When I see ladies in their late 60s 70s 80s or even 90s in a poor or a sad financial situation honestly it just it breaks my heart. I don’t want to end up in that situation and regret not taking action earlier.

The Canadian Labour Congress in 2015 announced that women are twice as likely to end up in poverty than men will in their senior years. Their stats showed that 30% of women who are elderly and living on their own were living below the poverty line. This is the case unfortunately in not only in Canada, but all over the world.

It makes me so incredibly sad just to think about it and that’s why my biggest regret would be if I were to end up in that kind of situation as a result of my not planning for the future.

There’s a number of different factors why women often land up in dire straits in their later years. First, women often make less money than men. Unfortunately, it still happens that women doing the same job as men still do not earn as much.

A second factor is that it’s the women who take time off from their careers to have and bring up children. Women often step away from climbing the corporate ladder during the early years of their children’s lives and also often take jobs with more flexible hours to take responsibility for their young families. This interruption often has negative financial consequences for women. This not only affects loss in earnings but also in potential benefits, like matching programs and pensions.

These elements together put women further behind financially and upon reaching retirement years often land up either in poverty or close to it. Also there are many women who rely on their partners for their financial stability and future, but one never knows what the future brings.

This is not a pity party ladies… we shouldn’t feel bad or sorry for ourselves, quite the opposite, we need to feel empowered. We need to take steps to start saving and investing more. We must start putting money away for our future. We can learn how to invest our money to reach financial freedom. This is not an impossible task. If we learn to invest and start in our twenties or thirties and are proactive we’ll ensure that we have fabulous lives regardless of our family’s situation.

Let’s aspire and plan to be the kind of older ladies who love our lives and live with financial freedom. Let’s start putting some money aside so that we won’t ever regret not starting earlier. Just get started, even if it is in a super small way…it’s still a good start.

For help along this journey, watch more of my videos, they will certainly give you tips and tricks to make your financial future not only easier but certainly fabulous! I’ve got you!