Women are often discouraged from looking after their finances and managing money. However in reality it is more important for women to learn about savings and investments than men for several reasons. These include, women living on average 3.6 years longer than men*.
Another reason is the gender pay gap which has also been highlighted in the media recently and it has been shown that it is common for women to earn less than men during their career. This means women have less disposable income each month so are unlikely to be able to save as much as men.
A Financial Adviser at Four Wealth Management can help you to make the most of your savings by creating a bespoke investment plan tailored to you. Investing your money provides financial security, independence and can help you to prepare for big life events including retirement, buying a house or paying for children’s education.
Women are also likely to stop work early due to caring for children or elderly relatives. In many cases a woman’s earnings do not return to what they were before having children due to many opting to only return to part time roles.
These disadvantages mean women often have less money saved for retirement than men.
How to create a financial plan
Before you start investing you should define what you are saving for. This will help you to determine which investments are most suitable to help you to achieve your goals. For example, if you do not need to access the money for a long time period, you can select higher risk investments in the hope of greater returns over the long term.
You should start by establishing financial goals, both short term and long term. Short term goals can include saving for a car or a holiday. Long term goals typically include saving for retirement or to pay off your mortgage early.
Once you have a clearer idea of your goals, you may still have very little or no investment knowledge. At Four Wealth Management, our experienced Financial Advisers can recommend investments that are tailored to your individual circumstances.
Find out more about investment planning
The importance of diversifying your assets
Diversification is spreading the risk of your investments. This means you should hold a variety of asset types and classes over multiple sectors and locations.
Diversification is important as if one of your funds or sectors performs badly, hopefully your other investments will have performed well to counteract this and keep your portfolio as a whole on track.
Your Financial Adviser at Four Wealth Management will help to make sure your assets are diverse.
Create a financial plan today
Contact us on 0117 973 0500 to book a no-obligation telephone or face-to-face meeting with a Financial Advisor to discuss creating a bespoke financial plan tailored to you.
The value of an investment with St. James’s Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds selected and may fall as well as rise. You may get back less than the amount invested.
*ONS, ‘National life tables: UK 2016-2018’, September 2019
