WEBVTT - What Women Need To Know About Money 0:00:01.139 --> 0:00:04.110 Hey, it's Kia. When it comes to finances, it can 0:00:04.110 --> 0:00:07.020 sometimes feel like a really negative space for women. L& 0:00:07.110 --> 0:00:09.449 G Research last year found that the average pension pot of a 0:00:09.450 --> 0:00:12.389 woman at retirement was found to be less than half 0:00:12.389 --> 0:00:14.879 of that of a man at the same retirement stage. 0:00:15.599 --> 0:00:18.540 So there's a gender pension gap and a gender pay gap. There's 0:00:18.540 --> 0:00:21.090 the expense of childcare and a conversation to be had 0:00:21.090 --> 0:00:24.029 about flexible working. There's a ton to talk about, but 0:00:24.030 --> 0:00:27.719 there is hope. I'm joined today by Emilie Bellet. Emilie 0:00:27.719 --> 0:00:31.170 is passionate about helping women improve their financial lives. She's 0:00:31.170 --> 0:00:33.689 the host of her podcast, The Wallet, and the founder 0:00:33.690 --> 0:00:37.290 of Vestpod, a community with a mission to help people, especially 0:00:37.290 --> 0:00:41.519 women, achieve financial independence. She's also wrote the book, You're 0:00:41.519 --> 0:00:44.220 Not Broke, You're Pre- Rich, which feels very on- brand 0:00:44.250 --> 0:00:50.010 for a little bit richer. So let's dive in. Emilie, 0:00:50.098 --> 0:00:52.469 what are some of the challenges that women face in 0:00:52.469 --> 0:00:53.309 the financial space? 0:00:53.400 --> 0:00:56.670 So if you think about our lives, women tend to live longer, 0:00:56.790 --> 0:00:59.340 so we should be the one taking extra care of 0:00:59.340 --> 0:01:02.490 retirement and planning ahead. But I feel there's a lot 0:01:02.490 --> 0:01:06.149 of hurdles and challenges along the way. So let's think 0:01:06.150 --> 0:01:08.400 about first the gender pay gap. Women are going to 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:11.520 be paid less than men, then we tend to have 0:01:11.580 --> 0:01:14.190 a working life that's not as linear. So we may 0:01:14.190 --> 0:01:16.380 take breaks because we take care of our children, but 0:01:16.380 --> 0:01:19.350 it's also taking care of elderly parents, taking care of 0:01:19.350 --> 0:01:22.830 families, of communities. Women are still the primary carers, so 0:01:22.830 --> 0:01:25.799 taking time off means less money being saved, less money 0:01:25.799 --> 0:01:28.170 being saved for the short term, but also for the long 0:01:28.170 --> 0:01:32.759 term. And also women tend to invest less than men. 0:01:32.940 --> 0:01:35.760 So because they're not taking this extra risk with their 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:39.300 money, they're not necessarily getting this extra reward and building 0:01:39.300 --> 0:01:42.119 pension pots over the long term. So there's this motherhood 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:46.469 penalty, good daughter penalty. I hate having all these penalties 0:01:46.469 --> 0:01:49.590 on women's life, but it's really important to think about 0:01:49.860 --> 0:01:53.910 the long term. Another statistic is that 34% of women 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:57.060 say that their financial situation keep them up at night. 0:01:57.360 --> 0:02:01.349 So I think because we didn't necessarily have these conversations 0:02:01.349 --> 0:02:03.960 about money, don't have the education, and this is men 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:07.230 and women, we never received any financial education. There's also 0:02:07.230 --> 0:02:11.130 a lack of confidence when it comes to finances. So 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:14.040 even if women are really good savers, they're not actually 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:16.950 always investing for the long- term and putting money into 0:02:17.130 --> 0:02:20.880 their retirement. When you look at pension pots, women will 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:24.510 have pension pots that are half the size of men 0:02:24.570 --> 0:02:29.250 at retirement, and this comes from habits that will come from much 0:02:29.250 --> 0:02:30.840 earlier in their working lives. 0:02:30.870 --> 0:02:33.270 I mean, as a woman myself, I can definitely attest 0:02:33.270 --> 0:02:35.849 to the things that you said, right? When it comes 0:02:35.849 --> 0:02:38.489 to being a woman, as you so lovingly put it, 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:41.129 I mean there are penalties for ... You go through life, 0:02:41.129 --> 0:02:42.900 you want to have children, now you've got that penalty 0:02:42.900 --> 0:02:46.169 there. And I think it is so important as women, I 0:02:46.169 --> 0:02:48.360 think, I can't remember the exact number, but there is a stat out 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:51.270 there that shows that women are better savers, they save 0:02:51.270 --> 0:02:53.880 more than men, but maybe they didn't take as much 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:57.960 risk on their money. So they didn't put it in investments to help it grow. 