Sarah Siddons, Chartered Financial Planner at Siddons & Co Financial Planning based in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, is a woman on a mission.
She wants to break the taboo of discussing money, to empower women to put themselves first for once and take control of their financial lives. She is aware that not taking control of financial matters is a real risk for women, as ultimately it may lead to them facing a cash strapped retirement. A fact that is certainly backed up by the figures.
Throughout the timeline of women’s lives they face physical, emotional and social challenges with many of these bringing financial challenges. There may be certain milestones that can have a huge impact on women’s finances.
For example, whilst the gender pay gap is shrinking, it still stands at 17.3%¹ which increases after the age of 40 as many women work part time due to childcare or reduced salary after a career break.
In terms of the impact of having children, two years of maternity leave would reduce an average-earning women’s pension pot by £25,500² and 33%³ is the hit to a woman’s pension from a five-year career break at the age of 25.
And ultimately, the shocking statistic is that, on average, women retire with 1/5th of the pension wealth of a man at age 65⁴.
As Sarah explains:
“It’s so important for women to be armed with the right knowledge and necessary facts about their finances and financial future because so many women may be heading into retirement blindly, not knowing how much money they will need to live comfortably; some may not even know how much money they have and may be leaving the management of their finances to their partners.
“Many women I’ve spoken to tell me that they’re too ashamed to admit they haven’t made any concrete financial plans; they want to ask lots of questions and really need to understand the pros and cons before making decisions. A good adviser will be non-judgemental and supportive, creating the perfect environment for them to learn and gain confidence.
“I know from my own personal network that many women keep a lot of plates spinning, and if they can outsource some of the worry about money matters to a supportive and trusted expert, that’s one less thing they have to think about. And once they’ve gained financial control, security, wellbeing and peace of mind for the future won’t be far behind.
“It’s simple really, women need to be in control of their own financial lives and I want to help them do that. It just takes a phone call to start the process”
For more information about Sarah and the way she works, visit www.siddonsand.co.
¹(Gender Pay Gap in the UK; 2019, ONS, October 2019).
²(Gender Pension Gap – the cost of maternity leave and career breaks, AJ Bell, Feb 2019)
³(Scottish Widows Women and Retirement Report 2019).
⁴(Source: milestones: journeying into adulthood, ONS, Feb 2019).
Siddons & Co Financial Planning is an Appointed Representative of and represents only St. James’s Place Wealth Management plc (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) for the purpose of advising solely on the Group’s wealth management products and services, more details of which are set out on the Group’s website www.sjp.co.uk/products
