Smart Women – Smart Money

It is an unfortunate truth that while women represent 87 percent of consumerism in the US we are still vastly behind when it comes to financial literacy. While women make the majority of the spending decisions for the family they still seem to be lagging behind when it comes to long-term money investments and creating wealth. It is alarming to find out just how many women are dependent on their spouse to plan their retirement.

I recently attended a forum sponsored by Deborah Bateman of National Bank of Arizona which featured a fabulous panel of female experts to address some of these issues women now deal with today. The event was hosted by Sharon Lechter, international spokesperson and famous author on finance. Attorneys Darra Rayndon and Angela Hallier, were also on hand to lend their expertise when it comes to protecting your wealth in regards to your relationship, divorce and sometimes when losing a spouse.

It still surprises me that many women are not prepared financially in the event of a divorce, considering the divorce rates are well over 50 percent. The panel touched on pre-nups, postnups and the importance of a will.

National Bank of Arizona is affectionately known as the Women’s Bank and has created, WFG short for the Women’s Financial Group. Women live longer and having the right strategies in place for retirement are essential. NBAZ does its best to bring these subjects to the forefront and to apprise women of their options. No one likes to think about wills, prenuptials, long term disability or revocable trusts. However, by the time we usually get around to realizing we need these things it’s often too late.

Personally speaking, I can say that after attending this forum I did find a few holes in my plans for the future that I intend to correct. It has never been a better time to be a woman than it is now. Embrace your independence and take control of your future.