Women's eNews (https://womensenews.org/author/sandra-guy/)
April is financial literacy month. Numerous financial-planning Web sites and groups have sprung up to cater to higher-income women but advisers and advocates for lower-income women’s retirement planning say they have the field to themselves.
Rising fears of sub-prime mortgage defaults spooked the financial markets last week. One woman’s story and recent studies show how women are disproportionately vulnerable to this financial liability. Advisors recommend pre-mortgage counseling.
Female teens are showing interest in starting their own businesses. Programs to help them are sprouting, with participants studying ways to turn shopping, fashion and teaching into income opportunities.
Female entrepreneurs often struggle with tiny operations and budgets. Members of Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World, however, have built small empires. Each year they hold an event conceived as a cross between Miss Universe and the Olympics.
U.S. women spend an average of $68 for Valentine’s Day gifts. Behind those trinkets and sweets are often sour stories of foreign women who toil long hours for meager wages, say critics of trends in mass-market U.S. retailing.
The high-paying field of commercial real estate offers a culture and compensation structure that is often problematic for women. Female executives are changing that by mentoring more junior women and opening their own shops.
In the wake of a report that many top U.S. companies fail to publicly disclose their efforts to hire and promote women and people of color, activists express dismay and point to other ways to monitor corporate practices.
While some women may be feeling pressure to shop and spend for the holidays others are trimming purchases, paying only in cash and looking forward to a new year with less debt hanging over them.
(WOMENSENEWS)–Overcoming the societal message that encourages over-spending at year’s end is no easy task, but many resources provide help. A number of books, Web sites and initiatives aim at finding the true meaning of the holidays.
Women file for bankruptcy in greater numbers than men and face higher barriers to financial security. As a result, advocates say, women have more to lose under the new bankruptcy law enacted last week.