Don't Blame Women for their Lack of Financial Security

1. Women live longer than men. Solution: Start early and make a plan.
2. Women earn less than men. Solution: Learn what you will need to live comfortably and develop a plan to get there.
3. Some older women remain financially illiterate. Solution: Educate yourself.
4. Women sometimes confuse investing and saving. Solution: Seek professional help.
5. Women don't trust financial advisors. Solution: Get over it. You want the best advice possible. Find a new one if you don't like the one your husband used.

This is the conventional wisdom. Women are screwed unless we buck up, embrace the well-known rules of the road in the financial system, and just generally get with it.

It may be conventional, but it's just wrong! Women aren't in the wrong because they aren't getting on board with how the financial industry works, even for something as important as their retirement.  The industry does not address our primary financial priorities, which are, in priority order:

1. being a burden to children
2. security (don't outlive or even fully spend our savings)
3. protection
4. maintaining a standard of living

These are the concepts women care about and relate to. But instead, throughout the industry, it's all about "wealth management," "retirement," "invest now," "beat the market."  What a disconnect!

Women will re-engage with their own financial health, when they feel empowered and get the financial advice they actually need.

The opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.com / MyersBizNet, Inc. management or associated bloggers.