Femme Financial

Women are the financial CEO of the home, are increasingly stepping onto the property ladder by themselves, and are thirsty for information to grow their financial savvy.

These are just a few findings from Wizard Home Loans new report, Women and financial security and home ownership in New Zealand, recently released in conjunction with wizardwomen.co.nz.

Lisa Meredith, Branch Principal of Wizard Onehunga answers a few questions about Wizard’s report and New Zealand’s new website dedicated to supporting women’s financial security and success.

What kind of role are women taking on the finance front?
Today, four out of five women say that they are the household manager, or you could say, the CFO on the home-front. We’ve seen a huge shift from women being the homemaker a few decades ago. Now women are the household manager and accountant and so naturally, have become more focused on being financially secure and savvy. In fact, 97% of women we talked to rated being financially savvy as extremely important.

So how financially secure do women in New Zealand say they are?
Employment obviously plays an important role in how financially secure someone feels, so the increasing role of women in the workplace has helped to develop a strong sense of financial security amongst most New Zealand women (65%). But while this is a really impressive achievement, only 7% of women feel very secure, and a third don’t feel secure at all, so we think there’s definite room for improvement.

What should women who want to improve their financial security do?
It all starts with knowledge. Being financially savvy enables people to achieve financial security, so you need to arm yourself with as much information as possible. It’s not hard: people - and often the industry - make achieving financial freedom and security more complicated than it needs to be. Talk to experts, read the paper, have a look at our site and read the report. Glean; glean; glean: the more insight you have, the more able you are to achieve your financial goals.

Is it a matter of confidence then?
For sure, and women often say that the biggest barrier to financial security is a lack of confidence. It’s really important to be conscious of the impact that confidence barriers can create, what exacerbates a lack of confidence and how to overcome it.

In your view, what are two striking financial achievements of women in New Zealand?
Women have made some pretty impressive changes to their financial status over the past few decades, but if I had to choose a couple, it would be (1) the fact that the number of female entrepreneurs is now growing at twice the rate of men and (2) the remarkable 19% increase in the number of women who have taken out a first mortgage to buy a home on their own, rather than with someone else, between July 2005 and July 2007,

Why does property rate so high as an achievement?
Owning a slice of New Zealand plays a really key role for many women looking for financial security and in fact 79% say it is a top financial goal. Adding to the home ownership achievement, we’ve also seen a 26% increase in the number of women who own property investments by themselves in the same period.

Tell us about wizardwomen.co.nz…
Wizard Women is an interactive online community that offers information designed to generate ideas about how to build a positive financial future. You’ll find the answers to your questions; get to the bottom line without the jargon; and glean insights from real life success stories. The site has been designed to generate a fresh dialogue with women, to delve into how lenders can better meet their needs, and to highlight the importance of women’s financial security and savvy. Have a look and let us know what you think – wizardwomen.co.nz.