Written by: Dominique Mullally
The future of wealth is women!
It is estimated that by 2030, women globally will control 32% of the world's wealth. And here in the UK it is estimated more than 60%.... yes, 60% will be in the hands of women by 2025.
As we rise in financial powers we are, and will, fundamentally change the meaning of legacies.
It’s a fair cry from just a generation back where women required the cosignatory from a man to obtain a mortgage or even where women were denied the ability to open a bank account or obtain a loan on her own merits.
Or where the only legacy a woman was expected to leave was that of a ‘homemaker.’ Not that there's anything wrong with that of course, but the modern day woman wants that choice and more.
The female attitude to wealth, with a desire to seek new opportunities for family, and investing in ways that promote social and economic change and a better life for others, as well as ourselves, means this is good news for everyone.
Wealth in the hands of women is truly needed.
There has been a significant economic shift in the rising of financially empowered women. More women than ever are leading boards and heading up major corporations.
More women than ever are starting their own businesses as the shift in the ‘modern day’ family takes place with many realising the old ways and paradigms no longer work for them. Women want to raise their babies and have their own income without having to sacrifice their most important values.
Women want to make money on their terms and in ways that serve their needs and fill up their soul whilst contributing the things that matter most to them.
And more women than ever before are creating wealth through their business. There has been a significant rise in female entrepreneurship. In the last 9 years here in the UK, female owned businesses have risen by 10% up from 11% to 21%.
Owning your own business after all, is the best wealth creation asset you could ever hope to have.
Whether your dream is to pay off your credit cards, retire your partner, buy an investment property, purchase your dream car, your business is the accelerator of that.
The potential returns of investment are unlimited. Uncapped. Determined only by belief and aligned action to make it happen.
So times may have changed and it’s about bloody time but if this is the case, why are so many women still struggling with stepping into their financial powers and the ability to build wealth?
There is a link between self-esteem and financial autonomy. Women are holding themselves back from creating real wealth because they fear they don’t know enough or even where to start. And there is an association that wealth is unattainable or comes with it’s own challenges for a woman about getting it or having it.
Subconscious narratives about what it takes to build wealth or what it means to have wealth or who they might be with that wealth keep a lot of women stagnant and stuck.
I see so many amazing women struggling to stand in their financial powers, claim their value, and demand their truest desires.
They play small, they box themselves in, they shrink or hide parts of themselves to fit a narrative or an expectation of who they ‘should’ be.
Times may have changed but for some, the chains of the past are as present today as they were back then.
We have opportunities that were never afforded to our mothers, grandmothers, and the generations before them, however the generational, societal and sometimes cultural conditioning which chained the generations before us still hangs overs us, today. Lurking unconsciously in the background like a silent assassin keeping us bound by fear.
For years the narrative of a powerful, wealthy women was depicted as greedy and/or selfish. Women were the ‘home-makers’ and the man was the ‘breadwinner.’
Up until the last generation, the expectation of the primary role of women was that of a wife and/or mother. A role which comes with an expectation of personal sacrifices and compromises. The last generation before us had no financial plan, the man was it. He was the sole provider and with that came limited choices and freedoms for women.
I often look at my grandmother and my mother and the lack of equality and limited rights afforded them because they were women and feel equal pain and pride.
Pain that the lack of financial empowerment as a women meant many stayed in volatile, unhappy relationships because they had no means to go elsewhere, as this is the case for so many women today still.
And pride and in admiration of their grit and strength, for that very same reason.
The world has moved on in terms of the opportunities that are now afforded to us as women but some of the stains of the past still remain.
It is estimated that 80% of women go into retirement in poverty, that is with limited assets and income to sustain their pre -retirement lifestyle.
It is also believed that two out three women would lose their marital home as a result of a break-up, with the woman not being in a strong enough position to financially maintain her lifestyle without the aid of her man’s financial contribution.
Financial empowerment and building wealth gives women freedom of choice.
Choice of how to live life on her terms and in a way that serves her and her family.
Financial empowerment for women was not something that has historically been encouraged.
Women have been told ‘know your place,’ ‘don’t get above your station’,
Today financial empowerment is the new era of feminism. It is central to realising women’s rights, gender equality and justice, financial powers in relationships, and building wealth and providing for retirement. Financial empowerment also buys women seats at the ‘right’ tables. The tables where money talks and women can add value.
However, the lingering guilt and associations of a wealthy, financially empowered woman unconsciously keeps women financially stuck or limited.
Some women can make money but not keep it, whilst others can keep it but not make it. This cycle of wanting more and feeling you deserve more, or that it’s okay to have more, spins round and round keeping many women running in circles - only ever truly achieving what they feel they are capable of, or deserving of, depending on the narrative that runs round consciously, and unconsciously, in their head.
