As Women’s Month draws to a close, I have been thinking about something women have been doing quietly for generations: we see what needs to be done, we make a plan, and we get on with it.
We work to provide, create security, build businesses and careers, support the people we care about and create lives that matter to us. When circumstances change, we adapt. When there is a problem, we look for a solution. We use what we have and work out how to move forward.
A recent report on South African women entrepreneurs highlighted by the University of Cape Town reflects some of this. According to the survey, South African women entrepreneurs are more positive about opportunities than the global average, they are making increasing use of digital media and technology to build and market their businesses, and most are over 35.
I love that last point in particular. There is a strange idea that opportunity belongs to the young. Yet women in their 40s, 50s and beyond have something incredibly valuable to work with: years of experience, knowledge, relationships and, yes, a fair amount of grit.
There is a financial lesson in this too: use what you have.
By this stage of life, many of us have accumulated far more than money. Financially, there may be investments, property, retirement funds, savings or a business. The question becomes: Am I using what I have well?
Take stock
One of the most useful things you can do is get everything onto one page.
What do you own? What do you owe? Where is your money invested? What is it costing you? How accessible is it? Are your Will and beneficiary nominations still up to date?
Because after a few decades, our finances can become surprisingly fragmented. There may be an investment started years ago, an old retirement fund, cash sitting in a bank account and, occasionally, that vague recollection that there is definitely another investment somewhere… if only you could remember where.
It happens.
The important thing is to bring it all together and ask whether the financial decisions you made five, ten or twenty years ago still make sense for your life today.
Make your money match your life now
Our lives change. Our financial arrangements do not always keep up.
Perhaps you want to work differently, travel more, grow or sell a business, help family, give more, spend more or simply have greater freedom over what comes next.
So ask the questions. Are you holding too much cash because it feels safe? Are you taking more investment risk than you need to — or perhaps not enough? Are you still paying for cover you no longer need? Are you giving money away without knowing what you can comfortably afford?
And importantly: are you enjoying some of what you have worked so hard to build?
Good financial planning is not about endlessly accumulating money and being afraid to spend it. It is about understanding what you have and using it well.
Financial progress does not always require earning more or finding the next great investment. Sometimes the opportunity is already sitting in what you have. It might mean investing surplus cash more effectively, consolidating investments, reviewing fees, paying off expensive debt, updating your estate planning or simply understanding how much you can comfortably spend and enjoy.
Women are good at making things work. We adapt, find solutions, embrace new ways of doing things and get things done. The research suggests South African women are optimistic about opportunity — and perhaps there is something we can take from that beyond business.
Use some of that optimism and grit on your own finances. Know what you have. Understand how it is working. Protect what you have built. Question what no longer serves you and make a conscious plan for what comes next.
Source: University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business Case Writing Centre, “Reportage: SA Women Entrepreneurs 2024”, drawing on Global Entrepreneurship Monitor research.
Written by Sigrid