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:01.200 So I think there is that. But speaking about investment 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:05.790 then, what is this investment gap? So can you describe 0:03:05.820 --> 0:03:08.400 what it is and what can be done about it? 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:12.899 Yeah. So the investment gap is the difference between the 0:03:12.900 --> 0:03:15.929 number of women investing and the number of men actually 0:03:15.929 --> 0:03:19.019 investing money. And in the UK there's a £ 15 billion 0:03:19.380 --> 0:03:22.919 investing gap between men and women. So of course, that's 0:03:22.950 --> 0:03:25.350 going to make a huge difference in terms of wealth 0:03:25.350 --> 0:03:28.830 building because women, as you said, are great savers, but 0:03:28.950 --> 0:03:32.069 not all women are actually investing money. So they're losing 0:03:32.070 --> 0:03:34.529 out because by making your money work for you and 0:03:34.529 --> 0:03:37.170 putting your money at work. In the stock market, you 0:03:37.199 --> 0:03:40.140 may expect higher return over the longer time. But of 0:03:40.140 --> 0:03:43.620 course, this comes with a notion of risk and risk 0:03:43.620 --> 0:03:46.500 is very difficult to comprehend. So when we look at 0:03:46.710 --> 0:03:50.488 the younger generation, you think about maybe the financial crisis 0:03:50.490 --> 0:03:53.969 in 2008, people may be worried about the stock market. 0:03:53.969 --> 0:03:57.210 There's a lot of misconception when we think about in 0:03:57.210 --> 0:03:59.550 culture and movies, we think about the Wolf of Wall 0:03:59.550 --> 0:04:03.150 Street. So investing seems really scary and seems something that's 0:04:03.420 --> 0:04:07.229 not for everyone. So we sort of miss this education 0:04:07.230 --> 0:04:11.279 from a very young age about delayed ratification and budgeting 0:04:11.279 --> 0:04:13.230 and how to put your money at work to generate 0:04:13.260 --> 0:04:15.750 more return with your money and building wealth. And these 0:04:15.750 --> 0:04:18.988 are very important concepts. But if you don't start, then 0:04:18.990 --> 0:04:20.760 you may not have the confidence. You may feel a 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:24.058 bit worried about asking for help, knowing where to go 0:04:24.059 --> 0:04:27.599 when you need financial advice. There's also a financial advice gap 0:04:27.599 --> 0:04:30.839 in the UK to add to our gaps where most 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:33.000 people are not going to have access to a financial 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:35.820 advisor maybe because they don't have enough money. So there's 0:04:35.820 --> 0:04:39.840 a lot of responsibility and personal responsibility to get started 0:04:39.990 --> 0:04:42.960 managing your money and investing your money because this is going to 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:47.129 be really important to build financial security and financial independence. 0:04:47.129 --> 0:04:49.859 It's not about having more money, it's about having more 0:04:49.860 --> 0:04:52.140 money to be able to achieve your goals, to live 0:04:52.140 --> 0:04:55.440 the life you want. So I feel this investing piece 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:57.630 is really where I want to help women to just 0:04:57.630 --> 0:05:00.000 get started on a very small scale. Now, there's a 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:02.729 lot of platforms on the market where you can invest 0:05:02.730 --> 0:05:05.400 your spare change, you can start investing with £ 50 amounts. 0:05:05.940 --> 0:05:09.150 So it's getting started into this habit and trying to 0:05:09.150 --> 0:05:12.480 understand risk and see risk not necessarily as something that 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:15.570 is bad but risk more as an opportunity. And when 0:05:15.570 --> 0:05:18.000 you invest in the stock market and if you have 0:05:18.210 --> 0:05:20.790 a pension, your money is invested. So most people don't 0:05:20.790 --> 0:05:24.119 actually know that through your workplace pension, you're contributing towards 0:05:24.119 --> 0:05:26.010 your future, but your money is going to be invested 0:05:26.310 --> 0:05:29.880 in a collection of different companies. It's trying to understand 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:31.860 a little bit more about how the stock market work, 0:05:31.890 --> 0:05:34.859 build up this confidence, understand risk, and feel a little 0:05:34.860 --> 0:05:38.220 bit more comfortable with this term of investing. And it's 0:05:38.250 --> 0:05:41.099 the same as investing in your personal career, in your 0:05:41.100 --> 0:05:43.470 personal development where you do a lot of things for 0:05:43.470 --> 0:05:45.810 yourself to feel better, but you can do also some 0:05:45.810 --> 0:05:48.300 of these things with your finances. And it's starting from 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:51.270 maybe learning a little bit more about money, investing a 0:05:51.270 --> 0:05:54.089 little bit. So starting on a very small scale actually 0:05:54.089 --> 0:05:56.250 works and it compounds over time, and that's one of 0:05:56.250 --> 0:05:58.409 the greatest lessons in investing. 