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Perfect Books For Your Summer Reading List | Andrew & Jason’s Picks

Looking for the perfect book for those lazy days on the beach this summer? Browse our recommendations below. 

Summer is in full swing, which means (hopefully) that many of us are taking time for some rest and relaxation. So whether you’re traveling, sitting on a beach somewhere, or just taking full advantage of your AC to beat the summer heat, we put together a recommended list of a few of our favorite reads.

Andrew’s Picks

The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell

Historical non-fiction – A riveting account of the development of the strategy to win World War Two. A book so compelling, it is hard to believe that it is non-fiction. 

One Minute Out by Mark Greaney

Fiction – An action-adventure spy novel perfect for lazy summer fun. While on a mission to Croatia, Court Gentry uncovers a human trafficking operation. The trail leads from the Balkans all the way back to Hollywood. Court is determined to shut it down, but his CIA handlers have other plans. The criminal ringleader has actionable intelligence about a potentially devastating terrorist attack on the US. The CIA won’t move until they have that intel. It’s a moral balancing act with Court at the pivot point.

A Promised Land by Barack Obama

Autobiography – “Regardless of political affiliation, this book is a great reminder of the events surrounding the Great Financial Crisis, and the wars in the middle east. The narrative immediately transported me back to those heady days of the late 2010s.” – Andrew Hunt

Jason’s Picks

Think Again by Adam Grant (Non-fiction)

Non-fiction – A great book for today’s polarizing times. Grant is an organizational psychologist at Wharton who makes the case for the necessity of constantly rethinking what we already think we know. Our opinions and beliefs are so often formed with limited information making it necessary for us to constantly “think again” to help better inform our views with a more complete picture.

Belonging by Nora Krug

Graphic memoir – The author is a German citizen living in the US. Her parents were born shortly after the end of WWII, and this is her story of trying to reconcile the horrors of WWII and what role her family (grandparents and great aunts/uncles) may have played in the war. It is an interesting perspective on the war from a German descendant who has spent her entire life trying to come to grips with the horrible things that were done by the country she loves. It takes the reader through her research journey as she digs into her family’s past to find out who they really were. The book is also written in a very unique fashion, looking more like a scrapbook than a typical text.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Fiction – A fictional account of the life of a Russian aristocrat who is placed under house arrest for life in a Moscow hotel by the new Bolshevik ruling class. Jason states, “This book had wonderful character development and I found it to be a very unique story. One of my favorite fiction books in the past couple of years.”

There you have it — Andrew and Jason’s recommendations to get your nose in a book (or two) this summer. At Hiley Hunt Wealth Management, we never stop learning and growing. Life is fluid and there are endless opportunities to learn and develop. The same applies to investing and financial management. If you’d like guidance in this area, we’re here to help. Contact us to set up a call to discuss your needs. 

We wish you a safe and fun summer!

Defining Wealth and Building Your Assets

When thinking about your financial future and creating the life you want, it’s important to fully understand what it means. The term “wealth” may hold different meanings for different people, but let’s discuss its “true” meaning, at least in terms of the English language. 

Wealth—as defined by Merriam-Webster—holds the meanings below:

  1. an abundance of valuable material, possessions, or resources
  2. abundant supply
  3. all property that has a money value or an exchangeable value
  4. all material objects that have economic utility
  5. especially: the stock of useful goods having economic value in existence at any one time

Put simply, wealth is having an abundance of assets that hold economic value. 

The truth is that people don’t become wealthy by simply working their entire lives. They must turn their income into assets in order to build their wealth and secure their financial future. If you’re just starting out, it’s important to understand, and make a plan, to build your assets.

This article talks about asset building and how you can achieve increasing your assets.

Net worth and your assets

Building your assets means increasing the amount of money you have by acquiring things of present or future monetary value. Your assets factor into your net worth – which is your assets minus any liabilities or debt you may have. Your goal should be to increase your assets while reducing or maintaining your debt. 

It’s important to understand that building assets take time and strategy, and one asset builds on another. For example, property ownership is an immensely valuable asset, but it takes money to purchase land/home. 

Why is asset building important?

Building your assets is more than just increasing your net worth. Increasing your wealth can improve your quality of life and even those of your descendants. For example, you could save for emergencies or for your child’s college education. Having access to more money gives you the opportunity to do these things, and that access comes from assets.

