Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
They have golden hopes
Local trio launches financial website
From left: Jennifer Jones, Laura McDonald and Susan Misner are hoping their website will help other women. (TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)
A trio of local entrepreneurs is hoping their new website will break down the glass wall that stands between many women and their financial futures.
Jennifer Jones, inhouse counsel at Wellington West Capital, Laura McDonald, a communications and public relations consultant to the financial services industry, and Susan Misner, a more than 20-year veteran of the wealth management business, have launched Golden Girl Finance (www.goldengirlfinance.ca.) The website is designed to improve the financial literacy of women and create an online financial community to deal with their needs.
Misner said because the investment industry is still dominated by men, it continues to be done in the male language despite overwhelming evidence of women's growing influence over all things financial. She said a recent study by the Boston Consulting Group found women will spend or influence the spending of $5 trillion around the globe over the next several years. That's larger than the commercial potential of India and China's economies combined and bigger than any government bailout package.
"Despite that market power that women hold, they continue to find themselves under-appreciated at home, underestimated in the workplace and undervalued in the marketplace," she said.
Misner said the situation really hit home during the economic downturn a year ago when she spoke to a client, who happens to be a psychiatrist, who told her she had never had more stressed-out women on her couch who wanted to talk about their finances.
"I thought, 'wow!' Women are seeking out their health care providers and they're not seeking out people in the investment community. I found that amazing," she said.
McDonald, a former partner in Two Blonds & A Brunette Gift Co., said societal trends point to an even greater need for women to be educated about money. She said studies show women tend to live nine years longer than men and are often away from the workforce for child-bearing years and while caring for elderly parents. With half of all marriages ending in failure, the average woman experiences a 27 per cent decrease in her standard of living after a divorce, versus a 10 per cent increase for men.
"The No. 1 conversation topic between mothers and daughters a decade ago was marriage, today it's money," she said.
Jones, who moonlights as skip of Canada's national women's curling champions, is a partner in Golden Girl and will be one of the site's featured experts on legal issues and finding a work-life balance. She will also use her profile to generate "awareness and excitement" around the site.
"The idea really intrigues me and resonates with me. This content wasn't available for women," she said.
Ainsley Cunningham, education and information co-ordinator at the Manitoba Securities Commission, said it has decided to fast-track an educational program it has been developing for women after seeing the launch of Golden Girl Finance, which she described as "full of very interesting and relevant information for women." She said rather than launch it next February, as originally planned, the MSC is looking at this fall.
"We're going to put a rush on it. There's a lack of resources in this particularly area for women. When it comes to money and finance, women are becoming more involved in managing household finances or they're in a position where they have to manage on their own," she said.
geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 6, 2010 B3
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