As a single woman, financial security is something I think about from time to time. I have always had lofty financial goals for myself. Well, lofty for someone who came from little means. I always intended to have a well-paying professional job, to live a financially stable lifestyle, to own a home, and to have savings in the bank. In this economy, however, such goals are not so much goals as they are dreams. So many of my fellow single women are less well-off than we would like to be.
There are, I believe, several reasons for this, not all of them benign. First of all, I can say from my own personal experience that women, and single women in particular, spend more money on personal care and hygiene than any objective person might ever imagine. The amount of money that I spent at Sephora alone during the first half of my twenties probably could have funded the first few years of my retirement if it had been invested. When you add in the hair grooming, waxing, nail grooming, designer clothing and shoes... Instead of investing in stocks, women are investing in looks. This is a well-documented fact, and one that contributes negatively to our bottom line.
Another factor in single women’s financial insecurity has to do with the fact that women so rarely advocate for themselves in the realm of professional advancement. It has been well-documented that women are sometimes passive in their pursuit of financial compensation. In fact, when a woman gets hired for a job, she will often command several thousand dollars less in salary than a man being hired for the same job, not because she is less qualified or talented, but because she simply doesn’t feel comfortable asking for more. This may contribute to the well-known “gender gap” in income. Another contributing factor is the fact that women tend to enter the “helping professions” and, to make matters worse financially, shy away from financially lucrative technical professions such as engineering and banking.
As a young woman, the last thing I want or have time to think about in my day-to-day life is my financial future. The daily grind of having to balance my budget on what seems like inadequate income is taxing, and it consumes much of my energy every day. With all of the expenses that pop up, saving money is the last thing on my mind. And yet I know that my undisciplined spending is a problem. When I see all around me evidence of friends, coworkers, and acquaintances living beyond their means and spending money profligately, it becomes easy to pretend that my experience is the norm and that there’s nothing wrong with “living well.” It becomes easy to ignore the ramifications of what I am doing. And yet this is a mistake.
It is imperative for all women to become mindful of the financial consequences of the choices they’re making. While both men and women make irresponsible financial decisions, it is usually women who end up raising the children of illegitimate unions, women who bear the brunt of the punishment in hostile divorces, and women who are less susceptible to lung cancer and motorcycle accidents and end up living longer. The vulnerable social position that women find themselves in compels us to ensure that our well-being is safeguarded.
Making sound financial decisions such as saving 10% of our monthly income, ensuring that we have well-funded retirement plans if they are available, investing in health, life and car/renters/home insurance if they are available, and being assertive in the workplace as regards our salaries and promotion paths help create a stability and sense of prosperity in our lives which not only provides a secure basis for our futures, but also affords us more than a small measure of peace. Knowing that your finances are taken care of is a luxury we all should invest in more. It gives you at least as much of a high as a new Ferrari or pair of Jimmy Choos.
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