Taking financial ownership.
More specifically — helping women confidently take ownership of their finances.
That’s what stnce is all about. Our mission began when a study we conducted through Environics Analytics identified what we came to refer to as “the confidence gap”. So, what exactly does that mean? In short – women’s confidence in financial topics is in many cases lower than their actual financial knowledge.
It got us thinking more deeply about this issue so we set out to answer “Why is that?”
From what we’ve noticed, it’s a combination of a lack of conversations about finance between women, a lack of support, and sometimes a lack of access to helpful resources. A recent study confirmed these assumptions when it found that 50% more women than men weren’t investing because they didn’t know how to get started. The study also found that women are less likely than men to talk about money.
The good news is we can change that, and we need to because by 2024, women will hold 50% of Canada’s private wealth!
So let’s find out how to close the gap.
It starts with getting to know your relationship with money, which will filter down into where to get advice, what to research, and how to transition into making decisions.
What are your connections with money? What sort of thoughts do you associate with spending it and saving it? Are you a budgeter, or do you spend as the expenses come in without a routine of monitoring your balance?
There are no wrong answers, but the answers themselves will identify your positive and negative feelings about money. As you track the responses that form your relationship with money, you’ll be able to progress to how it connects to your relationships with others.
If the topic of money doesn’t come up in your personal relationships — whether it’s your friends or a significant other — that doesn’t mean the path to getting advice doesn’t exist.
Thinking about money as a taboo topic is often a learned behaviour, but if we open the conversation with people that we care about, we may find that the advice and sounding boards we were searching for were there all along.
Even if personal relationships aren’t a source of advice in your life, there are other ways to talk about money and develop the confidence to make financial decisions. Whether it’s forming a group with co-workers or joining an online community like stnce, cash flow chatter is building and there are plenty of ways to join.
We’ve established that there’s a confidence gap so chances are, we have more financial knowledge than our confidence level suggests. Even so, everyone is at a different level and we all have room to improve.
Boosting your financial knowledge can take many forms, from podcasts and personal finance books, to blogs and insights from experts, as well as financial publications. The more research you do, the more you’ll be balancing your risk as an investor and retirement planner, and preparing yourself to make informed decisions to secure the future of your dreams.
The choices you make when it comes to managing your money can vary in scope and size. Daily decisions about budgeting can help you get in a routine, and big-picture decisions — that may seem a little daunting at first — will help you secure your future. In order to achieve harmony in your relationship with money and how it affects your relationship with others, getting personalized assistance from financial advisors can often be a helpful choice.
No matter which stage you’re at, each decision that helps you take financial ownership will build your confidence and strengthen your voice, as you form a community of women that are savers, planners, and savvy investors.
Join the conversation at stnce.ca.
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