Welcome to our #138 weekly newsletter.
“For women taking control of their financial future”
-Jana Hlistova
From The Purse
In this week’s newsletter, we spotlight our interview with Victoria Ross from Progeny Wealth, who is a Chartered Financial Planner.
We talk about how women can protect and grow their money during the cost of living crisis.
We highlight Victoria’s response to why women are more worried (than men) about their finances at this time and what women can do to look after their money today and for the future.
Listen to the full interview here.
***
And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.
I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.
Until next week,
Jana
Women: how to protect and grow your money during the cost of living crisis
We interviewed Victoria Ross, Chartered Financial Advisor on The Purse Podcast
I interviewed Victoria Ross on The Purse Podcast who is a Chartered Financial Planner at Progeny Wealth.
Victoria has 18 years experience within financial services, during which she also completed the qualifications as a chartered financial analyst and chartered managerial accountant.
As a financial planner, her key drivers are ensuring women reach out for and receive appropriate financial advice and that younger generations are financially informed.
Here is a short extract from the interview:
***
Question: I'd like to talk about the cost of living crisis; how women can manage their money and how they might think about their money during this time.
And of course, the research indicates that women are most likely to be worried about their money right now. Why do you think women are more worried about their money?
Victoria’s answer:
Our own house research shows that women are more concerned about money than men. And their greatest immediate concern is this cost of living crisis that we're experiencing at the moment.
And the second biggest concern after that is not being able to save enough for the future. I mean, if you think about who the cost of living crisis impacts the most?
It impacts those who have that less expendable cash. So that can be anyone.
But if you think about the fact that women experience the gender pay gap, or that they are more likely to experience gaps in their careers, they're also more likely to be single parents.
Whilst what's going on out there is a concern for everyone, it does disproportionately impact women.
Also, women can can react differently to stressful situations. And the cost of living crisis, without doubt, is a stressful situation.
Women on the whole are more likely to ruminate over issues. So when you're faced with a stressful situation such as money concerns, you can overthink it, which can create a vicious cycle which leads to more worry. And then you're not sleeping at night. You can tell, I'm talking from experience…
Women are on the whole are more likely to do that.
Question: Given where we are, how should women be thinking about their money and finances right now? What can women do to protect and grow their money during this time?
Victoria’s answer:
I guess if we start with how women can grow their money today.
With the cost of living crisis, saving options are really limited for a lot of people.
If your options are limited, the most powerful way to grow your wealth and your finances for that long term, is making sure that that future isn't forgotten. So ensure you invest into your workplace pension (if we have one).**
You can have defined benefit schemes where you build up a pension that is guaranteed based on your income.
Or the defined contribution schemes where we contribute, employer contributes, and it builds up based on investment returns on those contributions.
Whatever sort of scheme you have, be in it if you can. If you have opted out, you have opted out of your employer contributing into it, which is part of your pay package.
So that is what I try and tell people who've opted out of it because they feel like they're putting too much into it. You are opting out of some of your pay package and therefore missing out.
If there's only one thing you can do, do that.
I should remind everyone that pensions are for the long term for the benefits that you get. The tradeoff is you can not access them until you at 55 years of age.
That will rise to 57 (years of age) and it will go higher as the state pension rises.
But I don't want that to put people off because the growth on those early savings, say when you're in your twenties or your thirties, those small pounds and pennies that you can put away, that growth on growth that you experience over 20, 30, 40 years, that's really powerful stuff.
So if there is one thing you can do for your future, be in your workplace pension. **
If you are looking for something more middle term: you need to access to middle term goals, say 5-15 years- property is the common one. Something property related or child education costs.
The appropriate place is more investments inside of an ISA rather than for a pension, because pensions are for the long term.
And if you're looking at anything in the next, say, five years, (in our world that is fairly short term), it really needs to be in cash, particularly at the moment when markets are so volatile.
What you don't want is to need to raid that investment pot in a year, two years. And markets are so low. If you are investing yourself, and this is particularly in these volatile markets that we're experiencing at the moment, diversity is king.
By that I mean, if you're investing yourself you would want to be in a portfolio of funds that are investing in hundreds or thousands of companies that are diverse globally and across all sort of sectors.
You don't need to be a stock market expert to do this.
It should not be off putting. There are lots of ready made portfolios out there that will help you capture the whole of this world market space in volatile times.
There is a lot going on at the moment and the media bombards us with sound bites. So what we were saying to clients is just remember your intentions for your finances…
These losses that people are experiencing on portfolios at the moment, they are only paper losses.
They are not actual losses unless you have to cash in your portfolio.
So if you have this sensible, diverse portfolio, stand your ground…
Listen to the full interview with Victoria Ross here.
**You can also open a self-invested personal pension (SIPP) if you are not eligible for an employee pension.
News in Brief
Financial news
The Federal Reserve increase the base rate by 0.75% to 3.75%-4%. The central bank said ‘ongoing increases’ in the fed funds rate would be necessary.
Bank of England (BoE) warns of longest recession in 100 years & hikes base rate to 3% (by 0.75%). UK economy faces ‘very challenging outlook’ with recession now expected to last until middle of 2024. Interest rates are expected to rise to 3.5%.
British pound drops 2% (against the Dollar) after dovish BoE rate hike, trading more than 2% weaker at $1.1157, the lowest since Oct. 21.
BoE begins selling government bonds (ie QT), offloading £750m of (short term) government bonds (gilts) to commercial banks and insurers as part of a plan to sell £80bn by the end of next year.
Savers, entrepreneurs and shareholders hit as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to launch £13bn raid on UK PLC. Changes to capital gains tax and dividend tax are expected.
‘Cloud ETFs’ have had some of their worst weeks ever. For the week, Salesforce Inc. (CRM) shares dropped 14.9% for their worst week since the one ending Aug. 19, 2011, and Service Now Inc. (NOW) shares fell 14.6% for the week.
Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs
Bitcoin is now less volatile than the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD building on prior strength to hit highs of $21,473 on Bitstamp — a new seven-week high. ( See bitcoins’s current price).
Bitcoin, ether rise to close week as altcoins tick higher. The global crypto market cap rose by 1.8% to $1.07trn+
Polygon's MATIC shot above $1 over the past 24 hours — rising 14.6% to trade at $1.10. The token's initial price increase appeared to be linked to its partnership with Instagram, announced on Wednesday.
Solana Labs CEO: 'We want to synchronise the world at the speed of light'. Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko looked at what the Solana network can achieve — if it can overcome its challenges.
The Purse Podcast
We cover the following in our conversation:
Women's relationship to money
Why the cost of living crisis is more of a concern for women
What women can do to protect and grow their money during this time
Index funds vs ETFs
The new tax incentives for investing in startups and smaller companies
Progeny research: women's aspirations and concerns about transferring money onto their loved ones
Tips for finding a good financial planner
How to start working with a financial planner.
Listen on all podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts.
Coffee Break? Read This
In praise of loud women-the joy and power of being noisy and female
Whether a husband identifies as a breadwinner depends on whether he respects his wife’s career or not (not how much she earns).
We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and @janicka.
The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2022 & All Rights Reserved.
The Purse provides content for informational purposes only, we do not recommend products or services or provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.
Share this post