At midlife, defined as 35 to 50 years of age, women often find they have multiple roles to fulfil but have so little time. The juggle is real and can be overwhelming.
This is the age bracket when women hit their peak earning years. Many have well-established careers and hard-earned savings and investment portfolios. Increasingly, women are having kids later in life as well, so structural shifts to family life and finances are happening simultaneously.
It’s Women’s Health Week, so it’s timely to discuss how financial wellbeing and health are connected. ASIC’s recent research with Beyond Blue indicates there are strong links between money and mental health with people experiencing financial challenges at least twice as likely to encounter mental health issues than those who aren’t.
Financial advisers can be an integral part of a woman’s support network, along with partners, friends, families and employers. Female financial advisers have an advantage when it comes to helping women because, put simply, we get it and we can empathise.
It makes good commercial sense for advice practices to attract women (clients and staff) as part of their growth strategy:
- The female 35-50 age segment is a growing cohort.
- The pay gap between women and men has narrowed to an all-time low.
- Many women are highly engaged in their investments, as evidenced by the increasing proportion of women establishing new SMSFs in the 35 to 44 age group.
- Women will become custodians of the majority of the wealth transfer across the generations – one estimate is they will be responsible for more than 65 per cent of the $4.9 trillion of wealth that will be changing hands.
Advisers are seeking to understand women’s needs better, particularly at this midlife stage. Demographic trends tell us why women in this age bracket have so many competing priorities. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, over the past three decades, the fertility rate of mothers aged 35-39 years has almost doubled from 36 to 69.3 births per 1,000 women; and for mothers aged 40-44 years, it has nearly tripled from 5.5 to 15.8 births per 1,000 women.
Simultaneously, during this life stage, women are likely to be earning the highest incomes they will achieve in their careers. However, a client’s income can vary considerably during the childbearing and rearing years as, overall, women are more than twice as likely to be in part-time employment than men. Part-time work provides an opportunity to balance work with family responsibilities but it does come at an economic cost.
I can draw from my own personal experience on how jarring the seemingly constant change in personal circumstances can be during this period. I worked hard to build my investment portfolio then diverted a substantial amount of money towards a mortgage for the family home. I love my career in financial advice and I’m proud of my achievements as a partner in a thriving advice practice that is dedicated to changing clients’ lives.
As a new mum seeking the elusive work/life balance, the competing priorities and responsibilities were and still are a lot to bear. I’m grateful for my friendship circle which allows me to vent about these challenges amongst people who have been through similar journeys and can empathise.
My tip? Open up to your friend, partner and family members. Frank discussions on personal finances – incomes, mortgages and other debts, superannuation, inheritances – are rare. Strange as it may seem for a western capitalist society such as ours, money and the status attached to it are, in the main, considered taboo. Perhaps this is because of our egalitarian culture; as Australians, one-upmanship or one-upwomanship over money is not what friends do.
As an expert in financial advice, I can say with good authority that destigmatising discussions on personal finances can improve engagement in important matters such as superannuation, which too often is put on the backburner by younger generations. Having these awkward conversations can normalise financial planning and encourage more Australians to improve their financial literacy. (Moreover, older Australians and parents who will transfer family wealth will be well-served by engaging children in these conversations early on.)
On the subject of openness, perhaps if more men discussed the benefits of taking up paid parental leave and shared their concerns about the effect on their career and discomfort about performing a traditionally female role – then more men might actually take leave, and have greater involvement in parenting at that crucial newborn stage. Currently, men are half as likely as women to take up paid parental leave, according to the Women’s Economic Quality Taskforce.
Let’s have those awkward conversations about who puts their career on hold, perhaps taking turns down the track, and consequences for sharing the burden of home duties (and valuing these tasks) appropriately. To be fair, over the last few years, in my neighbourhood there have been visibly more men out with children in prams, strolling with a carry on, or running behind scooters so, at least anecdotally, times are changing.
As someone who is facing many of the same challenges as my clients, I genuinely understand how obtaining sound financial advice during this period of shifting family and financial circumstances can change lives. It gives me great satisfaction to give clients peace of mind over their finances, and make a positive impact on their wellbeing.
There are many opportunities for financial advisers who are servicing this client segment. Women who have been independently managing their investments might wish to outsource this responsibility to an adviser while their main focus is on raising children.
Financial advisers can add value by sharing their knowledge on government policies and regulations that support parents and families, including recent welcome changes to government funded Paid Parental Leave. First-time mums and dads may not be across the more generous Child Care Subsidy provisions which were implemented in 2023/2024; for example, couples with a combined income of $300,000 would receive a subsidy of around 47 per cent (based on one child). Also, life insurance needs change as families and assets grow.
Financial advisers have the necessary skills, and professional and life experience, to support women with taking control of their finances. With our guidance, clients can achieve realistic goals – and if they can’t have it all at once, we can empower them to eventually have it “all”, at different stages in their lives.
Nina Kazmierczak is founder partner and senior financial adviser at Esencia Wealth
