From a young age we read our daughter’s Fairytale’s. They all have similar themes, girl meets Prince and they live happily ever after. I challenge you, is it time to change the story we read to young girls to empower them, they can achieve whatever they set their mind to and it is time they strive for financial independence.
My daughter recently joined the workforce and it struck me, you work in finance and you haven’t taught her any financial life skills. So I started slowly introducing some new initiatives.
1. Set a financial goal and start saving
Our first lesson was to set a goal, something she wants to save for and ensure every week you transfer funds into a savings account. The banks are great these days, their apps allow you to set a financial goal, they track your progress and you can also name the account in line with your goal. Always fun when dreaming of a holiday post COVID.
2. Start small – boost your Superannuation
The second initiative was to boost her superannuation. The initial idea was if she contributed $5 per week, I would match it. Even though she is only 18 and many consider too young to think about Superannuation, what we have learnt is many people, in particular women who don’t contribute Superannuation and then end up with insufficient funds to fund their retirement. $5 is a small contribution but it starts the right mindset from a young age.
What surprised me the most was how much my daughter listened to me. By the time I got back to my phone, she had already sent me $% to contribute and she has continued each week without me even asking. If only she listened like this when I asked her to clean her room!!!! But the key takeaway is young girls want to learn about financial independence and feel empowered as they watch it grow.
The Australian Federal budget made a very positive step in assisting our teenagers in starting early in boosting their superannuation with the removal of the $450 a month minimum income threshold for Superannuation Guarantee. I hope this receives Royal Assent and starts 1 July 2021 as it is a very positive initiative.
I plan to rewrite the Fairytale to ensure young girls understand how to create financial independence. This is a passion project of mine. Do you agree this is an important topic for young women? Do you believe these tips are valuable? Do you have your own tip you have passed onto your children? Please send a comment, I’d love to start the conversation.