Managing Editor, The Women’s Investment Newsletter
Increasingly, women are taking charge of their financial futures either out of necessity or desire, according to Jan Kingaard, managing editor of an eight-page monthly publication called The Women’s Investment Newsletter, published in Mission Viejo. Noting that women represent 43% of Americans with assets of $500,000 or more and make up 35% of the country’s 51 million shareholders, Kingaard said it is time for women to become fiscally savvy. She recently spoke with Times correspondent Debora Vrana.
Why a women’s investment newsletter?
The idea came from its publisher, Charlotte Walter. During her career in real estate she found that women investors broke down into two categories: one was a group of very informed women who did their homework and knew about investments and major purchases in the real estate market; others were intimidated and overwhelmed and a little fearful of the whole transaction. Interestingly, the attitudes of the escrow officers, the bankers, the real estate people and the stockbrokers involved in limited partnerships treated women very differently. She felt that some type of educational program should be created specifically for women to bridge the gender gap.
Do investment advisers, real estate agents and stockbrokers treat a female investor differently than a male investor?
Financial advisers automatically assume there is a man in the picture if there’s big money and that a man is going to make the ultimate decision. Women tell us continuously when they go into a real estate office and say they want to buy a house, the realtor--whether it’s a woman or a man--says “Bring your husband in and we’ll discuss it.” One of our readers said she went with her boyfriend to look at condominiums. She was making the purchase. But the realtor kept addressing all his comments to the man, even after she said, “I am making the purchase.”
Women are not taken seriously. There is an assumption that women don’t have sufficient funds to play in the financial markets, and also that they don’t have the experience and the background. In some areas, there’s a gender tax in the negotiation, so you find that in escrow fees and in loan fees women aren’t dealt an equal hand.
What special circumstances impact a female investor?
Women lose hundreds of thousands of dollars through their own ignorance, through the ignorance of their advisers and sometimes through the dishonesty of those advisers. And women have special circumstances that not all advisers are sensitive to. Women live longer than men and will in fact be responsible for their own financial futures. Fewer women have pensions and benefits and we know about the gender gap in the pay. So women have to act on their money a lot faster and a lot sooner to have the financial security in the future that a man would.
In your newsletter, you talk about how a woman’s financial goals are different than a man’s. How so?
Well, women end up being the care-givers. If not for their own children, generally for their spouse’s or significant other’s children, not to mention their parents. So we are caretakers longer, we are living longer, we are starting out with less money. So a women’s plate is generally very, very full.
OK, you have discussed the investment gender gap. How does your newsletter hope to bridge it?
We feel it’s important to invite women formally into the process. The information we give is not gender-related, a man could benefit from it as well. We go into stocks, bonds, financial planning and pensions. So for one hour every month a woman can get into a routine of sitting down and looking at her financial situation. Less than one third of our readers have a financial plan and investment portfolio. We try to help them design, implement and, more importantly, stick to a financial plan.
Why do women wait so long before seizing control of their money matters?
The reason they haven’t been as interested before is men have traditionally been on the front lines with the money. It’s only in the past 30 years that women have entered the work force in such numbers.
Also, I think it’s the fear of money. The idea that “I’m not very good with math, therefore, I don’t think I can handle money.” Another big fear is that it’s not feminine, and that really is an issue. They see it as a big power play. Another concern is that if they gain more expertise, it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy and they will end up getting divorced or be widowed. They fear that they will be so self-sufficient and independent that they will end up alone.
What type of response have you gotten from men?
Husbands, sons, CPAs and attorneys have called wanting to subscribe on behalf of their mothers, daughters, wives and clients. One of the older men said he was relieved to hear about the newsletter because his wife did not want to talk about their finances, that it seemed to scare her. He was fearful that she wouldn’t have the know-how if anything happened to him. One man wanted to subscribe for his fiancee so they could make mutual decisions.
So there’s not a huge backlash of men running in fear of their checkbooks. A lot are purely relieved to have a partner in the financial decision making.
I have seen several Southern California investment scams that seem to prey on older, divorced or widowed women. Do you address this?
We regularly handle things like that. Women need to recognize that everything that promises the greatest return is not the best deal. We emphasize to women that it’s more important to know how to fish rather than buy the catch of the day. We also identify and elaborate on the scams, and give readers questions to ask if someone comes to the door or calls on the phone. Question, question, question.
On the average subscriber. . .
“She falls between the ages of 35 and 65. About half are single, widowed or divorced and the other half are married. Our readers say their No. 1 topic of interest is retirement.”
On financial advisers. . .
“Our readers want to know who gives financial advice. Who are the different financial advisers? We try to demystify a lot of this.”
On the newsletter’s future. . .
“We have a couple of goals. We would like every women’s investment club to have an issue. We want to show that women are interested in money and cannot be ignored. We are responsible for our own financial futures.”
On investment vehicles discussed in the newsletter. . . “Mutual funds are on everyone’s mind now. Every month we break down a few of them. We also have a stock pick of the month and discuss pensions.”