Types of assets

There are three popular categories of assets that we will discuss: financial assets, tangible assets, and intangible assets. 

Financial assets

Also considered liquid assets, financial assets can be easily converted into cash. They represent ownership of an entity or claim to future payment, and their value can fluctuate based on market conditions.

Here are some examples of financial assets:

Tangible assets

This type of asset is physical in nature and includes:

Intangible assets

These assets aren’t physical in nature and are also not necessarily financial. Examples include:

Appreciating and depreciating assets

When considering which assets to invest in, it’s important to understand how assets can change in value over time. Appreciating assets are things that increase in value over time. Homes and land are considered appreciating assets. 

Depreciating assets decrease in value over time. An example of a depreciating asset is a car. The car you buy today will be worth less when you decide it’s time for a new one. 

It’s important to know which assets appreciate in value and which depreciate so that you can focus on investing in assets that increase in value.

How do you build your assets?

As mentioned earlier, asset building takes time. The sooner you start building your assets, the more time you’ll have to acquire them and for their value to build. Here are a few ways to start building your assets today. 

1. Increase your income

Cash is an asset, and increasing your cash is a simple way to build your assets. You can increase your cash flow in several ways, such as asking for a raise, applying for a promotion, or starting a side hustle. The goal is to increase the amount of cash you have to acquire more assets.

2. Save your money

Remember that savings accounts are also assets, and they let you save for expenses such as emergencies or plan for the future by saving for retirement. The sooner you start saving your money, the more time it has to grow.

3. Invest in the stock market

Once you have acquired more cash, it’s best to put it to work. You want to invest your money in a place where it will grow over time. One place for long-term investments is in the stock market.

4. Invest in real estate

Because of the scarcity of land, the value of real estate continues to grow. Investing in real estate is a great way to increase your assets.

5. Reduce your debt

All your work building your assets will be done in vain if you don’t simultaneously work to reduce your debt. 

Final thoughts

All of this can be overwhelming. Where do you start? How do you stick to a plan? Building a plan to increase your wealth is what we do. Everyone’s circumstances and financial goals are different, so their path to building wealth won’t look the same. We partner with our clients to create an investment portfolio and financial plan that works for them. If you’re ready to start building your assets for a more secure future, give us a call.

Three Financial To-Dos for Widows

There is no grief comparable to the death of a spouse. Whether the loss was expected or sudden, there’s no single way to cope. At Hiley Hunt Wealth Management, we understand this grief and know how important it is to find a new path forward for a widow and her family, especially when it comes to her financial future. Here are three important tasks for a widow’s financial planning.

1. Review Your Expenses

Make a list of your bills and identify how these expenses will be paid in the next several months. Limit big purchases until you have an idea of if and how these expenses will be covered, or if there are any adjustments to be made to your spending habits. 

 

Consider things like cell phone, internet, groceries, car payments, utilities, and mortgage. Some of these expenses may decrease, while others, like your mortgage, won’t change. While you shouldn’t rush into any major decisions during such a difficult time, identifying how your expenses may change following the loss of your spouse can help you have a better financial plan for your future. Unless there is an urgent need, hold off on making decisions such as if you’re going to downsize your current home until you have had enough time to process your emotions and understand how you deal with your home’s maintenance. 

2. Get Professional Guidance with Your Taxes

Taxes can be overwhelming for anyone. For widows or widowers, taxes can be even more overwhelming the first year after the loss of their spouse. We strongly encourage those who have lost a spouse to work with a CPA during tax time to ensure that investments and insurance accounts have been changed to the surviving spouse. This is also a great time to review with an accountant any investment and financial accounts that you may not have known or forgot about and remind you to review the beneficiary information for those accounts. 

3. Examine Your Investments and Make Changes if Needed

It’s important to review your investment portfolio and rebalance as needed according to your new investment goals and risk tolerance. It’s common for widows to have a different level of risk tolerance compared to their spouses. As wealth management partners who have a specific focus on the financial needs of widows, we can help you review your investment accounts and determine your new risk tolerance and adjust your investments accordingly. Because even though your future may look different after the death of a spouse, it’s important to make a plan now to secure your financial future, whatever that may look like.

In Conclusion

The depth and length of grief are different for every person after the death of a spouse. And while there are important decisions to be made about your financial future, these decisions must be made when your emotions and thoughts are sound and clear. Don’t rush into any major financial decisions while working through fresh grief. Time can help heal the feeling of immense loss. When experiencing grief, lean on trusted family and friends for help, and don’t make any decisions you aren’t comfortable with.

