Before kids, my husband and I saved for our future through contributions to our RRSPs as well as through stock incentive plans at work. Fast-forward seven years and two kids later, and my life looks very different than it did back then. After our youngest child was born, I made the decision that I would stay home and start my own business. It made sense for our family – I wanted to have the flexibility to be there for them during the day, volunteer at their school, etc – and it afforded me the opportunity to work from home.
While definitely a scary endeavour at first, it has been such an amazing adventure. I realize, though, that my financial planning needs are just as important now as they were way back when… they’ve just taken a bit of a backseat to, well, everything these past few years.
And, to be honest, in the past I’ve let my husband take the lead with our finances because it’s just not something I’ve been focused on. Sure, I met with our advisor and understood our plan, but he has been the driving force behind the planning.
Now that I’m a small business owner, I know it’s as important as ever to get more involved. In Canada, 50% of small business owners are women, which means that it’s super important to our future financial health to invest wisely, and with our goals in mind.
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Recently, I attended an event hosted by TD to learn about their Women Investor Program and how they’re helping empower women to get comfortable with financial planning.
Considering how much of the household purse women control (70%) and the fact that we influence $1.3 trillion of the total Canadian investable assets, only 30% of us have a financial plan! Obviously, there’s a huge disconnect here. And, knowing that 90% of women will have sole responsibility for their finances at some point in the future, this is a shocking number. That’s why TD has created their Women Investor Program. They understand that women’s needs can be very different than men’s, and want to help women feel confident in setting their goals. Because everyone knows you can’t achieve goals if you don’t have any!
Not only is this initiative important for women, it’s especially relevant to the 50% of small business owners in Canada who are women. The program aims to reach women however they feel most comfortable learning – through workshops, investing & goal-setting workbooks, one-on-one meetings with advisors, and more.
What I love about this program is that it doesn’t “dumb down” investing; it doesn’t insinuate that women are ignorant about the topic. Instead it addresses why, traditionally, we’ve been lax about taking control and empowers us to plan for our futures by offering many different avenues of learning. And it acts as the impetus to achieve our goals in a real, concrete way.
If you want to learn how to take control of your financial future, comment below and I’ll be happy to connect you with a TD Women Investor Program Advisor.
And, if you’re on twitter, check out the hashtag #YourStoryYourFuture for great tips!
