March is Women’s History Month, so through the end of the month we’ll be releasing stories highlighting women who are educating other women about investing.
Most of us are familiar with the gender pay gap, but another equally important issue facing women and their money is the investing gap. Which is to say that women are, on average, saving less for retirement and investing less money (and earning lower returns) than their male counterparts. One solution to the gender investing gap is education – money is a traditionally taboo topic, but the women we’re highlighting in this series are breaking down that barrier to get more money into their fellow women’s hands.
Meet Lisa Seery
Lisa Seery is a Holistic Money Coach with a primary focus on behavioral personal finance and wealth building through investing.
Her mission is to help women alleviate financial stress and master their relationship with money in order to live not only financially secure lives, but lives they love. She strives to un-complicate the world of investing.
“I became a money coach because I wanted to help people in a more impactful way than the corporate world was able to provide,” Lisa says.
When she realized that this was her passion, Lisa resigned from her role as VP in Wealth Management and Financial Technology. She’s now on a path to bring clarity and direction to women struggling with their finances.
Through her previous job as a health coach, Lisa was able to understand the physical and mental toll that money had on women in America.
“Once I became aware of the lack of female experts and coaches discussing financial well being, investing in particular, I knew I had to utilize my experience as an investment professional to help fill the gap and support other women on their money journey,” she shares.
Working in the financial services industry for 5 years can teach you a thing or two, and one of those things happened to be the drastic difference in number between the amount of men who were investing and the amount of women. How was it that they were not only having to deal with a gender wage gap, but an investment wage gap as well? Women, on average, invest way less money than men.
All of these statistics— combined with the fact that women often outlive men by an average of 7 years — brings us to the conclusion that women have to work harder, for a longer period of time, and invest in order to close the gap created between them and their male counterparts.
A woman’s golden ticket? Compound interest. Without it— no woman is likely to retire with enough money to fit the needs of their desired lifestyle.
Lisa is ready to see a shift in the paradigm— and that means giving the modern woman the knowledge of personal finance.
18 years ago, Lisa personally witnessed how lack of education was the problem. Albeit surrounded by a middle class family with good money habits, her parents never learned how to invest in the stock market. Furthermore, finances were never taught in school and educating herself often felt like a laborious and overwhelming task. Lisa also found that the material to learn about finances was often geared toward men.
It was only when she found a prominent female money educator — Suze Orman — was she able to understand how to sort her finances and begin investing.
Along her own journey, Lisa has learned a few key things. The first? To believe in yourself wholeheartedly and knowing you, as a woman, are capable of becoming a confident investor.
Second, finding a mentor to support and guide you along your path is extremely important. Third, you must surround yourself with other financially empowered women.
It’s time for money to no longer be just a “man’s” topic of discussion.