 

If you’re ready to discuss your financial future and review your options, contact us to get started on your new journey.

Bear Markets Vs. Bull Markets and What It Means For Your Investments

When it comes to investing, it helps to go into it with a fairly sound understanding of what to expect. In this article, we’re talking about “the market.” How do you achieve every investor’s dream of buying low and selling high in a crowd of highly resourceful and competitive players? The answer is to play with the crowd rather than against it, by understanding how market pricing occurs.

The Market: A Working Definition

Technically, “the market” is a plural, not a singular place. There are markets for trading stocks, bonds, commodities, real estate, and more in the U.S. and around the globe. For this purpose, you can think of these markets as a single place, where opposing players are competing against one another to buy low and sell high. Granted, this “single place” is huge, representing an enormous crowd of participants who are individually and collectively helping to set fair prices every day. 

The Business of Investing

With all the excitement over stocks and bonds and their ups and downs in headline news, there is a key concept that is often overlooked. Investment returns are compensation for providing the financial capital that feeds the human enterprise going on all around us, all the time. This is often referred to as the “Risk Premium” – the reward for taking the risk of investing. 

When you buy a stock or a bond, your capital is ultimately put to hard work by businesses or agencies who expect to succeed at whatever it is they are doing — whether it’s growing oranges, running a hospital, or selling virtual cloud storage. You, in turn, are not giving your money away. You mean to receive your capital back, and then some.

In the investing world, the terms “bull” and “bear” are frequently used to refer to market conditions. These terms describe how stock markets are moving in general — that is, whether they are appreciating or depreciating in value. As an investor, the direction of the market is a major force that has a significant impact on your portfolio. Therefore, it’s important to understand how each of these market conditions may impact your investments.

How does the market’s behavior affect your returns? It surprisingly has a lot to do with psychology.

Investor Psychology

The market’s behavior is impacted and determined by how individuals perceive and react to its behavior. Stock market performance and investor psychology (how investors view the market) are mutually dependent. In a bull market, investors willingly participate in the hope of obtaining a profit. During a bear market, the market perception is negative, resulting in investors moving their money out of equities and into fixed-income securities as they wait for a positive move in the stock market. The decline in stock market prices rattles investors, causing them to keep their money out of the market. This, in turn, causes a drop in share prices. 

What Does it All Mean?

Both bear and bull markets will have a significant influence on your investments, so it’s a good idea to understand what the market is doing when making an investment decision. However, both terms are lagging terms that label what has occurred in the last. It is impossible to know if a bull or bear market will continue into the future while experiencing it in the present. Remember that investing is a long game. Every investor should consider their time horizon. The ability to maintain an investment strategy for a long period is one of the best indicators for potential success. 

If you need help getting started with investing or are ready to take another look at your existing portfolio, we’d love to offer you guidance. Contact us today to start feeling more confident about your financial future.

Women-Focused Tax Strategies

Assisting women through the various stages of life and transitions that impact their financial future is something we take seriously and pride ourselves on. It is impossible to ignore the personal and professional differences impacting men and women, and it calls for diversified financial strategies. We lay out some need-to-know strategies when it comes to women’s retirement and taxes.

Creating a Long-Term Plan

Generally speaking, women outlive men in every country while earning less over their lifetime. This means that women need to have very strategic retirement plans to secure their financial future.

If you’re single

For single women, you are reliant upon yourself for saving for your retirement. You may want to save as much as you can for retirement and optimize your tax strategy. To gain the most benefits, it is recommended to continuously fund your retirement channels. You should max out your tax-favored IRA and 401(k) contributions, while also investing in taxable mutual funds or exchange-traded funds or ETFs. This diversified approach can limit risk and stretch the most from your investments.

If you’re married

Being married doesn’t give you a free pass to leave your finances and retirement planning to your partner. Even if you’re married, you should stay up to date on decisions being made that affect your financial future. You should especially stay in the know of your finances should something happen and you are handed control. 

Regarding taxes, you should know your filing status – do you file jointly? Or separately? Your filing status affects the taxation of your Social Security benefits, pensions, and more. This can affect what you owe in taxes and your future income. 

