Having a man not a financial plan, women told

The advice and warning came from Keisha MacQuan, Centre Manager – North, First Citizens Investment Services, as she spoke to the women about “Creating a secure financial future. Reminding them about their mother’s and grandmother’s advice when they were going out on dates as young women to always have their “vex” money in case they fell out with their dates and had to get back home on their own, she said women in relationships should always have their vex money – in these times, money in terms of savings and investments.

She said that it is easy to begin investing and it is only a myth that you need a lot of money to invest.

She said that in addition to serving as the primary caregivers in the home, women buy on behalf of the people they live with and “are the gatekeepers for their household expenses.” She added that women are generally the ones who shop around to find a good deal while men usually tend to buy what they want when they see it.

“So if we are savvy enough to manage our household expenses then we should also be knowledgeable enough to invest those funds.” She said that according to the Harvard Business Review, women are the ones who make the purchasing decisions in seventy to eighty percent of households; eighty to ninety percent of women will be responsible for their finances at one point or another in their lives and sixty percent of people who live in poverty are divorced women.

She advised the women to make sure they know what is happening with their finances both in good and bad times, warning that some men hide their money in case things go bad in their relationship. She said incomes of most men tend to increase after a divorce while it is the opposite for women. She said most women only start to save and invest after marriage while men tend to save consistently through their lives and asked how many women have organised wills; are prepared for retirement or to deal with the death of a spouse; for single life; the loss of a spouse’s income or to deal with finances and debt on their own.

Dr. Kamla Mungal, Director, Accreditation and Quality Enhancement Centre/Leadership Institute at the University of the West Indies and the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, addressed the audience about The Art of Transformation: Self and Society. She told the women that they are better than their environment and have the capacity to make it better. She said they will never influence the world by trying to be more like it and they should not be afraid of their individualism.