0:05:58.770 --> 0:06:01.710 Absolutely. I think like you mentioned, when it comes to 0:06:01.710 --> 0:06:04.590 investing, you mentioned the Wolf of Wall Street, when you 0:06:04.740 --> 0:06:06.779 think about investing, you think about men on the trading 0:06:06.779 --> 0:06:09.510 floor doing all this. It feels so far away from 0:06:09.510 --> 0:06:12.420 what you could do, especially as a woman. But I 0:06:12.420 --> 0:06:14.549 think alongside all the things that you mentioned there, it's about 0:06:14.549 --> 0:06:19.140 representation as well. So we've mentioned there are a lot of gaps, 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:20.910 there are a lot of gaps for women out there, 0:06:21.510 --> 0:06:25.200 but as a woman, what can you do to be 0:06:25.230 --> 0:06:27.960 better prepared when it comes to your finances? 0:06:28.410 --> 0:06:30.178 Yeah. So I think it takes a little bit more 0:06:30.178 --> 0:06:33.779 planning and also thinking about what does money mean to 0:06:33.779 --> 0:06:37.049 you. When we think about money, finances, investing, that can 0:06:37.050 --> 0:06:39.750 be quite scary and overwhelming and you don't know where 0:06:39.750 --> 0:06:43.110 to start. So it is just trying to start with the basics. 0:06:43.110 --> 0:06:45.570 And often when we run our courses and boot camps, 0:06:45.750 --> 0:06:48.450 we try to have these conversations about money. There's still 0:06:48.450 --> 0:06:51.960 such a big taboo around money because they have this lack of 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:55.199 education and money being the thing where it's quite, I 0:06:55.199 --> 0:06:57.238 mean, I've always been taught that it's quite impolite to talk 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:00.000 about money, that girls shouldn't talk about money. When you 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:03.450 look at the statistics, girls actually receive 20% less pocket 0:07:03.450 --> 0:07:06.059 money than boys. And our money habits come from a 0:07:06.059 --> 0:07:08.430 very young age, from age three to 7 years old. 0:07:08.639 --> 0:07:10.619 So we sort of grow up with these beliefs around 0:07:10.619 --> 0:07:12.540 money. So I think doing a little bit of work 0:07:12.540 --> 0:07:15.360 on your money mindset by having a conversation, trying to 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:19.050 write your money story, maybe seeing a money coach also 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:21.780 financial advisors can also help you. But really doing the 0:07:21.780 --> 0:07:25.290 work for yourself. And then it's organizing your finances, not being 0:07:25.290 --> 0:07:28.079 worried about checking your bank accounts. And I know that's 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:30.990 quite scary for people who never look at their finances. 0:07:30.990 --> 0:07:33.330 But on the morning, try to check your bank account 0:07:33.330 --> 0:07:35.760 once a day, you'll feel empowered, you know exactly how 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:37.890 much you have. And the same is going to go 0:07:37.890 --> 0:07:40.380 for debts, trying to understand how much debt do you 0:07:40.380 --> 0:07:42.719 have, how much savings do you have, and try to 0:07:42.719 --> 0:07:46.949 understand your basic numbers. So having a little spending plan, 0:07:46.949 --> 0:07:48.810 trying to check for the past months, or for the 0:07:48.810 --> 0:07:51.270 past three months, how have you been spending your money? 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:53.340 So this is the first part. And then thinking more 0:07:53.340 --> 0:07:56.969 broadly about wealth, we all should think about wealth. And 0:07:57.030 --> 0:07:59.759 of course, here we're talking financial wealth, but knowing a 0:07:59.759 --> 0:08:02.700 few numbers. So maybe trying to calculate your net worth, 0:08:02.759 --> 0:08:05.250 which is the sum of all your assets, minus the 0:08:05.250 --> 0:08:08.370 sum of your liabilities. If you're quite early in your 0:08:08.370 --> 0:08:10.740 working life, and if you have a lot of student debt, you will 0:08:10.740 --> 0:08:13.410 have a negative net worth. But that's okay. It's just 0:08:13.410 --> 0:08:16.020 a matter of improving this number over time, knowing how 0:08:16.020 --> 0:08:19.830 much savings you have. So really knowing these numbers, also 0:08:19.830 --> 0:08:22.889 your credit score and writing them down and having maybe 0:08:22.889 --> 0:08:26.130 a little date with yourself on your money once a 0:08:26.130 --> 0:08:28.980 month. And