6 Steps to Reach Financial Freedom


	Financial Health Test

	Getting Organized

	Determining Your Cash Flow

	Understanding Your Net Worth

	Learning Milestone


	Setting Financial Goals

	Achieving Short-Term Goals

	Determining Long-Term Goals

	Worksheet

	Learning Milestone


	It Only Takes a Few Dollars

	The Power of Compounding

	Saving for Retirement

	Learning Milestone


	Basic Asset Classes

	Stocks

	Bonds

	Cash and Cash Equivalents

	Learning Milestone


	Different Types of Risk

	Allocating Assets

	What's Right for You?

	Learning Milestone


	Creating a Financial Plan

	Five Immediate Steps to Take

	Final Learning Milestone

	Overview - Introduction
	Women and Money - The Good News
	Why Women's Financial Needs are Different
	The Consequences Can be Serious

Why Women's Financial Needs Are Different

At first glance, it may be difficult to believe that women's financial needs are all that different from men's. However, while the general principles of financial planning apply to both genders, women face unique challenges that translate to different financial needs. Consider the following facts:

Women live longer than men (approximately 7 years), so they need to save 20% more for retirement.
On average, women earn 25% less than men.
Since women tend to take time off to raise children or take care of parents (women take off roughly 11 years more from work than men), they save less than men do for retirement.
After earning lower salaries for fewer years, women's social Freedom benefits are about half the amount dispensed to men.
Between 1996 and 1998, 90% of women had certificates of deposit (CDs) in their retirement savings accounts when a more aggressive investment vehicle would have been wiser.

Page 3 of 4: Women's Financial Needs