Episode Transcript
Women, money, and their two biggest questions. Hi. I'm Ally Donnelly, and this is Fidelity's Money Unscripted podcast. We're talking life and money, jargon and judgment free. Thanks for being with us.
Today, I'm excited to introduce you to our friend Alex Roca. She's the new host of Fidelity's Women Talk Money, a community created specifically for women to share strategies on personal finance and planning. Alex, welcome.
Thank you so much for having me.
You're a certified financial planner and have been part of the Women Talk Money community here at Fidelity in one way or another for years. So I want to get to those top two questions you get in just a minute. But first, tell me why you're excited to be the new host of Women Talk Money.
First, I have to say I'm just so proud of the work that we do as a team. We simplify financial concepts so that our community can take actionable steps towards their goals, whether it's through webcasts, whether it's emails, newsletters, videos. We want to make sure that you get the information the way that you want.
And what are you seeing?
Well, women often feel inadequate when they don't have all the answers. And there's no difference when it comes to their money. That's where Women Talk Money comes in because we normalize not having to have all the answers. I've been in finance and working with customers for over 14 years.
And simplifying these concepts and bringing them to life, I would say, is like my soul fire. It's the reason why I love to do what I do. And to answer your question more specifically, I'm so excited because I get to work-- instead of a one-on-one environment, I get to really have an impact on such a broader audience and group.
You say this is your soul fire. This is a personal job for you too.
It is. My first job was at 12. My family owned a newspaper, and I started selling classified ads. And so at 12, I thought that my life was going to look completely different than it looks today. But my family went through some financial hardships, and we ended up having to relocate away from Puerto Rico, away from everything and everyone we'd ever known.
And that transition was very difficult. It came with a lot of lessons, particularly around money. And by happenstance, I ended up going into finance. And now I find so much joy in being able to help people find their financial freedom--at the very least, their financial stability--because that way, less people have to go through what my family and I went through.
I mean, that's-- what a huge impact when you're 12 years old.
It was.
Let me shift gears here a little bit, and let's talk about the great wealth transfer. What is that?
I'm sure you're hearing that all over the place. Absolutely. It's this idea that there's going to be a shift in wealth largely due to inheritance. And I'm talking trillions of dollars. And a large portion of that might be going to women.
OK. So let's talk about that. I mean, are there special financial considerations for women? Why talk about it differently?
So I feel like I have to make the distinction that financial planning isn't inherently different for men and women. It's more so that there are considerations and factors that we need to introduce into the conversation when we're talking to women about their financial plan.
For starters, 2/3 of caregivers are women, and that could potentially mean that we're maybe taking some time off work to take care of our kids, take care of our aging loved ones. It also may mean that if we're taking a break, or maybe not even taking that promotion that could have gotten us to that next level, well, we're going to be earning a little bit less for those higher costs.
In addition to that, women tend to live about five years longer than men. That means that we have to be thoughtful about making sure that we get through that longer retirement, and we have the money to pay for those health care expenses as well.
Well, you talk about health care expenses. I mean, from data I've looked at, women tend to pay more in health care costs. They have something like 18% higher out of pocket health care costs over their lifetime than men.
Yeah. And on average, we also make less than men, so not only are we making less to then cover those greater expenses.
Yeah, and you have spent years talking to clients one-on-one and now through the Women Talk Money community. I want to go back to what we talked about in the beginning. What are the two biggest questions or the biggest themes you get from your community?
So I have to say, the Women Talk Money community has over 675,000 members. So we get a lot of questions. But these two kind of bubble up time and time again. And that's is it too late to start? And the second one is, what should I do with my next dollar?
All right, let's dig into those. And it's amazing that 675,000 people are asking the two most common questions. Is it too late? Is that a question about is it too late to save, is it too late to save for retirement, is it too late to invest? What's underneath that one?
All of the above. And may I answer that question because I feel like it's important?
Sure.
It's not too late. It's never too late. And it's even better if you start right now.
All right, so starting right now, maybe I hear you, but I'm like, I'm 40, I'm 50, that ship has sailed. What do you say?
Start where you are. I think sometimes what happens is we start thinking about what it's going to look like when we have everything figured out. And then all of a sudden, we're left with this mountain that we feel we need to climb.
So keep it simple. Start where you are. Can you figure out what your income and your expenses look like? This is going to tell you where you stand today. It's also going to tell you where your wiggle room is.
The next thing you're going to want to focus on is your priorities. What are your goals? And remember that these are different for everyone. And that's OK. What is important to you? What are you saving for?
And then I will say lastly is a little goes a long way. Maybe you don't have $500 to save on a monthly basis, but what about $20? It doesn't feel like a lot, but it adds up. And something is always better than nothing when it comes to saving.
OK, I want to get underneath that second question now. Generally speaking, women tend to be good savers. But when it comes to that question of where should I put my next dollar, what does that mean? And what do you say?
It comes down to your priorities again. Is it more important for you to save for your kid's education, or is it to pay down debt? Is it to save for retirement or to save for a down payment on your home? Only you can decide what that priority is.
