As a mother with a career, Patrice Cresci recognizes the challenges that make it difficult for women to carve out time and energy to focus on their financial health. As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional, she understands why it’s so important to do just that. Here, she shares insights on what might be keeping you from making financial planning a priority and how to overcome those obstacles.
Juggling life’s many responsibilities can be tough for anyone, no matter your gender, occupation, or stage of life. If you’re a woman who’s raising a family while dedicating time and energy to your career, it can be especially challenging.
Unfortunately, that means financial planning often gets moved to the back burner. But most major life goals are directly tied to your finances—so if you don’t have a sound financial plan as your guide, you’re much less likely to achieve your life goals.
For women who balance the competing demands of work and family, it’s helpful to step back and consider the obstacles that could be keeping you from prioritizing your financial wellness—and easy, non-stressful ways to move your financial health to the front burner.
It Starts With Setting Goals
Like any goal in life, you can only reach your financial goals if you’re clear about what they are. That may sound obvious, but unless you know where you’re headed you can’t do what it takes to get there.
Finding time to think about your financial goals can seem daunting, especially in the busy-ness of your daily life. But when you consider that your financial goals typically align with your personal values, the task becomes much less overwhelming.
For example:
- If you value education, then one of your goals might be to cover all or most of your children’s college or private school costs.
- If you value family relationships, you might want to buy a family vacation home or take more frequent trips together.
- If you value philanthropy, you might decide to give more to charitable causes that align with your beliefs.
And regardless of your values, funding a secure and happy retirement is typically on everyone’s goal list—but we all have a different idea of what that looks like. Some people dream of traveling the world; some look forward to devoting more time to their hobbies or plan to take up a new pastime; and for others, retired life means spending more time with family and friends.
While it’s not easy to look decades down the road, it’s worth taking time to consider what you might want your life to involve post-career. A concrete vision can help you determine how much you need to fund your retirement and boost your motivation to invest in reaching that goal.
Small Steps Today = Big Gains Tomorrow
You’ve probably heard of the $400,000 latte (although it might be more like the $1 million avocado toast now). It’s the idea that the small decisions you make about money today (like buying that daily latte) can add up significantly tomorrow. For many people, that creates a strong incentive to get started with financial planning sooner rather than later, even if it means taking small steps.
Maybe you’re thinking about funding a 529 account for your child’s education, but you haven’t carved out time to discuss the options with your spouse or partner. By delaying, you lose out on the time value of money—the concept that a dollar is worth more to you today than it will be in the future because of the earnings you can realize on that money over time. Opening a 529 account while your child is young and making regular monthly investments allows you to capitalize on the time value of money and the power of compounding growth.
Investing for retirement is another goal that can benefit from taking small steps sooner. When retirement is decades away and the nest egg that you’re trying to accumulate is large, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and subconsciously move this item to the bottom of a long to-do list. By taking advantage of your employer’s 401(k) plan as soon as you’re eligible and investing enough to earn the maximum company match, you can accelerate your retirement savings without spending much time thinking about it.
The Value of Outsourcing Financial Planning
Families that are busy juggling work and home demands often turn to professionals for tasks they don’t have time for or could use a specialist’s help with. Whether it’s getting your groceries delivered, hiring a lawn cutting service, or having your house cleaned, many working moms outsource tasks to gain more free time. Or they hire a carpenter to build their deck or a painter to refresh the house because they don’t have the expertise to do it themselves.
Partnering with an experienced financial advisor is no different. Many people turn to a financial planner to do the legwork they don’t have time for and provide expertise they don’t have, in areas like diversifying your portfolio or choosing investments that match your life goals and tolerance for risk. It’s their job to turn your goals into an actionable plan that maps out the specific steps that will help you achieve the life you envision.
A financial advisor also keeps your plan fluid through life’s inevitable changes, without requiring you to devote significant time. They recommend ways to fine-tune and adjust your plan so that you’re always tracking toward your goals, no matter what life throws your way.
Teaming up with a financial advisor serves another important purpose in these uncertain and volatile times: It minimizes your stress about money, because you have an experienced guide helping you articulate your life goals, map out a plan to reach them, and stay on track. You can’t control inflation, interest rates, stock market fluctuations, or an impending recession, but you can control your decision to take a proactive approach to planning and managing your financial life. The lower your stress and the greater your sense of control over your finances, the better your emotional health.
If you’re interested in working with a financial advisor but not sure how to go about finding the right partner for you and your family, read these tips on what women should look for when choosing a financial planner. And if you’d like to learn more about how to prioritize your financial wellness in the busy-ness of life, contact us to set up an introductory call.
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