8 Reasons Women Resist Building Wealth – Post #5

In the last post, we explored the common definitions of wealth and the conflicts they present for women.

Put simply, many women simply do not find the concept of wealth-building desirable. Many place much more emphasis on leading a fulfilling life, personal growth, and being of service to the people and world matters she values.

Financial wealth is not required to do this, and women know this.

However, the two (wealth AND personal fulfillment) are not mutually exclusive. In fact, many women report that when they DO embrace wealth building it’s a huge confidence booster and a game-changer for their entire lives!

For myself, when I embraced wealth building and the personal growth required to do it (which I will talk about later in the book), my sense of self worth improved, my marriage got exponentially better, my sense of financial security increased dramatically, and my personal confidence grew. I also found myself more able to realize my dreams and contribute at higher levels to situations and organizations that mattered to me. In short, life got a whole lot more amazing.

So, in this post, it’s important that we go a little deeper on this topic to gain more insight into what might be holding women (and YOU) back from building wealth.

Because without a DESIRE to build wealth, wealth will likely never happen. And, the likely improvements to your life may never be realized.

Hidden Obstacles to Women’s Wealth Building

As I sought to better understand what blocks women from wealth-building, I turned to various fields of research from all corners of work, finance, life, science. I also went back and reviewed my own research for this book.

Some interesting patterns emerged that shed more light on what might be blocking women’s pathway to wealth-building.

Conflicted Relationship with Money:

Family money patterns (like a financial DNA) get passed along to the children. Subconscious beliefs about the ‘nature of money’, the ‘meaning of wealth’, and ‘women’s roles’ with it can have massive impact on a woman’s financial life.

Lack of Vision and Strategic Plan:

Traditionally, women have been expected to play roles as task-doers, caretakers, and doing the best with available resources. Bigger picture visioning, long-term strategy, and spotting emerging opportunities around wealth building do not tend to be predominant features in women’s cultural, professional, or financial roles.

Preference for Security:

Perhaps because women have historically had less financial resources to work with (think: grocery money, pin money), they tend to prioritize saving over investing. Any investing also tends to be done with greater caution and skepticism than men. One of women’s greatest fears is of being a “bag lady” and dying broke and alone. This is a palpable fear and mitigating for such a risk should be part of any wealth building.

Greater Need for Relevant Data:

Women tend to be more dependent on facts than men and feel more secure when ample fact-gathering accompanies financial decision-making. However, much of the data and the way it’s presented can feel intimidating at times and can leave many women feeling stupid.

Fewer Resources:

Statistically speaking, women have significantly fewer financial resources to work with than men (many of the reasons for this, including all the gender gaps, will be covered later in the book). As a result, women could benefit greatly from a more strategic, leveraged and/or systematic way to approach wealth building.

Lack of Relatable How-To:

Much of the financial education, literature, programs and products in the market today is primarily designed BY men FOR men. It’s also highly fragmented and not easily relatable to the whole picture of her life. Despite the fact that there are thousands of freely available financial books in local libraries and a wealth of wisdom on the internet, many women simply state about wealth: “I don’t know how to get there.”

Fear of Being Swindled:

As a result of having fewer resources to build with, along with a lack of clear understanding of financial products, services, programs, fees, etc., and a concern about predatory practices against women, some women avoid working with wealth advisors for fear of losing what they do have.

Limited Time and Energy:

Women have many stakeholders in their lives – namely, people who depend on them AND have influence on how their time gets spent (think: children, aging parents, volunteer roles, spouse, friends). Since women are relational beings, it’s common for them to prioritize people and their needs over money. It’s easy to push the nebulous concept of wealth-building off to another day when a child is crying, school lunches have to be packed, a parent is succumbing to a terminal illness, or a friend is about to lose her marriage.

Join me, again, tomorrow when I will share MORE likely obstacles to women taking on wealth building!

BY THE WAY: Please share your comments, insights, praise, criticism, questions, requests in the Comment box below. This is an evolving manuscript and you have a chance to influence it! So, let’s connect!