If you’re divorced

Divorce can be emotionally draining and convoluted. Alimony and Maintenance Trust is an option to consider that may be tax-advantageous. It’s important to remember that alimony you may have received if divorced prior to 2019 must be reported as received income on your federal tax return. 

If you’re widowed

Because women tend to outlive men, many will find themselves widowed at some point in their lives. Not only is it an emotional burden to bear, it can also be financially challenging. One of the first things to do is see if you’re eligible for Social Security survivor benefits. Then, check for any life-insurance payments you may receive. If your spouse had a contribution plan such as a 401(k), you’ll inherit it. Work with a tax professional to determine how you’d like the account to be distributed and how that may affect your taxes.

Tax-Deferred Products to Lower Your Tax Burden

If you’re wanting to reduce some of your tax burdens now, look into tax-deferred products, such as IRAs and 401(k)s, as well as annuities. Using these retirement vehicles, your assets can grow tax-free until it’s time to take money out of the accounts.

A Tax-Diversified Approach

This strategy involves using different types of retirement vehicles to help lower your tax obligations, whether now or in the future. Your investment options include:

 

When making these decisions, consider your lifestyle, current income, and financial goals. Ask yourself if you expect your income tax bracket to be higher or lower when you retire and whether it makes sense to be taxed now or later. Working collaboratively with a tax professional and financial advisor can help you determine the best solution for your situation. Let’s start the conversation to help you build your retirement plan and talk more about your options. 

Managing Risk Through Portfolio Rebalancing

Building an investment portfolio is all about creating financial freedom for your future. The key to optimizing your investments is to remember that managing risk plays an important role. What may surprise you is that even if you don’t change your investments, your portfolio’s risk level could change over time. 

When one asset class is performing better than the others, your portfolio could become “overweighted” in that asset class. 

What does this mean?

For example, maybe you initially selected an asset allocation of 50% stocks and 50% bonds. Several years go by and your stocks return a higher average than your bonds. This will cause your portfolio to be more stocks than bonds. It’s a good rule of thumb to review your portfolio at least once a year, and if your mix is off by at least five percentage points, consider rebalancing.

How do you rebalance your portfolio?

There are a couple of ways to rebalance your portfolio.

  1. Buy more of one kind of asset.

   2. Move money from one asset type to another.

The risk of not rebalancing

If you rebalance your portfolio annually over the course of 30 years, your risk label will stay relatively stable. If you don’t, your risk level will steadily increase. Why is this important? Because your timeline is always growing shorter. Your situation may likely be different today than it was 10-15 years ago when you began investing. Your needs may change which means your investments should also flex to stay aligned with your goals. 

For example, when you’re in your thirties and a long way from retirement, your risk tolerance will be lower than when you start getting closer to retirement. A divorce or death of a spouse could also impact your financial future.

Or you may simply realize that your risk tolerance isn’t what you thought it was. If you can’t stomach the ups and downs of your portfolio, maybe it’s time to make a change to something you’re more comfortable with. 

Whatever point you’re at in your life, we’re here to help you understand your risk tolerance and help you build an investment portfolio that aligns with your financial goals and your comfort level. Whether you’re a first-time investor or a seasoned pro, contact us today so we can walk beside you on your financial journey.

Jason and Andrew Reflect on 2020

We are within sight of 2021, and with the development and rollout of the coronavirus vaccine, hope and relief are pushing us to a brighter future. While we wish we could just forget that 2020 ever happened, it’s important to reflect on the lessons learned during this dismal year. 

A Case Study of the Disconnect Between the Economy and Stock Market

One of the biggest lessons we’ve learned in 2020 is that the economy may have hit the gutter, but the stock market reminded us that there is a bright future ahead. Many people correlate the economy with the market and even may use the terms interchangeably. But that’s not the case. The economy reflects what is happening in the present, while the stock market shows us what lives in the future. So even while the economy takes a downturn, the stock market highlights a brighter tomorrow. 

2020 served as a reminder of the importance of discipline, diversifying your portfolio, and staying invested while knowing it takes patience. 

Technology is Here to Stay

Even before the challenges of 2020 hit, we offered video conferencing services for our clients, but we rarely utilized it. Most clients preferred to meet in person. And then COVID-19 hit and we adopted social distancing and safety practices, moving in-person client meetings to virtual calls, and what we saw was an overwhelmingly positive and quick adoption of video conferencing by clients — even those who aren’t technologically savvy.

