There is a current New York Times bestselling book on money and investing that has been highly recommended, The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness. I read most of it on a long-haul flight and would’ve finished it if not for the movie my husband suggested I watch since he knows how much I like murder mysteries. I finished it this week.
Judging from the time it took me to read the book and the copious highlights I made, it was a truly worthwhile read but one with a caveat, the male perspective it is written from. Morgan Housel hovered a line by making the book approachable to the average person while still being acceptable in the male-dominated financial industry, a feat not easily done. By far, the top-rated, bestselling, influential books on money and investing are written by men. A few scattered among these written by women, focus on the tactical, emotional side of money not the strategic.
As you know, I read the negative one or two-star reviews. One woman purchased the book for her husband to read not her and many of the negative reviews came from women. Mystery and crime top the list of books women like to read and for men, history, which fittingly aligns with this book’s examples and parallels. Maybe women need to read more history or maybe Americans overall need to consume more in-depth content. 54% of Americans read a book this year | YouGov (2023)
It’s not that women aren’t successful in understanding money, investing and building wealth. We actually outperform men in investment returns. At one end on the spectrum, are the many women now heading financial, Wall Street firms as CEO/President and at the other end, the women who blame men or believe money can be manifested into existence with daily energy flow affirmations making them rich by 30, if not by 40. Both are at extreme odds with one another.
There isn’t much in between.
It remains imbedded in our culture that married men still manage the long-term, complex financial management of investments that build wealth, and married women handle the day-to-day, short-term tactical of budgeting and paying the bills that doesn’t build wealth. What separates men and women when it comes to household finances? – Investment News
There is a way to combine and balance this. The first is a mindset shift to counteract the perpetual convention of Wall Street being difficult to understand. It’s more about understanding the intangible. It’s also freeing up time to manage the short and long-term together. Modern money allows us to automate the repetitive to focus on the strategic.
The biggest barrier to investing that people admit to is lack of funds but it goes deeper than that. My parents and my husband’s parents don’t understand investing. I think many people truly don’t understand investing or what they should be doing. There are also elements of fear, dealing with the unknown (intangible,) risks and lack of confidence and control. The younger generations are changing this but my generation (X), has some learning to do to build confidence in their investing and long-term financial planning.
The percentage of women from each generation who invest:
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- Generation Z: 71%
- Millennials: 63%
- Generation X: 55%
- Baby boomers: 57%
My interest in investing was sparked my senior year of college in an elective finance class where we teamed up and ran investment scenarios. The team I was on ended up with the highest returns. Back then, if you didn’t take a finance class, read finance books or have parents or a mentor who taught you, it was difficult to learn what investing was since the Internet was only on the cusp of becoming mainstream.
To my fellow Gen Xer, Baby Boomer and even elder Millennial women, get involved in understanding your investments, strategies and financial planning if you aren’t already. Make it a shared endeavor. I think most husbands would welcome the help if not the sounding board. And if you don’t have a sounding board, find someone – a trusted sibling, friend or financial professional (more on this to come.)
It’s not “show me the money.” It’s “Show Me the Way,” to the long-term, collaborative and unseen. Investing isn’t a surface-level endeavor. You have to delve deep in order to realize the full benefits. And I will do this here.
Sleeping Dogs (crime thriller) is worth watching and I don’t watch many movies.
Featured Image – I knew I still had this but would have to practice playing it.