Sisters doing it for themselves

There is a social shift emerging that is transforming the way women control their finances. After years of financial literacy reports and surveys finding that Australian women are trailing men in confidence and knowledge around money, there are teams of women working hard to help turn these figures around.

One of these reports, the Women Understanding Money Report published by the Australian Financial Literacy Foundation, found 52 per cent of women find dealing with money stressful and overwhelming and 25 per cent have no savings for retirement.

Vanessa Rowsthorn, who launched the female friendly finance website Moneygirl last year with Nina Dubecki, says these surveys have continued to state the obvious.

"Women are fundamentally different to men and we lead different lives. Every year there seems to be a new study saying we live longer than men, we still earn less than men, we take more time out of the workforce - and that all impacts our superannuation - so that means there's even more of an imperative for women to get smart about money early on," Rowsthorn says.

Both Rowsthorn and Dubecki work in jobs in the arts industry, renowned for its low paying salaries, and Rowsthorn says the Moneygirl website was their way of helping women re-frame the way they approach their savings and investments.

"I truly believe it's not about what you earn it's about what you do with your money, which is a really empowering idea. You can live the life that you want - it's not about becoming rich for the sake of it - it's about giving yourself choices. For me, when I had that change of attitude it was such a liberating thing."

The pair, who run the website after work and on weekends, recently published a book Money Makeover, which collates and extends ideas from the website.

Rowsthorn says building a community of women is an important part of Moneygirl and has been part of its success.

"We've had so much positive feedback. We realised there was such a need for accessible interesting information for women like us. We realised that women like learning from other women, they like learning from each other's trials and tribulations. It's all about creating a community."

Another community that has been created for women around finance is the 10thousandgirl Campaign.

Creator of the campaign, Zoe Lamont, says there is a collective conscience around the idea of improving women's confidence in managing money.

"It's exciting because so much seems to be happening and all the groups are so aligned to achieve similar goals of empowering women and increasing financial understanding. It's a great space to be in - we're all working towards the same thing, so it's really collaborative and cooperative - and because of this I think we'll see change fast," Lamont says.

The 10thousandgirl Campaign runs life planning workshops and offers a web-delivered personal finance course that women take at home with their friends - similar to a book club.

"We've had such immediate and overwhelming response from young women who are looking for a better way to access financial information, and from businesses that are interested in supporting the idea that we know this is an exciting time; we're about to see a social shift."

One of the aligned objectives of these different organisations is to present information about finance in a way that is enjoyable and engaging.

Website Financy, which was launched by financial journalist Bianca Hartge in May this year, is a financial news-based resource with a difference.

"Often the subject [of finance] is dry, complex and boring and I wanted a place to get a bit more creative and have a bit more flair. That's why I came up with the idea of Financy, it's all about finance being a bit fancy."

Hartge presents finance interviews and articles in a conversational tone using case studies and scenarios to explain concepts and broaden understanding.

"I take it that little step further to explain to the reader how the financial news might affect them," she says.

Hartge says the financial crisis was one catalyst for a surge in the resources available to help people decode the world of finance.

"The crisis has shown there's a need to present information in a way people do understand. There's a need to educate people in finance - we all want to know more about it. It is complex, but it is possible to break it down," Hartge says.

The momentum gathering in the area of women's financial education is driven by women wanting to control their own finances, Hartge says.

"Women want to take care of themselves financially - that's the ultimate reason women will seek information about finance."

- © Fairfax NZ News