I'm sure you talk about that also with 0:08:28.980 --> 0:08:32.340 your friends and communities, but it's having this regular catch- 0:08:32.340 --> 0:08:35.520 up with money, I think is really helpful. And not judging 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:39.540 yourself really, sort of detaching your self- worth from these 0:08:39.540 --> 0:08:42.149 numbers. They don't define you, the amount of money you 0:08:42.150 --> 0:08:44.640 earn, the amount of debt you have, they're not your 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:47.190 personality. So trying to separate the two, I think is 0:08:47.190 --> 0:08:50.849 quite important. But be very realistic about how much money 0:08:50.849 --> 0:08:53.488 you have, how much money you don't have, and what are your 0:08:53.490 --> 0:08:55.169 goals going forward. 0:08:55.469 --> 0:08:57.480 I love that, especially when you mentioned about net worth. 0:08:57.480 --> 0:08:59.400 I remember I checked my net worth when I was 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:02.880 in my first year of uni at 18, and I don't 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:05.370 think I've seen a minor sign as big as that 0:09:05.429 --> 0:09:07.590 when I looked at my net worth. Thankfully it's gone up since 0:09:07.590 --> 0:09:09.780 then, but I find that quite funny. But I love 0:09:09.780 --> 0:09:12.900 the point where you mentioned actually talking to people. I 0:09:12.900 --> 0:09:15.120 think we have this culture in society where we don't 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:18.059 talk, so things become taboo. And you never know if 0:09:18.059 --> 0:09:19.890 you see your colleagues are any more than you because we 0:09:19.890 --> 0:09:21.630 don't talk about it. And I've made it a thing 0:09:21.630 --> 0:09:24.000 of my own friendship group that us as girls will 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:27.059 come together and we'll just talk about money. Sometimes it's like, " 0:09:27.210 --> 0:09:29.160 We want to go out here, but girls, I haven't 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:31.290 got the money this month. So let's be mindful of 0:09:31.290 --> 0:09:34.500 the budget." And having those open conversations make things easier. 0:09:34.500 --> 0:09:36.029 You can bring up, you know what, I'm going to 0:09:36.029 --> 0:09:38.790 go through this pay rise. It just makes that conversation a 0:09:38.790 --> 0:09:40.440 lot easier to have with people. So I think it's 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:42.360 definitely a good thing to try and incorporate for people. 0:09:42.540 --> 0:09:45.540 So Emilie, when it comes to the cost of kids 0:09:45.540 --> 0:09:48.389 specifically, because that can be a very big cost for a lot of 0:09:48.389 --> 0:09:52.289 parents. How can women and partners financially prepare for this? 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:55.348 Yeah. So I think what I see very often, and I have three 0:09:55.350 --> 0:09:58.679 young kids. So for me, building a business, having kids, 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:01.050 living the corporate world, that was a lot. And it 0:10:01.050 --> 0:10:05.550 takes a little bit of planning instead of reacting. So 0:10:05.550 --> 0:10:09.150 when women are pregnant, they usually think about, " Okay, what's 0:10:09.150 --> 0:10:11.399 going to happen to my salary? I will have to 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:13.679 pay for childcare." Childcare in the UK is one of 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:16.679 the most expensive in the world. And when we have 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:19.710 conversation about childcare, women tend to compare their salary with 0:10:19.710 --> 0:10:22.409 the cost of childcare. But actually, maybe they have a 0:10:22.410 --> 0:10:24.690 partner and they can share this cost with their partner. 0:10:24.690 --> 0:10:27.569 So I think it's trying to plan with your partner, 0:10:27.599 --> 0:10:29.429 cost of childcare, what do you want to do? Do 0:10:29.429 --> 0:10:31.289 you want to go back to work? How much is 0:10:31.289 --> 0:10:33.358 it going to cost us? And try to see this 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:36.600 cost of childcare as an investment that will allow you 0:10:36.660 --> 0:10:39.210 if you want to to stay in the workforce, if you 0:10:39.210 --> 0:10:41.640 want to take some time off, can you also plan 0:10:41.670 --> 0:10:44.460 for this time off understanding that you will not earn 0:10:44.460 --> 0:10:47.728 any money? So there's also no money that's going to 0:10:47.730 --> 0:10:50.640 be put into your savings and into your investment plan. 0:10:50.940 --> 0:10:54.150 And a conversation you can have with your partner is 0:10:54.179 --> 0:10:57.510 around pensions. So if you're taking time out of work 0:10:57.510 --> 0:11:01.170 and that you can have a few kids and then 0:11:01.170 --> 0:11:03.719 very easily