Financial plans start with not relying on a man - Women's Agenda

Financial plans start with not relying on a man

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Liz Broderick likes to impart a little pearl of wisdom to women: that a man is not a financial plan.

It’s something she once told me she tells her children, noting that while choosing the right partner might bring happiness and all sorts of wonderful things, it’s not a means to financial security later on in life. It’s education, career and good financial choices that can truly ensure your money plan is your own.

Sadly, many of us know women (or may be those women) who’ve not necessarily consciously thought about relying on “a man as a financial plan”, but have nonetheless found themselves dependent on the financial plans of men regardless.

At an NAB Private Wealth panel session during the lunchtime break of TedxSydney over the weekend, former Apple managing director Diana Ryall noted her continued frustration with assumptions than men can provide the financial security women need. She spoke of friends, some much younger than her, who’ve been left with nothing following a divorce.

“I know lots of my friends who’re in that situation. They’ve not focused on making sure their house, shares and other things are joint owned. There’s this little girl approach that ‘he’ll look after me’. Well, get over it because he may not,” she said.

“I think women still think ‘he’s the prince on the white horse who’s coming to make my life perfect’.”

Journalist Anneli Knight, who wrote a book on women and finance called Flirting With Finance, shared her own experiences learning the value of financial literacy growing up and how that ultimately changed her view on money.

“When I was 12 I went and asked Dad for a computer. He said ‘the easiest thing I could do would be to buy you a computer, but you need to learn the value of money so go and save $1000’.” She worked two jobs from the age of 13 to finally save enough money and buy the computer she wanted. A lesson on saving she said she carried into her early career and has now enabled her more financial freedom.

Seeing a “man as a financial plan” is not only a problem for women. It hurts men also and continues societal ideas regarding the segregation of certain responsibilities. It puts pressure on men to be breadwinners, to continue working full-time despite perhaps wanting to take career breaks of their own, and may prevent them from pursuing the life they want

Knight believes any “man is a financial plan” assumptions can perpetuate stereotypes regarding the role of men and women. “A lot of young men don’t pursue their passion because they feel like they can’t take the option,” she said. “They feel they need to be the breadwinner, to be the man on the white horse.”

We can make all sorts of generalisations as to why there’s a financial literacy gap between men and women – we guess that it starts as early as school, and may be exacerbated by seeing fathers rather than mothers manage the finances within the household. It could also be that women are so busy juggling household duties and careers that we simply find little time and energy to take a more active interest.

Whatever it is, a little personal responsibility can go a long way in enabling more choices for both men and women.

What do you think? Does the “man on a white horse” syndrome still exist?

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