"Women & Investing"--The Washington Post...
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>>> WOMEN & INVESTING
By Martha M. Hamilton
Sunday , September 10, 2000 ; W22
Where does a woman go to improve her financial know-how and investment skills?
The world is full of books, magazines, seminars, Web sites, brokers and others offering financial advice, so how do you choose among them?
The first step is to understand if there is bias behind the advice -- whether it's designed to sell a product or is product-neutral. Both sources of information can be useful -- but only if you understand which is which. For instance, a brokerage firm seminar might provide useful information about investing in the stock market, but it might not help you decide whether that's the right financial strategy for you.
OppenheimerFunds offers A Woman's Guide to Investing. While its 159 pages include some useful advice, OppenheimerFunds is in the mutual fund business. So, when the book discusses earning power -- pointing out that "women tend to be paid 60 percent to 80 percent of what men earn for doing the same job, even when they have the same qualifications" -- it offers only a narrow solution.
"When it comes to investing, a woman's earning power is equal to a man's," the book notes. Investing is "one way to close the existing gap between the earning potential of men and women." While that's literally true, in a situation where pay discrimination can be documented, a lawyer might be a better investment.
When it comes to financial advisers, it is important to distinguish between fee-for-services advisers and those who work on commission. Fee-for-services advisers and planners are paid on an hourly basis, in the same way you would pay an attorney. Those on commission are paid based on what you purchase.
And when it comes to books, Web sites, seminars and other types of advice, look for the best product regardless of any gender-targeting. Many offerings designed for women are helpful because they take into account such issues as work histories that include maternity or family leave, women's longer life expectancy and how women are hurt financially by divorce.
Women often like to study before they seek financial advice, says Jan Black, one of the co-founders of Project Green Purse, a national nonprofit organization founded last year to run seminars designed to educate women and girls on how to achieve financial well-being. Such seminars tap into women's desire not to be snookered by those who try to take advantage of what they assume is women's ignorance about such areas as plumbing, cars and finances.
That said, here are some specific suggestions for investment resources for women:
Books:
I like The New Working Woman's Guide to Retirement Planning by Martha Priddy Patterson (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), now in its second printing.
Patterson recommends:
...Andrew Tobias's The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need (Harvest Books, 1999),
...Jane Bryant Quinn's Making the Most of Your Money (Simon & Schuster, 1997), and
...for those just beginning to deal with money management -- Beth Kobliner's Get a Financial Life (Simon & Schuster, 2000).
Jan Black and Project Green Purse co-founder Jody Temple-White recommend:
...Left-Brain Finance for Right-Brained People by Paula Ann Monroe (Sourcebooks, 1998),
...It's Your Money by Karen McCall (Chronicle Books, 2000) as good starter books,
...Let's Talk Money by Dee Lee (Chandler House Press, 1999),
...Beyond 40 Acres and Another Pair of Shoes by Pamela Ayo Yetunde (Marabella Books, 1999).
Newspapers and Magazines:
There are too many to list completely.
Magazines that offer insight include Business Week, Smart Money and Kiplinger's Personal Finance.
Newspapers include:
...the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times, but
...general-interest newspapers such as The Washington Post and the New York Times can be useful resources.
Web Sites:
...The American Savings Education Council Web site, asec.org , is widely recommended,
...The ASEC also sponsors choosetosave.org , which includes more than 100 online calculators to help with credit, home mortgage, budgeting and other planning issues,
...Another helpful Web site is ssa.gov for information on Social Security benefits; it allows you to figure out how much you might receive under different scenarios regarding your retirement age or future earnings,
...Don Blandin, president of ASEC, also recommends wfn.com (Women's Financial Network),
... wife.org (not www.wife.com , which will get you to a mail-order spouse site), operated by the Women's Institute for Financial Education, a nonprofit founded in 1988,
... womensfinance.com ,
...Yahoo's dir.yahoo.com site has useful information and tools such as Fund Manager, which can automatically track your portfolio.
Other good gender-neutral sites include:
... cbsmarketwatch.com ,
... fool.com and
... bloomberguniversity.com , which offer online financial courses.
Seminars:
Financial seminars offered by banks, brokerages and even newspapers are often listed or advertised in business sections.
Project Green Purse offers free one-day seminars in various cities. One is scheduled to be held next April in Washington, although the specific site hasn't been selected yet. Business Week, reporting on a Project Green Purse seminar in Richmond earlier this year, said that "never before has learning about money and investing been so entertaining."
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