Ishani Khoosal-Kala, 10X’s Head of Employee Benefits, Corporate Distribution, is the first to admit that such a sentiment might not make her terribly popular in all quarters but, she says, “a great opportunity for female financial emancipation is being missed”.
The opportunity she is referring to is the simple saving and investing revolution that technology and other developments in the investment world has begun to enable. “Not only has access been expanded and products simplified,” she says, “but so much information is freely available online.”
“There are a multitude of reasons that many women find themselves at a disadvantage to men today, many of them beyond their control, but my generation has a lot more opportunity than our mothers’ to empower themselves, and I think more should be said about that.”
Ishani was a panelists at 10X Investments’ Women’s Month webinar, where she discussed how financial freedom and women’s empowerment are connected.
She was joined by Asavela Gwele, a 20-something investment consultant who has smashed through the glass ceiling before she even really experienced it, and Sonja De Bruyn, chairperson of the 10X board and a financial services expert of 20-plus years’ experience.
The diversity on the panel lead to some interesting conversations. Asavela’s mum was probably not even a twinkle in her own mother’s eye when Sonja’s mother, then just 18 years old, was leading the 1956 Women’s March to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, an event that is commemorated on Women’s Day in South Africa every year.
Ishani enjoyed the honest inter-generational discussion about the different challenges faced and the struggles that have yet to be won.
We see the statistics often enough about gender disparity starting at birth and being magnified through school and higher education, for example (from Statistics SA), girls being so much more likely than boys (17,1% versus 0,3%) to offer “family commitment” as a reason for not attending school.
Those women who do make it to the workplace earn around 30% less than their male counterparts on average (also StatsSA).
“We know that things can be especially tough for women and girls in South Africa,” said Ishani. “Our society’s cracks have been very badly exposed and deepened by Covid-19, with a number of studies showing how society’s most vulnerable, women in particular, have borne the brunt of the economic pain during and after the pandemic.
10X’s annual Retirement Reality Report gives an especially bleak picture of retirement readiness for South African women.
The data shows that women have less saved, are putting less away and, importantly, reject the best opportunity they have to narrow the gap with men, which is to invest their savings for growth.
In the South African Retirement Reality Report 2021, 54% of women said they didn’t have a retirement savings plan at all, compared with 46% of men.
On the other end of the scale, 11% of men counted themselves among the very small cohort of people who are confident they are on a clear and positive path to a comfortable retirement, compared with just 5% of women.
The data is depressing, says Ishani, but it is more alarming that women are so much less likely to invest appropriately to increase their wealth and narrow the wealth gap.
“Investing in a portfolio of well-diversified growth assets and keeping fees low is a more effective method to grow wealth than saving in cash-type products. Yet only 14% of women surveyed said they invested their money for growth, compared with 24% of men.”
Ishani adds that her own anecdotal experience from more than 10 years in the industry confirms this.
“Too many women don’t empower themselves by informing and educating themselves and making smart choices with their savings, which inevitably means more than putting them in a savings account.”
There are so many tools online, such as the 10X Investments' retirement calculator, to assist someone wanting to create a retirement savings plan.
“Storing money away in savings accounts that currently deliver negative real returns (that is, the interest earned is lower than the current inflation rate) destroys rather than builds wealth.”
The investment industry was until very recently a horribly complex and exclusionary place that seemed designed to keep people out.
These days, would-be investors visiting a site like 10X’s will find masses of information about simple processes, such as tax-free saving and index investing, available for free.
They will also find much information about easy-to-understand, transparent, low-cost investment products they can sign up for online.
Those who prefer to talk to a human about these decisions will find it easy to be put in touch with an investment expert to talk through the options.
There are also many excellent advisers and intermediaries out there, but women need to do what men have been doing for a while, prepping for these meetings by doing their own research, which enables them to ask tough questions and get the best out of these relationships, says Ishani.
“Even if you have a broker who you trust, remember that it is your money, no one cares about it as much as you do,” she adds.
These days there is so much information about savings and investing options for anyone who wants to learn and empower themselves.
So far this is a revolution that men have been quicker to adopt than women. “Hopefully we will soon catch up and maybe even overtake our menfolk,” says Ishani.
The content herein is provided as general information. It is not intended as nor does it constitute financial, tax, legal, investment, or other advice. 10X Investments is an authorised FSP (number 28250).