As we look to the future and the hopeful remediation of the coronavirus, we believe that video conferencing will remain a significant part of our daily operations. It’s proven to be valuable and convenient for clients, allowing them to cut commute times to our office, and giving them more time back in their day. 

Personal Highlights and Challenges

Both Jason and Andrew enjoyed the more simple things life had to offer in 2020. Both enjoyed more time at home with their children and spouses, while also trying to balance the separation of work time and personal time. 

Even though we were able to find bright spots in 2020, like most people, this year was a dumpster fire that we will be happy to see in our rearview. Like millions of people across the country, we’ve seen clients be furloughed this year and struggle with the uncertainty. It’s been difficult to know so many have lost their jobs and been strained financially or face serious health issues this year. 

Living through such darkness, we’ve tried to focus on gratitude and hopefulness. We’re grateful for the trust our clients have and their willingness to be coachable. And we’re hopeful for a brighter new year. 

Thank you to our clients for being on this rocky journey with us this year, and cheers to a hopeful 2021.

We’re Here for You: Financial Planning for Widows and Widowers

Surviving a spouse’s death is beyond difficult. In addition to living with grief of the loss of your partner, new challenges arise that must be dealt with. If you’re a woman whose husband handled all of your investments and retirement planning, taking over this task and making major financial decisions can be insurmountable. 

We specialize in working with women in transition, such as widows. We want to help you make those financial decisions that are best for you and understand what that means for your future. If you’ve recently lost a spouse, here are three things to do to help secure your financial future.

1. Notify Agencies of Your Spouse’s Death

In the first few days and weeks after your partner’s death, the goal is just to take it day by day. Don’t get overwhelmed with thinking about the future. Handle what is important right now. At the top of the list is to notify the Social Security Administration, calling the life insurance company, and checking with your spouse’s employer if they were still working at the time of their death. 

When it comes to insurance proceeds, widows can typically choose between a lump sum or monthly payouts. The decision should be based on the widow’s immediate financial needs and whether they can earn more than the payout by investing the lump sum. 

There are different strategies for claiming Social Security benefits. A widow who reaches the age of 66 before claiming the benefit can claim the full survivor benefit, which is 100 percent of her husband’s benefit. A survivor benefit is available at age 60, but it will be reduced for each month she claims before she’s 66. There are other benefit strategies that a financial advisor can help explain and determine the best for each situation.

If a spouse inherits an individual retirement account, there are even more choices. If she is younger than 72 and does not need the money, she could transfer her husband’s account directly into her own IRA. and then update the beneficiaries. She would not be required to take annual distributions until she is 72, thus extending the time the funds can grow tax free.

2. Pay Your Bills

Whether your spouse was the bill payer or you are, you want to make sure that paying bills don’t fall by the wayside. Stay up to date on your utility payments and other incoming bills such as credit cards so that you don’t fall behind. 

3. Financial Decision Making

Having a financial advisor on your professional support team can be immensely valuable to giving you peace of mind about your financial future. An experienced financial advisor will know how to reposition investments to net additional revenue and be knowledgeable about financial benefits available to widows. The right advisor can not only diversify your portfolio, but also help you create a budget and long-term investment plan. 

Final Thoughts

We intimately understand the loss that is felt after losing a spouse. The ripples are felt far and wide. We are passionate about helping women in transition understand and take control over their financial future. We listen to each individual’s needs and create a plan that they are comfortable with and is right for them. If you need financial guidance during a difficult time, contact us. 

Why We Need More People Investing in Women-Owned Businesses

The number of women who own businesses in the United States has grown exponentially over the past several decades. In 1972, only 402,000 businesses in the U.S. were owned by women. Compare that to the 2018 count of 12.3 million women-owned businesses. In fact, women own 4 out of every 10 businesses in the U.S. today. Additionally, women are slightly more likely to start a business than men.

 

Despite the progress women have made in entrepreneurship and business ownership, trouble still lies in a lack of venture capital funding for women-owned businesses. In 2018, $130 billion in venture capital funding changed hands. Female founders only gained 2.2 percent of this money, which means that male founders received almost 98 percent of total funding.

The Gender Dilemma: Lost in Translation

 

The gender gap in funding for female and male owned businesses is appalling. And it’s hard to unravel the reasoning behind the funding disparity. That is until you look at venture capital firms demographics. fewer than 10% of decision-makers at U.S. VC firms are women, according to a 2019 Axios analysis, which determined just 105 investors out of 1,088 were female.

