Mother’s Day is a celebration honouring mothers, maternal figures, and motherhood. Our Mothers are celebrated once a year, but on every other day, some argue that their labour is taken for granted, undervalued or disregarded.
The pandemic has laid bare the reality that motherhood is a job. The truth is, it’s many jobs. Even before Covid-19 shuttered schools and forced women from the workforce, women were spending an average of 28 hours a week doing unpaid work — as chefs and private drivers, scraped-knee triage medics and iPad timekeepers.
Plenty of men are certainly putting in that work as well. But women of all ages, income brackets and employment statuses are spending over a third more time on unpaid labour than their male counterparts are according to a recent survey.
As more and more women balance motherhood and successful careers they go on a journey to achieve financial freedom… Whether women in the workforce are just starting out in their career, managing a job and starting a family, or looking to buy their first home, then a good start is with educating themselves around financial wellness and putting a plan in place.
Ideally, financial wellness means that women understand their life and financial goals, assets, liabilities and cash flow… Achieving your goals isn’t going to be easy but if we don’t set goals, we can’t achieve them. So, writing down your goals and labelling them is important.
After working with women and observing their financial habits over the past 15 years, we have observed the following challenges career women face when juggling work life, family life and financial obligations.
Some women may:
Shy away from having a relationship with their money or leave it to someone else to look after, because their work keeps them too busy to think about an investment strategy.
- Try to run their career during the day and then try and work on their finances at night, without any plan or goal in mind.
- Make decisions about money and their financial planning (like selling a home or relocating for their career) without insight into the impact over the medium and long term.
- Make decisions alone and in isolation, without input on their goals over the medium term and long term. Like the impact on debt, taxes, retirement, and other important financial considerations.
- Heavy reliance on their employer to provide a sound, properly funded retirement plan.
Financial planning and being financially well is one of the most critical investments women can make into themselves, their future, and their families. We have found that it is often the most neglected due to time constraints, complicated industry jargon, and the uncertainty around planning.
We know women live longer than men, this is a fact. Yet, they are less likely to have an adequate pension fund when they retire. So, why do women generally end up with smaller pension pots than men?
One of the reasons for this is the challenges women are faced with during their careers. Careers can be disrupted in ways that men’s careers may not be. They alter course to allow for temporary or indeed permanent leave for child-rearing, taking care of a parent, or taking an extended career break. This pattern is changing as more and more men are taking the role of carer.
Taking time away from work has a significant impact on pension savings and this has the knock-on effect of lower pension funds in retirement.
Financial education and planning doesn’t have to be complex or at all complicated. The best time and place to start is right here and right now! Your plan just needs to be transparent and digestible, simple to implement and easy to track your progress over time. Have a nice Mother’s Day as far as Employee Financial Wellness is concerned, every day should be Mother’s Day!
