Stay the Course
The Co-Co Lunchtime Conversations are inviting co-learning spaces where you can achieve your goals by learning from and educating each other. At these gatherings, you’ll tap into a wealth of resources and expert advisers who have a knack for influencing your growth by sharing knowledge and skills that transcend lifestyle and industries. (Members can access event recordings here.)
The Co-Co Lunchtime Conversation: Your Money
The past two years have reshaped our world and economy in unimaginable ways. Supply chain, inflation, and The Big Quit were not part of our 2019 conversations! Co-Co community financial planning and investment experts shared their thoughts and personal experience with spending, saving, and investing in today’s world. Here’s what they had to say…
“As women and mothers, we instinctively go into protection mode and can forget what’s important to us. I encourage you to stay the course.
I’ve got two young kids; my husband and I have a front and center goal to save for their education. At the same time, we are remembering our own personal goal which is to save for retirement. I find that women often think about their own retirement last when it should be a priority.”
Assunta (Susie) McLane, Vice President, Sr. Wealth Advisor, Summit Financial Place Advisors
Despite the crazy time in financial services during COVID, I was prepared because of a UBS framework I use with my clients: Liquidity. Longevity. Legacy.
Liquidity comes from salary, income, or portfolio income. The idea is to have a few years of liquidity on hand. That doesn’t mean that you need to have two years of spending in an account but if you’re employed and plan on staying employed, that’s your liquidity. Longevity is your investment portfolio and is not touched until it’s needed to eventually fill the liquidity bucket in retirement. Legacy encompasses estate and legacy planning.
This framework and being comfortable with a budget empowered my husband and me to embrace remote work and adjust our liquidity bucket to include a second home in Florida.
- Sheila Klehm, Managing Director, Private Wealth Management, UBS; Financial Advisor
“Your emergency fund is the buffer between your investment account and your credit card.
For a real-life example, my hot water boiler just blew. Water everywhere! I was able to pay the $6000 bill from my emergency fund and didn’t have to put it on a credit card with huge interest or dip into my investment accounts.
In the last few months, we’ve had a slight downturn. There is that volatility of the markets and if your investment account is down, you’d have to take it out at a loss.”
- Jessica Perrone, Founder at Her Financial IQ
“Think and be long term in a short term world. The media world moves quickly and we tend to think we should have a response to all that’s going on. Design or work with a professional to design a long-term strategy that gives you peace.
Second, if I had a magic wand, I would have everyone track their spending — a twist on a budget. My husband felt constrained by the idea of a budget. We’re both working so hard, he didn’t want another reason to say, “No, you can’t have that bit of enjoyment - a dinner out or a latte.” So for the last six years, we track our spending in the past. I can see our patterns which help us plan. It’s made us see that if we spend more than we earn, we have to make twice the next year because the real money you’re earning is after taxes.”
- Brynne Thompson, CFA, Early-stage Investor, Advisor; Investment Process and ESG Consultant with Coburn Ventures; Creator of Leadership Consortium for Stakeholder Engagement
The open Q+A generated lively conversation around talking to kids about money, strategies for when and how to sell an investment, investing in gold and commodities, and women in finance. Members can access a recording of the conversation here.
Ready to learn more?
Our talented Co-Co experts offer a great set of follow-on resources including podcasts, live shows, blog posts, and apps:
Brynne’s Coburn Ventures Podcast, Conversations on investing, change, and decision making.
Exploring Inflation and Macro-economic Dynamics with Mike Cahill
From Brynne, “It’s an institutional investor giving his take on a number of recent themes like inflation. commodities, etc.”Handling Periods of Heightened Uncertainty with Matt Wallaert
From Brynne, “A perennial topic and helpful to get grounding if feeling shaken by the markets (or life in general)!”
Mint - a personal finance app referenced by Brynne and Jessica
Jessica’s Her Investing Coffee Talk simplifies money and investing concepts for women with a lot, a little, or no investing knowledge. Live show (Thursdays at 10:00 AM) and recordings.
Summit Financial Place’s Knowledge and Insights
From Susie, “Members can find content related to setting up emergency funds, understanding insurance, establishing their own estate plan, and much more.”And a great set of resources from Sheila:
Women and Investing
“As we discussed, UBS has a “wealth” (pun intended) of resources focused on women. I have selected a few pieces based on our conversation that I thought the group may find interesting. Here is the link to our women’s segment portal, which has additional resources.
Globally, in 2021, there were more women in leadership positions, across markets and sectors, than ever before; women’s wealth is accelerating; female entrepreneurship and female-led businesses are on the rise, and there is unprecedented wealth transfer between generations of women. Plus, COVID – 19 has highlighted female resilience and power.
However, gaps in pay and funding – driven by limited access to networks, conscious and unconscious biases; disproportionate care responsibilities, plus disparities in education, healthcare, politics, and legal rights, are stifling potential to significantly boost worldwide GDP. Additionally, the pandemic has had a major impact on gender equality progress.
As we look ahead to 2030, there is a need to recalibrate global systems and promote gender lens investing with a focus on parity, power, and purpose.
In our report, in collaboration with foresight consultancy, The Future Laboratory, the rising trends will drive transformation in the coming decade.
The Funding Gap – Investors and Female Entrepreneurs
This results in a lack of equal opportunities to innovate and build successful companies. We look in the report from our Chief Investment Office at the reasons behind this and illustrate how to narrow the funding gap.
Women and Investing – Reimagining wealth advice
Women’s wealth is growing, and there is a trend toward women wanting and taking control of their finances. Women are not satisfied with the current advice they receive, and they tend to value the importance of expert advice more than men. A 2022 study by BNY calculated that if women invested at the same rate as men, there could be more than 3.22 trillion of additional capital to invest globally with over 1.87 trillion flowing into more responsible investing.
In this publication, we review the differences between men’s and women’s wealth journeys and focus on how the wealth management industry can best support women in taking control of their finances. We started by looking at women’s wealth and the trend of women investing. We then look at how women tend to make investment decisions along with their needs and preferences. Based on these insights we identify the key components for a compelling wealth management value proposition for women.
UBS Partnered with Marie Claire on the topic of Couples and Money
Most Women Don’t Participate Equally in Financial Planning According to a New Study – And It’s Hurting Gender Equality
New research reveals that nearly half of married women still defer big financial decisions to their partner
Here’s what needs to change.
Sustainable Investing
One of the attendees asked a question about Sustainable Investing. Here are two pieces on Sustainable Investing.
This link to our Sustainable Investing portal has a tremendous amount of information on the space.
Finally, here is a link to the Francine A. LeFrak Center for Wellness at Barnard College, which is built on three pillars: mental, physical, and financial wellness. We believe it is the first center of its kind to integrate financial empowerment as a pillar of overall wellness for women. The Center serves students, faculity, alums, and the community. The group may be interested in exploring resources available to the community.
