According to studies Women lags behind when it comes to managing money or investments. In many cases, Women prefer a ‘supportive’ role in financial decisions and one of the reason for this is – “lack of confidence”

Why is that? Well, There could be many reasons for this lack of confidence e.g. fear of losing money, low financial literacy, less interest in finance, finding it hard to understand, etc. But actually, money management is not that hard. What women need is to engage herself more in investing and money matters and boost her confidence!

Let’s see how we can achieve this.

Work on your Basics:

Building financial knowledge through right medium is the first step. Reading books, attending seminars, workshops and discussing with financial planner are some of the ways of getting this knowledge. There’s a ton of websites, financial blogs (including mine) which can guide and provide information about investment and investment products. Also there are lots of online tools or mobile apps which helps you understand how to manage money and teach about planning, budgeting in a very simple way.

Take Baby Steps:

Getting only educated in investments will not solve the purpose but actual small steps can help get comfortable with it. Start investing in monthly savings account or mutual fund SIP. With minimum investment on monthly basis it can help build confidence and money.

Save for Yourself:

Rightly said by Clare Boothe Luce “A women’s best protection is a little money of her own”. Saving money for yourself is not a bad idea. Good news is, Women are great savers as compared to men and can also take more risks because women tends to do investments with long term overview.

Build your own Credit Identity:

Having a separate credit card for women might be a debatable question. But it is important to have a credit card to learn how to manage credit and about credit history. Secured or prepaid credit card can serve the purpose to initiate. But it definitely start to build your own credit history and identity which is useful in future.

Talk to your Adviser:

Discussing with experienced adviser before making an investment or if you have any queries/doubts, could assure you about your right decision. Some suggestions from adviser will definitely help you understand the process and get you prepared for the results. Also, discuss with your partner/father, it will not only make you confident and comfortable but their past experience can save you from doing mistakes which they had already made. Share your decisions with family to make you a part of family financial decision making.

Lessons Learnt:

Investment and money matters is vast and wide subject. It takes time to understand and learn things. Also Market conditions changes frequently so if any of your decision gets wrong don’t panic, mistakes happen. Don’t let your decisions hamper due to mistakes you made. Treat them as lessons learnt and keep track of it.

I hope these points will help you boost your confidence and get you in ‘decision making’.

Happy Investing 🙂 !

References : US News