It used to be ‘Diamonds are a girl’s best friend’ was the acceptable message. Money has always had a somewhat tarnished reputation with words like ‘money-grubbing’ setting the tone. It is therefore not surprising to see articles with titles like why women “switch off” over money.

Financial literacy reports continue to tell us that Australian women simply “switch off” when it comes to finance. The Women Understanding Money report found 52% of women find dealing with money stressful and overwhelming, 25% have absolutely no savings for retirement and of the women who do invest, only 5% look at a company’s background information. Is this switch off factor just because we find talking about money boring and unimportant, or is there something else going on?

Even in discussions with high-earning, independently successful women, many women weren’t really tuned in to their own personal finance situation.

Perhaps the reason women don’t tune into their personal finances as much as men do might be because of the different ways of measuring success. Men, from a very young age, compare their salaries and the increasing value of their investment portfolios, and are more likely to spend money on expensive cars as a symbol to the world that they are a success. Conversely women spend so much time worrying about their children, partners and parents, they seldom have time left over to focus on themselves, and their own finances and investments.

There has been a historical exclusion for women in dealing with money in the not-too-distant past. Many women grew up with the expectation that women would rely on men for their financial security.but this is now changing. Women are now much more independent, both socially and financially. If women lack the confidence, the experience or the interest to get involved, then now is the time to change all that.

Women must seek out sound financial information and not hang on to the money myths they may have inherited from Mom, according to MP Dunleavey. Discussions with women make it clear that their mothers are often powerful financial role models. Unfortunately that can be for better or for worse.

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