Why?

A red carpet peck on the cheek by Leila Hatami, the Iranian actress at the Cannes Film Festival has been reported to the country’s courts by activists who are seeking a public flogging as punishment for violating Islamic laws. Iran’s Islamic rules stipulate that a man and a woman who are unrelated cannot embrace in public. Moreover a woman should not have her hair on display. The actress had a scarf around her neck but had not covered...

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Finance & Investments

9 Depressing Facts From the Latest Women in Media Report Jennifer Lawrence makes $11 million less than Adam Sandler. Women are inching towards media equality, but it’s slow going. The highest-paid female movie star, Angelina Jolie, makes about the same per movie as the two lowest-paid male stars, Denzel Washington and Liam Neeson. Her $33 million paycheck is dwarfed by the $75 million Robert Downey Jr. rakes in as the highest-paid movie star...

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Musings & Amusings

Discrimination persists in the workplace and it isn’t necessarily intentional or overt, experts on gender and negotiation say. But it can emerge when women act in ways that aren’t considered sufficiently feminine; like asking for money, and, when women advocate for themselves, these experts say, some people find it unseemly. Women can risk being perceived as overly demanding and unlikable.  Here are some strategies for approaching...

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Womenomics

App to boost women's self esteem The gender pay gap may often be attributed to corporate sexism, but President Francois Hollande's government has identified a second explanation - lack of self-esteem among women. Now his left-wing Cabinet has launched an application for smartphones and tablets that is supposed to give female employees the confidence they need to demand the same salaries as their male colleagues. The app, called Leadership Our Elles...

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Who's Counting

The Worst Money Mistakes You Can Make at Any Age   Financial Faux-Pas Everyone makes mistakes with money. We don’t save enough, or we spend too much on something frivolous. We sell shares in a stock too soon or not soon enough. But there are also financial concerns that are unique to different stages of life. Avoiding them as you go along can save you a lot of stress (and money!) both now and in your next stage of life. ...

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Why?

Why don't we develop good money habits - here are 10 simple habits for you to inculcate: 1. Start Early As the old saying goes: The early bird catches the worm… or, in this case, gets to retire in style.   2. Automate Sett up recurring transfers on a regular basis from your bank account to your savings and investment accounts. 3. Maximise Contributions The problem is that small efforts can lead to small results. You have to save like you...

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Everyday Money

Whether we realise it or not, how we were raised has a tremendous impact on how we make decisions as adults. 1. Your Parents Were Very Frugal The behaviour: Whether they needed to keep a tight budget, were trying to teach you a lesson or were choosing to put themselves first financially, they seemed to deny you of everything you wanted as a kid. The influence: You overspend to compensate. The solution: Talk to your parents about the reasons...

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Womenomics

Just 1 per cent of the world's people own 65 times the assets of the poorest 3.5 billion people (BusinessDay, January 22).  This statistic has been quoted ad nauseum of late. Without a concerted effort to tackle inequality, the cascade of privilege and disadvantage will continue down the generations, and equality of opportunity will be just a dream. However, this trend can be reversed quickly. There are clear examples of success. The US...

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Who's counting?

Was delighted to learn the following, primarily because I am a secret counter; pegs, cars, steps, books - the list is endless: Ancient Polynesian society kept tally with a refined number system. Researchers have found  that before the arrival of Europeans, settlers on Mangareva Island developed a counting system, a hybrid of decimal and binary, to keep track of trade routes that spanned the tropics, from Hawaii in the north, to Pitcairn...

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Musings and Amusings

Behavioral Resolutions for Behavioral Investors The essence of being a psychologically aware investor is self-control.  Uncertainty in a Modern World Generally people make two sorts of investing mistakes. Firstly we make mistakes in analysis: we’re busily forecasting in a world in which the future is at best shrouded in uncertainty. We can’t possibly get all decisions correct. Secondly we make psychological mistakes: our minds betray us into making decisions in which the balance of probable outcomes lies against us.  I...

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Finance & Investment

Too few Japanese companies are pushing for change, and even then usually at the behest of a foreign CEO. NISSAN is a good example, with Carlos Ghosn. The company’s hottest-selling car in Japan, the Nissan Note hatchback, is the result of a team led by a woman. Now the government is getting in the game, and the gender issue has become a part of Abenomics, the Prime Minister’s push to revitalize the Japanese economy. In a recent speech to Wall Street,...

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