Hollywood has in the past depicted a fierce, financially powerful, wealthy woman as a bitch. A gold digger. Heartless. Selfish. Money Hungry.
I think of my own experiences in the corporate world as a powerful woman. I have been told I am too assertive, too aggressive, too ambitious, too outspoken, too direct, too demanding, too bossy.
The smell of judgment was thick with some believing that successful women are cold and ruthless and choose money, success, and wealth over everything else, whilst our male counterparts are encouraged and celebrated for their ambition and desire.
I was stifled and vilified for my ambition and desire.
And my own unconscious associations of what it meant to be a financially empowered wealthy woman, to claim wealth and have more money in my life, kept me capping my own income for years.
Women have often been shamed for ‘wanting more.’ Like it’s a bad thing!
Women value contribution, collaboration, and giving. Our intuitive nature is to take care of others. Women are using wealth to change the ways of the world for themselves, their families, their customers and clients, and the things that matter most to them. As a collective, we are the most powerful creators capable of immense change. We have the ability to live abundantly, financially, emotionally, and spiritually, but that does not serve, nor has serviced, the global financial agenda.
We have been programmed and conditioned to play small because the truth is, financially empowered women are the MOST powerful beings on earth.
Money is how we build value in the world. Every time we make a purchase, we vote with our money. We actually vote for what we want to see in the world by using our money and our wealth.
However, the world of money, finance, and the association of wealth, has long been depicted as a man’s world. Women often feel intimidated and confused, using terms such as ‘patronising,’ ‘male dominated’ and ‘full of jargon’ to describe the financial services and wealth management industry and the reasons why they are unable to confidently move forward in taking those first steps to building wealth.
Yes financial education can be daunting however we must take 100% responsibility for our financial future and building wealth.
Firstly, we have to be willing to accept our authentic, powerful self and embrace all parts of ourselves that other people deem ‘too much.’
We must be committed and convicted to believing it is possible, and more so, that we are deserving of wealth.
At the end of the day money is quite literally a ‘currency’ and the universal law of energy dictates that we are a conduit. We get back what we put out in terms of that energetic exchange.
This is the MOST important part to building wealth.
It starts with the mindset. This comes before the strategy.
Self belief goes further than a learned skill or a strategy. Self belief lights a fire in your inner knowing that you deserve more. That self belief conditions you to EXPECT more.
Authentically aligning our needs and wants with our desires and connecting unapologetically to that puts you on the path to wealth.
Secondly, we have to take responsibility for educating ourselves on the habits, behaviours, and the how-to strategies of building wealth, both in and out of our business.
Money skills are something we’re just simply not taught in school and for so many woman it is an area we fear. The common beliefs being, ‘I’m not good with money’ or ‘I’m not good at maths.’
We’re conditioned to focus on budgeting as money management 101.
For me budgeting is like dieting, it focuses on scarcity and lack. Certainly not a fun way to encourage women to build wealth.
And, often with the expansion of income comes the expansion of expenses.
However, the most important thing to focus on in building wealth is in expanding the gap.
The gap being between how much you or your business is making and spending, otherwise known as disposable income and profit.
That gap is what is used to build wealth, your ‘net worth.’ Your net worth is calculated by deducting your assets from your liabilities, leaving you with a ‘capital value.’ This forms the roots or the foundations for building a portfolio of assets to build your wealth and create your legacy.
These assets are your long term investments. And, let me be clear, building a pathway to wealth and true financial independence or freedom is not an overnight process. It takes time, there are no get rich quick schemes. It requires a clear plan, discipline, and consistency.
These assets if structured correctly will accrue value and compound their earnings over time allowing you to truly make money with your money, easily and effortlessly.
No matter where you are with regard to your net worth or your wealth building journey it is important to remember to keep moving forward. It’s about making a decision for things to be different, focusing on the energy of the life you want to create, and taking action every single day.
It’s in choosing to let go of old stories or beliefs, societal, or cultural conditioning that has kept you financially stuck and/or settling for some time.
Financial empowerment and building wealth is the way we, as women, get to choose how things can be different in our business and in our lives.
It’s about creating a ripple effect of the changes we want to see, not only in our lives, but in the world.
It’s about the legacies we create and the ones we leave behind.
Nobody is coming to save us! The onus is on you to save yourself.
The question is, what are you more committed to: Financially empowering yourself by upgrading your mindset and skillset to put you on the pathway to real abundance or an old outdated paradigm that keeps you playing small and on the continued pathway of limitations or mediocracy?
Either way it’s a choice, we must choose wisely!
Article originally published in our MONEY 2021 annual special edition published in August 2021. Read this and more like it in our annual MONEY special, bringing together women from around the world to share their wisdom, expertise, and insights on creating wealth, managing your money, manifesting and living in abundance, growth strategy and mindset, investing, and more.
Get our current MONEY special at soulacymagazine.com/money