5 Reasons Why Women Are Worth More Than They Think

....and why life would be so much easier for all of us if they understood it! 

So you could call this is a follow up article to 5 Reasons Why Women Will Never Be Taken Seriously. I think women relax into the role of pretty and docile because we really don’t realise how monumental our responsibilities really are and how important we are in the scheme of things. I am not talking about ticking all the boxes; school, husbands, children, pretty family photos and the likes. Those are great but we know there’s much more to it than that.

I attended a virtual training a while ago (hence my skeletal blogging recently) and came across a financial consultant and investor, David who came from a long line of financial savvy individuals. He bought his first set of shares at 5! Do you want to know what was most interesting about his story? He attributed all his financial knowledge to his grandmother! Not his father, or his brothers or an uncle; his grandmother. Like it or not, there is a special bond that women have with children, biological or otherwise. We focus on all the superficial stuff like matching their hair ribbons with their shoes and we forget that colour coordination doesn’t not secure ones future. Am I saying your kids shouldn’t have good clothes? Of course not but that shouldn’t be your sole aim. It should be to provide the best both physically and mentally for them. It’s not even about doing well at school, it’s about learning the principles of wealth creation, getting creative with ways to earn and grow money and so on. Why do I think women should be more active in such issues?

1.      Most of us would swear by our left legs that we could never get married to guys that weren’t at least 10 years older than we are. Never mind the reasons why as that is a whole other story but if my math is correct, it means by deduction, most women would outlive their husbands. Look around you, how many more widows more are there than widowers? Exactly.  On the other hand, if a husband grows ill or has any medical issues that are related to growing older, the wife is expected to not only be the pillar of support but also be the financial powerhouse to hold both the recurrent expenditure and the medical bills and keep the home running. Do you now get the picture?

2.     Most times, women are saddled with debts, medical bills or necessary expenses from aged parents. Now this is the one I find very intriguing. One would think the obvious ‘providers’ would be the men but we forget that the men are fighting their own battles. Waking up to discover that not only do they have an extra mouth to feed and provide for, they have to find a way to stretch the budget to include three children. After all is said and done, it is usually the women who come to the rescue of their parents’ alot more often than their male counterparts. They work to move resources around in any way they can to solve a problem. This is not to say that the men don’t care, they do but they are just in the middle of so much that sometimes they can’t even look up to see what’s happening beyond their immediate environment.

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3.   Women take of a significant amount of time to have children, infact some women who work in corporate circles may take up to 4 to 5 years cumulatively throughout their child bearing years. This means we have much less time than we think we do to make our mark. The marks and effects of childbearing also take a toll over time and our active lives tend to slow down a bit earlier than men. So no, you really don’t have as much time as you think. That’s why you sleep at 21 and wake up to realise you’re 35 with no real clue as to how the world was better by you being in it. The only problem with that is by the time you realise at 40 that you can never be 19 again, the most productive years of your life have passed you by and you are no closer to scratching the ground much less leave a mark. Yea, I know.

4.    Women are negatively influenced by martial issues and/or divorce. It’s been said that men generally recover faster and find it easier to move on from broken relationships and bad marriages than women. It might be true since women are a bit more emotional but in general, women receive the short end of the stick in such cases. It’s most likely that they would be left with raising the children, keeping the home running AND somehow try to eke out a living all at once. I can tell you from the experiences I have heard of and seen that it’s not a piece of cake.

5.    Women live in a bubble. We have been taught to rely on others for financial advice or to handle financial issues when we can just about read it ourselves. Rather than marry men we can build with we gravitate towards those who have built all there is to build. The drawback with that is that you don't get to contribute, learn or even have an idea what it entails to keep financially afloat. It is not a bad thing to have information and in case you haven’t noticed, playing ignorant doesn’t work in today’s world. Most times when women are suddenly thrust into a position where they need to make major financial decisions, we are like deer in headlights. More often than not, we are unable to provide the same level of comfort that we currently enjoy if the breadwinner is out of the picture either temporarily or permanently. I’ve seen it happen time and time again.

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So if we know all these things, why do we wait? I haven’t got a clue. Most women I speak to give the impression that I am harsh, insensitive and just plain mean but I keep saying, ‘what would you rather have, to be aware of these things early and become more proactive as opposed to being reactive OR to sit and wait and try and ride the wave when it gets to you?' Like it or not, you will be forced to deal with the ramifications of your financial life at some point.

Parting words: A soldier does not learn the rules of engagement when the war begins. He learns it many times over, long before he gets to the battle field. Think on these things and more importantly DO SOMETHING!!! Learn. Grow. Inspire others to do same.