Welcome to the Money Maven's Financial Blog

Money Maven Blog by Sheryl Sutherland, Authorised Financial Adviser and Director of The Financial Strategies Group

Recommended Reading

Recommended Reading by Sheryl Sutherland: Girls Just Want to Have Fund$ - Every Women’s Guide to Financial Independence, Money, Money, Money Ain't it Funny - How to Wire your Brain for Wealth, and Smart Money - How to structure your New Zealand business or investments and pay less tax.

The Financial Strategies Group

We think for ourselves and make unique recommendations. We only recommend investments and insurances that are in the best interest of our clients.

The Financial Strategies Group

Most of us spend 40 years working to secure our financial future; the most important investment you can make is to purchase appropriate financial planning advice.

Contact us for a review of your investments and insurances.

Begin to experience the serenity that accompanies financial responsibility and integrity: email sheryl@strategies.co.nz, call 0800 64MONEY or visit our website http://www.strategies.co.nz

Thursday 1 November 2012

Womenomics

The 4 Life Stages of Women Investors

In Relationships, where the emphasis is on enabling advisors to effectively engage with both partners in a marriage or domestic union.

In Transition, in which the focus is on providing support to women investors during a time of significant life change, such as a career transition, divorce or death of a spouse.

In Business, which identifies strategies for advising professional women, including women who are business owners or have inherited significant assets.

In Retirement, where the emphasis is on enabling the advisor to work closely with women investors in developing financial strategies that support the goals of living longer and better. The number of widows and female divorcees is on the rise.

Source: Financial-Planning.com

Finance & Investments

Thanks to my favourite economist Mr Brent Wheeler for sharing this:

If this looks complex just examine NZ. Twenty years ago we were ranked at number 19 of the top 20 safest bond investment haven and now we have clawed up to number 13. Japan, number one 20 years ago didn’t make the top 20 this time round. At number one, currently, is Norway, which, you will be interested to know, has a 40 percent requirement for women on boards.

Why?

Bias Persists for Women of Science, a Study Finds

Science professors at American universities widely regard female undergraduates as less competent than male students with the same accomplishments and skills, a new study by researchers at Yale concluded.
As a result, the report found, the professors were less likely to offer the women mentoring or a job. And even if they were willing to offer a job, the salary was lower.

Female professors were just as biased against women students as their male colleagues, and biology professors just as biased as physics professors — even though more than half of biology majors are women, whereas men far outnumber women in physics.

Surely we should be past this – I frequently read of men who say there is no glass ceiling – and even some women!

Source: NY Times

Musings & Amusings

For decades, women have battled for equality, but what if equality was not the end point? What if we are heading for a future of female dominance?

So runs the thesis of what promises to be one of the year’s most sparred-over books. In The End of Men, the American journalist Hanna Rosin says that males have ruled the roost “since, well, the dawn of mankind.” Now, she argues, the balance of power is shifting “with shocking speed.” From one perspective, the decline of the male is his own stubborn fault, a result of his bewildering failure – or refusal – to adapt to a shifting global economy. Men, says Rosin, have become casualties of the end of the manufacturing era. They used to hold macho labour-intensive jobs. In the post-industrial world, where “thinking and communicating have come to eclipse physical strength and stamina as the keys to economic success,” they are floundering.

“The attributes that are most valuable today – social intelligence, open communication, the ability to sit still and focus – are, at the minimum, not predominantly male,” she says.

As Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, put it last year: “A hundred and ninety heads of state; nine are women.”

Economists Justin Wolfers and Betsey Stevenson have shown that women are less happy today than they were in 1972, both in absolute terms and relative to men.

Even the author is concerned about the ramifications of change. “A lot of women in America are now going it alone,” she said.

“They are not finding men who are suitable marriage partners, so they are raising children, working,  carrying the whole burden in ways that are exhausting.”

Source: Sunday Star Times

Everyday Money

Top 5 Worrying Results
·         73 percent of people are concerned how their kids will ever afford a house.
·         22 percent said “Nothing I do will make a difference to my financial situation” rising to 33 percent for those aged 50-64 years.
·         19 percent aged 18-39 believe that “KiwiSaver means I do not have to save for my retirement.”
·         38 percent feel dealing with money is stressful, rising to 43 per cent for those aged 50-64.
·         Only 46 per cent know what interest they are getting on their savings.

Top 5 Cheerful results
·         65 percent are aware of their net wealth, rising to 73 per cent for those aged 50-64.
·         75 percent aged 40-49 per cent would like to help their kids financially.
·         57 percent knew the balance of their transaction balance at all times. 67 percent knew how much they had in their savings accounts.
·         53 percent tried to stay informed about money and financial matters at all times.
·         29 percent were actively saving to build their “emergency fund.”

Source: Sunday Star Times

Who's Counting?

Companions ain’t cheap; but still cheaper than children!
Goldfish 
$100 start-up cost, $20 annual expenses, $300 lifetime cost over 10 years. Buy a goldfish. Plonk it in a bowl. Feed it. Goldfish are low cost and low maintenance – the perfect entry-level pet.

Budgie
$150 start-up cost, $150 annual expenses, $1650 lifetime cost over 10 years.

Cat
$250 start-up cost, $466 annual expenses, $7,250 lifetime cost over 15 years. The average cat costs $466 a year, according to a report published last year by the Companion Animal Council (CAC).

Dog
$700 start-up cost. $1047 annual expenses, $13,250 lifetime cost over 12 years. Canine companions are roughly twice as expensive as cats. There’s the added cost of registration, which can be as much as $130 a year, or more if the breed is classified as dangerous.

Horse
$6,000 start-up cost, $3,000 annual expenses, $80,000 lifetime cost over 25 years. Surprisingly, the CAC report put the cost of a horse or pony lower than a dog, at $895 a year.

Source: The Press