How Can Single Women Achieve Long-Term Financial Freedom? Check Expert Tips

By Mayank Bhatnagar

As India transforms and enters into a stronger economic era, there has been a visible change in the working demographics of the country. It is wonderful to see that more women have become part of the workforce and with wider education and awareness, women are choosing their careers and financial independence as priorities for themselves.

The average age of women getting married has also been increasing consistently. Education, career- orientation, aspirational values and urbanisation are factors that have contributed to this change in dynamics. Today, more women are choosing to remain single either indefinitely or for longer periods, highlighting the importance of a structured approach to their long-term financial security.

Single Women and Financial Independence

Single women should aim for greater financial independence since they bear the full burden of living expenses as a single-income household. Managing all costs independently necessitates a detailed financial plan to ensure that the household budget and personal goals are always in sync.

One also needs to be prepared for rising healthcare costs, and having an emergency corpus to meet any unforeseen expense would be of great significance. And finally, for a working single woman, retiring comfortably should be an important milestone. After all, you don’t want to be caught unawares without a plan when the day to retire finally comes!

Balancing long-term and short-term goals becomes very crucial. Short-term goals often focus on lifestyle, such as traveling to an exotic location, buying a dream car, or building an emergency corpus for unforeseen expenses. These goals provide immediate gratification – balancing your present-day needs with future goals.

On the other hand, long-term goals particularly retirement planning, hold paramount importance. Without a partner to share financial responsibilities, it becomes essential to create a substantial retirement corpus. This ensures a comfortable and secure post-retirement life. To achieve this, requires investing discipline, consistent saving and smart investment choices.

Challenges Faced by Women Investors

As per a recent study published by FinEdge on its women investors, it was found that the following key challenges are faced by women during their long-term wealth creation journey:

• Excessive Risk Aversion
• Career breaks or Sabbaticals
• Lack of trust in financial advisors who are sales-driven and not relationship or value driven
• Limited familiarity with key investing concepts like compounding
• Financial decision making

Overcoming these challenges and creating long term financial security is the outcome of an investing process that is highly customised and supported by expert guidance. Here are some pointers that one must keep in mind to make the investing journey a successful one:

1. Be familiar with your unique financial situation and have a financial plan made to achieve your financial goals
2. Have clarity on your short term and long-term goals, and do not let one come at the cost of another
3. Invest consistently and do not fall for any kind of information clutter around. Build in investing discipline and invest for long term
4. Have a monthly investment plan for achieving your goals.
5. Have adequate cover for your Health Insurance
6. Have an expert to create an investment plan through collaboration and visualisation of alternate future scenarios. An expert also plays an important role to help you stay on course for your goal achievement, making sure that your investing behaviour is always in aligment with your long term objectives.

-The author is Co-founder and COO, FinEdge. Views expressed are personal.