I love when you say that because I'm like, what if it's everything all at once?
Yes, and that's fair. I'll tell you what, two things real quick on that. If you're having a hard time figuring out your priorities because either you have too many things on your list, or maybe you and your partner have different wants and priorities, we're going to keep it simple again.
Take a piece of paper and write it all down, all of it, the down payment for the house, the kid's education, the trip of a lifetime, whatever you want, write it down because that's going to really bring to the surface what's a want and what's a need. And it'll really help you get on the same page if you are planning with somebody.
Less fighting.
Less fighting, absolutely.
Maybe.
Absolutely. The other thing is, once you have figured out what your priorities are, you're going to want to figure out, when do I need these funds? That's going to be the difference between saving and investing.
So for example, if your goal is to do something in one to two years, you're probably looking at saving because the goal is to have the money when you need it. But if you're looking for something that's maybe 10 years out, we may want to look at the potential of looking at an investment account, something that could potentially earn us more money. Otherwise, you're stuck having to save literally every dollar you're going to need.
Yeah, yeah.
I think it's also important to note that there is a lot of accounts out there. And some of them actually help you with your goals. So for example, if you're saving for retirement and that's a big goal for you, your workplace account like a 401(k) or a 403(b) could potentially have a company match. That's more money going towards your goal.
Like free money.
Like free money, exactly. And in a health care account, an HSA, a Health Savings Account, that's going to have a triple-tax advantage. And with the health savings account, that could also mean more money for you to spend on those health care costs we were talking about earlier.
More for ourselves, less for Uncle Sam.
Yeah, and in addition to that, you don't have to be an expert and know about all of these accounts. Defining your priorities and figuring that out is going to help you in your conversation of then figuring out what the next best account is or what the next best step is.
You need confidence to make those decisions or even if you're getting help. How do we build our confidence?
Again, we're going to start with defining those priorities. Really knowing what it is that you're going after is really going to help not only with building the plan, but also helping you focus on what that plan is. The second thing is going to be start small. Even a little bit makes a big difference.
Oftentimes, we get the question, well, what's the first most important step? I would say it's your emergency savings account. That's probably going to be your most important account. Because not only is it going to give you the confidence if something happens, it's going to give you the comfort that, hey, if I'm saving for another goal, I have my emergency savings account for those unexpected times.
An emergency savings account should be a separate savings account. Now, I don't know about you, Ally, but when I was growing up, I had a checking account and a savings account. And they worked more like checking 1 and checking 2. If checking 1 couldn't cover it, checking 2 was coming for the rescue.
I'm like, you had two. What do you mean?
No, no, no, no, they just worked like they were two checking accounts. And so what we would encourage is for you to have an emergency savings account separate from where your normal checking and savings are, just to keep that distance.
No temptation.
You got it, to keep that temptation away. And then the second thing is you're going to want to try to have three to six months' worth of your expenses. So if I spend about $2,000 a month, then I'm going to want to have $6,000 to $12,000 in an emergency savings. And I want to reiterate--
Oh, that's a lot.
--start small. I know. I know. Start small. We don't have to get there overnight. Maybe it's $20 a month until you get there, and that's OK. You're still building it.
Anything else I can do to build my confidence?
Absolutely, keep educating yourself. You don't have to be an expert, but you are going to want to build your confidence by building your knowledge base, tuning in to Money Unscripted, joining the Women Talk Money community. These are ways where you can slowly start building that acumen and that confidence in what to do next.
You've got that acumen, or you're working toward it. What else? What else do I need?
Stay consistent. Once you decide what it is you want to do, whether it's the $10 every Friday or the $100 once a month, whatever you decide, stay consistent. Stick to it because it makes a big difference in the end. And I want to add one last one, plan.
The plan is so, so important because at the end of the day, maybe you save everything you need for the emergency savings account. Now what? That's where we go back to that sheet with all of our priorities, and we go back to, OK, well, what is our next priority? What is the next thing we're going to work on?
Yeah, yeah. OK, before we go, map out those five key themes, again, for me.
Define your priorities. It's going to keep you focused and motivated to get to your goals. Start small, even if it's working on that emergency savings account. Keep educating yourself. Keep tuning in. Keep learning so that you can keep growing. Stay consistent.
And lastly, keep your eyes on the plan. I would say if you have any additional questions, we're always here to help. And more importantly, every small step gets you closer to your goals and I know that you got this.
Awesome. Alex, I'm so glad you were here. Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Looking to join the conversation, we have options. Check out the Women Talk Money community at Fidelity.com/WTM. You can also watch our library of Money Unscripted episodes, ranging from retirement and life insurance to financial literacy and investing. That's at Fidelity.com/MoneyUnscripted. We'll see you next time on Money Unscripted. It's your life. Get your money's worth.
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[Footnotes + disclosures]
The Federal Reserve
CDC
Deloitte, Hiding in plain sight: The health care gender toll, September 2023
Bureau of Labor Statistics
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