I hate classifying personal finance prowess based on gender but some crude truths emerged from my work with mentoring women in 2025.
They are as follows:
- Administrative stuff (like getting on top of your taxes, claiming legitimate expenses, and starting an investment fund) are considered too hard. When you dispel that myth and start to tuck into it, you’ll kick yourself for not doing it earlier. Guide to Business Tax here.
- That to invest, you should be with an expensive investment firm that charges you a premium for the privilege. I’m not saying those with longstanding reputations are bad choices, but there are lower cost options today that will save you thousands in fees over longer time frames. For an example of fee loads on KiwiSaver balances click here.
- Ignoring yourself as your single greatest asset. If you need to retrain, upgrade your tech, or raise your fees, the return on investment will be worth it.
- Not believing in yourself. This seems obvious but compared to men, women tend to be way more cautious, insecure and risk adverse which leaves them on the sidelines of key financial growth zones, i.e. not investing earlier.
Personal finance is not rocket science, it is pocket science. And thanks to technology, AI, good apps etc, the usual excuses don’t stick anymore.
The biggest obstacles women face are those in their minds. That’s probably true of both sexes but applies strongly to women when it comes to money and investing.
When I’m initially approached for mentoring, it is usually with a technical question but in just about all cases it turns out to be the mental roadblocks that need to addressed and managed.
Things like: not raising rates out of “guilt,” doing stuff for free because they “feel badly” charging some clients; and postponing taking concrete actions are seriously detrimental to establishing healthy financial attitudes and habits.
I’m fortunate to have had excellent financial role models including my mother, and some of my closest friends and those in my professional circle as well.
In 20 odd years I’ve been working in finance in New Zealand. I’ve seen a minor increase in the number of women working and or reporting in the sector but there is still a long way to go to achieve equity with men.
That’s evident in the KiwiSaver imbalances between men and women, which is around 30% now.
So my call to women sitting on the sidelines is to make 2026, the Year of The Horse, the year to saddle up and get motivated with money.
Similarly, my call to women who are established business owners, successful investors, financial gurus in their own right, is to toot their own horns a bit louder or at least signal to other women somehow that’s its okay to be ambitious, to ask questions and to lean into the sisterhood for support.
Every year that you sit idle, that you don’t do something more significant with your savings than a term deposit or savings account, or start planning more seriously for your financial future, is a major handicap to your wealth.
Giddy up girls. Let’s go.
