'Money is freedom': How women investing smartly can help in the #MeToo era
If women want to be equal with men, they need to close the gender investing gap.
That’s the mission of former Wall Street executive-turned entrepreneur Sallie Krawcheck, the CEO of women-led digital investing platform Ellevest.
“Money is power. Money evens the playing field for us as women. Money is knowledge. Money is confidence. Money is freedom. Money is, ‘Take this job and shove it,’” Krawcheck says. “And ladies, we don’t have as much money as the guys do. We not only earn less, [but] we also invest less.”
For a professional woman, squirreling away paychecks into a savings account and not investing that cash can translate into hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars lost over the course of a lifetime.
“The good news: we can fix this,” Krawcheck says.
On Thursday, feminist media brand MAKERS and Yahoo Finance launches “MAKERS Money,” a weekly talk show hosted by Krawcheck that will feature advice for women from top female financial experts.
During the first episode, Krawcheck speaks with Yai Vargas, the founder of The Latinista, a network for Latina professionals, and busts financial myths.
One of those misconceptions is that men are better investors than women.
“The truth is we’re better,” Krawcheck says, noting that women tend to be long-term oriented investors with more diversified portfolios.
Vargas from The Latinista says that that the “No. 1 barrier” she hears from women is “fear.” Instead, many women feel safer putting their money in the bank.
Krawcheck notes that by doing that they may be missing out on an investment opportunity. The stock market has historically delivered a 9.5% annualized return.
Krawcheck spent nearly 30 years on Wall Street, holding high-level positions including CEO of sell-side research firm Sanford Bernstein, CEO of Smith Barney, CFO of Citigroup, and president of global wealth and investment management at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
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(Editing by Julia La Roche)
