Financial Literacy for Women: What We Wish We Knew.

Sometime ago on my Mentor podcast, I interviewed a guest who schooled me and other women on what it means to be financially literate. Our financial illiteracy as women robs us of economic opportunities and growth. Financial literacy is the ability to understand and use various financial skills. It extends to savings, employment, loans, and financial planning to achieve long-term goals and economic success.

Financial literacy has some basic principles namely: earn, spend, save and invest, borrow, and protect. Most female entrepreneurs and other categories of women, gain resources but are not able to spend.  During my interview with my guest, some key points were very eminent, and I would love to reiterate them below:

1. Financial literacy holds the key to women’s empowerment. Every woman needs to avail themselves of these skills.
2. Basic principles of financial literacy such as earning, spending, saving and investing should be duly followed.
3. Every woman is a working-class woman and can make wealth in order to be economically free and this does not matter whether you are a 9 to 5 lady or a sit-at-home wife. What is important is your ability to take stock of what you know how to do and decipher how to earn from it.
4. As a woman, it is not necessary to waste time on jobs that do not have good financial value when you know you can apply the same energy and time to do and achieve more. For instance, a housewife with high educational value can decide to apply such knowledge creating content for themself or others or producing products that will yield more income; than spending such time at home on house chores. Such activities can be outsourced or paid for.
5. One of the things that hold women back from taking economic risks is the comfort zone. Unlike their male folks, women usually enjoy support from families, and this comfort hinders their ability to take risks and engage in financial activities. Women should be ready to learn new economic trends and take risks which can lead to economic growth.
6. Some women argue that savings could be a difficult task because there are lots of demands on their finances. The easy way out is to take out a percentage of your savings from your income, before even spending a dime.
7. Spending is one of the principles of financial literacy unfortunately, women and entrepreneurs grudgingly apply these principles. It is okay to spend your resources on things or services that will yield more value to your business or professional goal. Some female entrepreneurs need to be ready to spend money on other components of their businesses such as hiring a marketing team to promote their products or Human resource personnel to oversee the performance of the production staff etc.
8. While saving is good, endeavour to spend on yourself as well. A percentage formula for income generated can be a good consideration.

Curled from My Mentor Podcast on Spotify.