Putting financial matters in the toohard basket

She says even some younger women she deals with are afraid of going into detail about what is happening in their financial world.

‘‘The language is so jargonladen and difficult to understand. It is not made easy for lay people to understand.’’

But she says she tells many of her clients it isn’t rocket science.

‘‘Many women are managing a household and budgets on a daytoday basis. They actually understand the concepts of financial management. It is just when they are put in a foreign language that they struggle to understand it.’’

Others have received an inheritance and don’t know what to do with it.

‘‘They feel this burden of the money that has suddenly landed in their lap. They feel this responsibility that they have to honour this inheritance and make it work harder for them.

‘‘But they don’t know where to begin.’’ servatively, meaning members who sat in that type of fund for their entire working life risked having a lower return and smaller amount saved by retirement. The rules have now been changed so default schemes follow a balanced investment strategy, meaning they invest more in growth assets such as shares and listed property funds.

She asks: ‘‘It is one thing to be enrolled but how many just slip into the default scheme and don’t review how much they are contributing?’’

Research by the Retirement Commission released in April found on average women have 20% less in their KiwiSaver funds than men.

Those lower balances are linked to women earning less than men, taking time out to have a family and being much more likely to work part time.

‘‘A woman who is 30 now should be making decisions for her financial future,’’she says.

And yet there are so many pulls on her oftenlower income.

‘‘I have been in the workforce for over 40 years and the glass ceiling has maybe shifted up a floor but it is still there.’’

She likens saving for retirement to running a marathon.

‘‘You quickly learn if you go too slow at the beginning or you stumble across an obstacle along the way. If to meet your goal you needed to do sixminute kilometres — but you slow down — you have to run faster again to make up for that loss and it is really hard to do.

‘‘It is trying to be consistent in your savings plan right from the word go. And not be tempted to touch the money.’’

She says part of the problem is that many people want to live for the now.

‘‘They think 65 is such a long way away, I’m not even going to think about it. As soon as you hit 45 those years start galloping by. Suddenly you realise you have not got as many years to save for it as you thought you did.’’