 

You may be asking, why does this matter? Because people relate to (and invest in) what they know. That means, while there are certainly women-owned businesses that appeal to male customers and investors, there’s also plenty that are targeted to women and women-specific issues. 

 

For example, look at this quote from Katrina Lake, CEO and founder of the online clothing subscription service, Stitch Fix:

 

“I think that intangible stuff really matters. I had an investor say, ‘I think you’re amazing, but I have to pick one or two board seats a year and where I feel really passionate about the business, and I don’t think I can be passionate about women’s dresses and retail.’”

 

This quote certainly highlights the need for more diversity in venture capital firms.

The Importance of Investing in Women

Women make up roughly half of the U.S. population, and own 40% of businesses. And since women are more likely to relate to other women, venture capital firms that are run by women and set up to support women’s businesses are starting to emerge.

 

If the past 40 years is any indication of what we can see in the future in regard to women-owned businesses, we need to improve funding opportunities to support female entrepreneurs.

 

At Hiley Hunt Wealth Management, supporting women and their financial goals is one of our key pillars. Whether they are the breadwinner for their family, recently divorced or widowed, we want to help women understand their options to secure their financial future. Contact us today to discuss how we can help create the right plan for you.

4 Tax Breaks to Consider if Caring For Aging Parents

As a family steward, you are tasked with making financial decisions for your family from birth to death, essentially. While we grow older, so do our parents. Many “Gen Xers” and “Baby Boomers” are known as the “sandwich generation” because of their unique tasks of caring not only for their own children, but also responsible for caring for their aging parents. This can add financial stress as older populations tend to need more medical care. 

 

But, there are four provisions in the tax code that can provide some financial relief for family stewards caring for multiple generations. Let’s look at those.

1. Credit for Children and other Dependents

You may qualify for a $2,000 tax credit per child (under 16) and a $500 credit for a dependent parent, even if they don’t live with you. You must be able to claim this parent as your dependent and provide at least half of their support – including food, clothing, shelter, utilities, healthcare, and other expenses. Since this is a tax credit, this means it is a reduction in the amount of taxes you would otherwise owe. If you think you qualify for this credit, review the IRS guidelines.

2. Flexible Spending Account

A flexible spending account (FSA) is a benefit that may be offered by your employer. An FSA allows you to direct an amount of your salary or wages, up to $5,000 annually, to an account you can use to pay childcare, elder care, or medical expenses. You don’t pay taxes on this amount, so this can be a smart way to pay for elderly dependent care with tax-free dollars. You should check your employer’s plan documents to verify what types of expenses are eligible for payment. Again, you must be able to claim the person providing care for as a dependent on your tax return.

3. Child and Dependent Care Credit

For those who are married and filing jointly, if your earned income is between $40,000 and $400,000, you may be eligible for a tax credit equal to 20% of expenses you paid to someone else to provide care for an eligible dependent so you could work or look for work. Dependent parents must have been mentally or physically incapable of taking care of themselves and must have lived with you for six months or more. You will have to provide detailed information about the care provider, who typically must not be someone you can claim as a dependent or your spouse. To learn more about this credit, see IRS Publication 503. 

4. Medical Expense Deduction

If you are paying qualified medical expenses for a senior dependent that are above 7.5% of your adjusted gross income, you may be able to claim this deduction on your return. Meaning, if your adjusted gross income is $100,000, and you have paid more than $7,500 in qualified medical expenses for the dependent during the year, the amount in excess of $7,500 could be deductible. 

 

Being a family steward means making smart financial decisions for current and future generations. At Hiley Hunt Wealth Management, advising family stewards and helping them create a plan for financial security is what we do.  

Female Entrepreneurs: How to Fundraise Successfully

Being a female entrepreneur brings about a new set of challenges for women in business. Will you be taken seriously? And how can you find female-friendly investors to help get your business off the ground? 

 

While many investors and business leaders might not see the discrepancy between female-founded companies and those founded by men, an unconscious bias exists.

 

Take a look at while 30% of small businesses in the U.S. are founded by women, only 4.4% of small business loans went to women. And, according to Crunchbase, looking at venture capital dollars invested between 2010 and 2015 globally, only 10 percent of investments went to companies with at least one female founder.

 

If you look simply at return on investment, research by Illuminate Ventures shows that organizations with women in top management positions achieve 35 percent higher return on investment and 34 percent better total return to shareholders.  