you're five years out of the workforce or 0:11:03.719 --> 0:11:06.179 10 years and you haven't saved any money. So making 0:11:06.179 --> 0:11:09.210 sure maybe your partner knows about that and is helping 0:11:09.210 --> 0:11:12.059 you and paying into your pension, or you can help 0:11:12.059 --> 0:11:15.300 your partner. So having this thing where you work as 0:11:15.300 --> 0:11:18.210 a team and collectively to make sure you build up 0:11:18.270 --> 0:11:22.920 financial independence together for your household, but also independently, making 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:25.319 sure you have your own money, you have your own 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:27.958 pension pots because you never know what can happen. And 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:30.809 also when you start having children is how do you 0:11:30.809 --> 0:11:33.149 talk about money in the family and how you start 0:11:33.150 --> 0:11:36.449 educating your children because as we know early education will 0:11:36.450 --> 0:11:39.270 have such a big impact later on in life. So 0:11:39.330 --> 0:11:42.750 involving them in basic money decisions, and that can be 0:11:42.750 --> 0:11:47.460 budgeting, delayed gratification, saving for something you really like. Also, 0:11:47.460 --> 0:11:50.400 when it comes to raising kids, there's important conversations to 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:53.909 have around flexible work and shared parental leave. So it's 0:11:53.910 --> 0:11:56.279 important for both partners to maybe be able to take 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:58.649 some time off to spend time with the kids to 0:11:58.650 --> 0:12:01.140 make sure the other partner can also stay the workforce. 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:04.290 And the last thing is for parents, for young parents, 0:12:04.290 --> 0:12:07.348 when you have children, you should apply and potentially claim 0:12:07.350 --> 0:12:10.560 for child benefits. So if you are out the workforce, 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:13.349 you may not be entitled to actually receive a payment, 0:12:13.349 --> 0:12:16.530 but you can check that on HMRC, on the governance 0:12:16.590 --> 0:12:20.700 website. But actually, can you get your national insurance contribution 0:12:20.700 --> 0:12:23.130 to make sure you're not losing out in terms of 0:12:23.130 --> 0:12:24.330 your state pension? 0:12:24.660 --> 0:12:27.089 I think that's really good. A lot of good valuable information 0:12:27.090 --> 0:12:29.880 there for people who are parents or becoming parents very 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:34.050 soon. Emilie, I want to end with the same question 0:12:34.230 --> 0:12:37.590 that I ask every single week. What three tips can 0:12:37.590 --> 0:12:39.840 you give to help people get a little bit richer? 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:43.590 So my first tip is about money mindset. Really try 0:12:43.590 --> 0:12:45.899 to understand what does money mean to you, what you 0:12:45.900 --> 0:12:48.149 can do for your finances, because we may have so 0:12:48.150 --> 0:12:51.420 many limiting beliefs around money. The second one is around 0:12:51.599 --> 0:12:54.510 investing. Start investing even on a small scale. And if you have a 0:12:54.900 --> 0:12:58.710 pension, check your pension, make sure you're contributing. If you 0:12:58.710 --> 0:13:01.380 don't have a pension yet, it's maybe the time to start 0:13:01.380 --> 0:13:04.049 figuring out how you can save for your older self 0:13:04.050 --> 0:13:07.110 and try to connect with your future self. And my 0:13:07.110 --> 0:13:10.679 third tip is learn more about money, become more financially 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:13.380 confident. You can start again on a very small scale 0:13:13.380 --> 0:13:17.910 with maybe books, video, courses, podcasts like this one, and 0:13:17.910 --> 0:13:21.389 slowly learn the tips, find some guidance, and become more 0:13:21.389 --> 0:13:22.499 financially confident. 0:13:22.620 --> 0:13:26.129 Emilie, thank you so much. You have shared so much 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:29.520 useful information for all of our listeners. And hopefully, this can 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:32.010 be the starting point, close that gap that we see 0:13:32.010 --> 0:13:34.978 with women to become more empowered with their finances. So thank you so 0:13:34.980 --> 0:13:37.559 much for coming on. Next week I'll be chatting with 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:40.409 digital nomad Claire Rhodes. Make sure to catch the episode 0:13:40.410 --> 0:13:43.469 to hear all about the exciting prospect of traveling while 0:13:43.469 --> 0:13:46.619 managing work in the UK. In the meantime, follow the 0:13:46.619 --> 0:13:49.470 podcast, leave us a review, and tell a mate. See 0:13:49.470 --> 0:13:49.949 you next week.