# Girls!



## Racer (Feb 3, 2010)

Okay, maybe the title should be "Money and Gender". 

As I am reading through this site, I am struck by the high number of female posters. This is fabulous! And not representative of real life. 

Not a lot of people I know are interested in money or finance, and the few I do know are all men. I don't know a single woman IRL who is interested in finance. Paying off student loans comes up, I guess, but that's the extent of it.

I wonder why this is?


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

I can't speak for anyone else but I find this to be a very welcoming space for women. Many of the other investing/finance boards I frequent are really dominated numerically by older men, and some of the pervasive, knee-jerk sexism gets a little much to handle.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Racer said:


> Not a lot of people I know are interested in money or finance, and the few I do know are all men. I don't know a single woman IRL who is interested in finance.


Oddly enough this is the exact opposite of my experience. It might be because nearly all of my bosses since I was 20 have been women (I'm 51 and have had quite a few jobs; I've only had one male boss in my life), and most of my colleagues are women as well. With only a few exceptions these women were/are on top of their finances, and most of them manage the finances in their family. My sister is a good example as well: she's the highest earner in our family and is the most organized and financially savvy. One of my brothers manages his family's finances but the other brother takes a head-in-the-sand approach; he's 60 and only just started wondering about saving for retirement; last time I visited him he asked me what an IRA was (he lives in the States; that's the US version of the RRSP). He had started saving for retirement but had it all in a bank account earning 0.03 percent interest.

Honestly I would be surprised if there's any real gender difference in terms of interest in and responsibility for finances. It probably correlates more closely with level of education and job responsibility.


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## John_Michaels (Dec 14, 2009)

Still trying to figure out why I - and others I noticed a weeks back - thought Berubeland was a guy...


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## Berubeland (Sep 6, 2009)

*I wonder why this is?*

It's because we live in a society where Baywatch is considered entertainment. 

We women are supposed to take care of our hair, our kids, and leave the important money making stuff we are too vacuous to understand to our club wielding football playing mates. 

So if there are women you know in your group she probably isn't too forthcoming about it. 

Another thing I have noticed is that your intelligence is supposed to be in inverse ratio to your looks.


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## Berubeland (Sep 6, 2009)

John_Michaels said:


> Still trying to figure out why I - and others I noticed a weeks back - thought Berubeland was a guy...


Speaking as someone who has been bucking gender roles for most of my adult life....

I spent 10 years of my life owning and working in my own construction company. I have worked on job sites with over 50 guys. I can assure you that gender roles are alive and well. My bf and I used to work together until he became too unreliable to work. I did not even tell any of my clients for months. I just went to work and made excuses for him not being there and everything went well. Then after about 6 months I told one of my clients that he was not coming back. I was in process of doing a large contract to renovate the common areas of a condo building. I had the deposit and had bought all the materials and brought them on site. When they found out they changed their mind about using my company. 

I soon realized the importance of having an able looking male to represent my company. I had another client who absolutely would not listen to anything I said. If I had an idea I would present it as coming from my partner and it would be accepted. It was very destructive to my self esteem as a business person. 

As I get older and fatter  I find my ideas are respected a lot more. I have even found it useful to present my ideas as flukes to avoid resentment when working in a group. It's just when people start to add up the flukes that the evidence becomes overwhelming. It just depends who you work for. I have found that as I get older and wiser I am getting very unwilling to sell out my intellectual property in this way.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Berubeland said:


> It just depends who you work for.


I think that's true, and it also depends on what field you're in. I happened to have ended up in careers (environmental education, nonprofit management, journalism, university administration, environmental consulting) where women are routinely in charge, so my "generic" view of a woman tends to be a very competent authority figure. When I did temp work just out of university, I moved furniture, worked in factories, worked in restaurants and resorts, did landscaping work, etc., and the view of women in those fields was very different.


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

Speaking of the role gender plays in investing, I thought you guys would like this paper:

Boys will be Boys: Gender, Overconfidence, and Common Stock Investment

http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/odean/papers/gender/gender.html


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## dogcom (May 23, 2009)

It is interesting and unusual to have so many women on one financial forum this is true.

The reason why women aren't as active as men in finances is because women haven't been gone that long from their traditional roles in society. It takes decades and generations for things to change once they have started. In many other countries where women are stepped on or only seen as looking after children and cooking, it would take decades and generations for them as well, if they were set free, before many women would accept non traditional roles.


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## Dana (Nov 17, 2009)

It's so refreshing to find a diverse community of intelligent people openly exchanging ideas about money. 

When it comes to finance there is a lack of female perspective in the real world. I don't have any financially like-minded girlfriends IRL. Even my friends who are self-employed don't seem to be concerned with their personal finances even though they manage successful businesses. 

Come to think of it...there is not one woman in my life (who I am aware of) who shares my enthusiasm for personal finance and wealth accumulation. 