 

Female entrepreneurs who run businesses in certain industries such as fashion, design, home goods, or children’s products, are much more accepted and believed to be successful than a woman running a business in a more male-dominated industry. While this is positive for the women business leaders in those “more trusted” industries, it makes it difficult for female founders in other industries to gain investors. 

 

So what can women do who are looking for capital investors? Here are a few tips to help female leaders fundraise successfully.

Surround yourself with direct people

It’s always nice to have people around you who are supportive and go a great job of building you up. But it’s equally important when you’re starting a business to have people you can rely on to tell you the truth and give it to you straight. Don’t just make your network full of people who only tell you what you want to hear. Honest viewpoints are valuable.

Ask for feedback

When you’re pitching to investors, you’re likely to get a lot of rejections. And that’s okay. But most investors might not tell you why they’re passing. Do yourself and your business a favor and ask for feedback at the end of every investor meeting so you know what to expect and possibly what to work on. Ask questions like:

 

Getting answers to questions like these may help you know if you will gain their investment or give you ideas of how to better position yourself for investors.

Research organizations and firms that support female entrepreneurs

Do your due diligence and research which companies are supportive of female entrepreneurs. Utilize resources such as Female Founders Fund, and put out your feelers and tap into your network to know who is likely to invest in your business.

Fundraise like you’re searching for a job

You don’t typically walk into a job interview without doing a little background research on the company – at least if you seriously want the job. Treat pitching to investors like you would hunting for the perfect job. Make sure your business plan is polished like a resume. Do your research on the company and their investment profile. Know what you’re walking into before you take a seat and start pitching.

 

Female-founded companies are highly successful. Have confidence in your business and abilities and show that to investors. 

Tips For The Female Breadwinner

Women aren’t just entering the workplace at an increasing rate, they’re dominating it. Female breadwinners are becoming more common, accruing greater wealth, and playing a greater role in financial decision making. Studies indicate that 4 out of 10 households are financially led by women. The rise of the woman breadwinner is causing shifts in families, communities, and marketplace. 

But the experience of the female breadwinner is vastly different from the out-dated, traditional concept of the male breadwinner. Today, I wanted to talk about some of those challenges that I’ve heard from our women clients and how we can approach financial planning for them. 

What Does it Look Like to Be a Female Breadwinner?

Career-driven women face cultural stress and judgment based on ideals and traditional gender roles from decades ago. It’s been an uphill battle for many women who look to be taken seriously as they advance their career and balance relationships or family life if they choose. 

Along with these cultural obstacles, it’s important to acknowledge the gender pay gap that can add to the stress of female breadwinners. In 2019, women earned $0.79 for every $1.00 that a man-made. Even if a woman is the top-earner in her household, it will feel as though she is hustling significantly harder than her male colleagues, and the energy advocating for her career and worth can be exhausting. 

Retirement Planning

Because women tend to have longer lifespans than men, planning for retirement and how a woman will be financially supported if she outlives her partner is another critical financial consideration. If the woman is the primary income earner, she may take the lead on funding the savings goals. Whether the woman is the top earner in the household or not, couples should take the time to consider what they will both need in retirement and make a plan. 

Set Expectations About the Division of Labor

The rise of social media and the intrinsic views into nearly every aspect of strangers’ or friends’ lives has created some very unrealistic expectations. You can’t expect to crush it at work and keep your home in magazine-worthy condition at all times. When it comes to household chores and childcare, women should sit down with their partners and divide tasks so that one person isn’t taking on the bulk of responsibilities. You can also decide if there are tasks you can outsource, such as housecleaning. Get realistic about what you can take on as the main breadwinner, and don’t feel pressure to overload yourself. 

Set Boundaries

If you’re the top earner in your household, you’re likely to feel like you need to be connected or at least available to your work 24/7. But it’s important to set boundaries with people at work and those in your personal life. This might mean leaving your laptop or cell phone in another room at night so you aren’t tempted to work. Or maybe it’s declining to talk about your financial or career decisions with your extended family. Setting boundaries with yourself and others in your life will help ease your stress and live your best life.

 

Being a woman breadwinner can be difficult, even if your partner is supportive. But women must acknowledge their unique challenges and create plans that help them make positive financial decisions for now and the future. If you’d like to discuss how we can help secure your financial future, contact us today.