with pink, we need to get a “green” campaign going for women and financial literacy so we can begin to break the cycle of poverty that affects so many women and children in America, and around the world. Every woman needs to know how to make her money work for her. This is part of what we call “a woman’s work.”

As women get their game together, Finance will need to respond. Women are NOT mini-men, and Finance cannot just “pink it and shrink it” for us. Financial institutions need to update their models of client recruitment and engagement in a way that genuinely speaks to women. What is typically counted as the “softer side” of the business needs to become the core of it: developing long-lasting sustainable relations between money managers and the women that they ultimately will serve.