It scares me how many women still take a backseat while their partner manages the family finances and makes all the decisions. 

As a mother of a daughter, my goal is to make sure that she is financially literate and has the tools to manager her own financial destiny.


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## Wealthy1Day (Aug 30, 2009)

Dana said:


> As a mother of a daughter, my goal is to make sure that she is financially literate and has the tools to manager her own financial destiny.


First, I just wanted to commend you for this. I think it's one of the most important things you can do for your kids.

Although I'm not a very active poster here, I haven't really paid notice to anyone's gender unless it's obvious by their username.

As a 32 year old male, working in accounting, and having a significant number of platonic relationships with female friends, I tend to notice that a lot of women my age are, in fact, very interested in personal finance. I think it becomes part of the conversation due to my field and my own personal interest. But what I've found is that women aren't taking as much of a backseat approach as has always been sensed to be the case. 

Not all of my female friends may be financially literate, but I don't think the general population is and so I have a hard time thinking that it's connected to their gender. There is the case of my one friend who thought life would play out differently in that she'd be married by now and wouldn't have to worry about it. But that's society for you and at least she's grabbing the bull by the horns now. So, if anything, it's society's traditional perception of what gender roles are meant to be that has resulted in what has appeared to be a lack of interest in personal finance.

But I think women today are naturally taking a greater interest because gender roles are changing. Women have their own careers, don't look at marriage as the only option, and should they get married, well, one thing that's apparant is that perhaps the guy isn't best equipped to handle the finances after all.

If I wasn't an accountant and if I didn't have a natural interest in personal finance then perhaps I wouldn't have had as many discussions about finance with women as I have. But from my observation, I think the interest is there, but it isn't usually a conversation that comes up. And I think more people should be discussing and thinking about it than they currently are.


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## Y&T2010 (Dec 29, 2009)

I too, am very pleased with this forum's proportion of female contributors. I find that both male and females whom I am acquainted with don't seem as interested in personal finance as I am (I am 20-something- maybe its the age thing too!).

I find that a lot of the successful personal finance blogs that I read are male authored. There aren't as many female personal finance bloggers out there, and if there are, I find that the topics/ articles written are very different.


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## Maltese (Apr 22, 2009)

Y&T2010 said:


> I too, am very pleased with this forum's proportion of female contributors. I find that both male and females whom I am acquainted with don't seem as interested in personal finance as I am (I am 20-something- maybe its the age thing too!).
> 
> I find that a lot of the successful personal finance blogs that I read are male authored. There aren't as many female personal finance bloggers out there, and if there are, I find that the topics/ articles written are very different.


I don't think it's an age thing because I don't have one friend who is interested in personal finance. (I'm 53.) When the subject comes up I can talk until I'm blue in the face about the need to change lifestyles, pay off mortgages and save for retirement but they just don't get it. They'd rather moan than change the way they do things.


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## jambo411 (Apr 6, 2009)

In my family the wife has zero interest in finances. However, judging by my co-workers and friends this is not so much gender based as interest based. I had my daughter buy and read the Wealthy Barber when she started University. This made a good impression and she handles her finances and student loans very well. The boy child on the other hand is not interested but does follow my advice. 

I enjoy this forum as it has a good balance of age and gender. Much better than some others.


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## Berubeland (Sep 6, 2009)

I think there is an enormous risk for anyone who abdicates their responsibility and turns it over to someone else. 

Finances are no different. 

To this very day my family thinks that I should find someone to "take care of me" I think I should take care of myself. 

Even if the person makes good decisions they could still have an accident, or be disabled or die. 

For the people who are "in charge" and make bad decisions it's even worse. I don't really think Bernie Madoff's wife is enjoying her life at the moment as an extreme example. Not to mention the only reason she has anything at all is because she was rich when she married him. Then there are divorces and affairs. I can't tell you how many times I have heard women complain about their husbands and just say they can't leave them because they won't have decent standard of living. Sometimes in very difficult circumstances sometimes with kids in tow. It's horrible. 

It's the same with men. Some of them let their wives spend them into the poorhouse. Again it's horrible. 

So for me, the buck stops here, if I spend too much money or allow my hubby to I can't really whine and complain I am responsible. The person who has to live with the consequences is always responsible. 

It could be that I am a cynic but I don't believe in blindly trusting other people even if that person is my husband or wife or financial advisor or anyone at all.


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## netlog (Feb 22, 2010)

I spent 10 years of my life owning and working in my own construction company. I have worked on job sites with over 50 guys. I can assure you that gender roles are alive and well. My bf and I used to work together until he became too unreliable to work. I did not even tell any of my clients for months. I just went to work and made excuses for him not being there and everything went well. Then after about 6 months I told one of my clients that he was not coming back. I was in process of doing a large contract to renovate the common areas of a condo building. I had the deposit and had bought all the materials and brought them on site. When they found out they changed their mind about using my company.
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