If you’ve kept up with this section of the Shareholder Report for the last year or so, then you are well aware
that women have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to investing and preparing for retirement.
While the information and statistics may have appeared downright scary at times, that is not to say
that women are not making headway in their pursuit of financially secure retirements. Remember that slogan from
the ‘60s for cigarettes – now politically incorrect – that stated, "You’ve come a long way,
baby"? More and more, that is the trend for working women and women who find themselves
responsible for making financial decisions alone, whether because of divorce, death of
a spouse or the choice to remain single.
In a follow-up to their groundbreaking 1982 work MegaTrends, authors Patricia Aburdene
and John Naisbitt cited statistics corroborating the trend that more women are working outside
the home and taking control of their destinies, both financial and professional.
Megatrends for Women touches on the changing influence of women in politics, sports,
religion, social activism, the family and, of course, business.
The numbers are familiar, and they probably speak for most women in their prime working
(and mothering) years. More than 80 percent of women between the ages of 25 and 54 are
estimated to be in the workforce. Women make up almost 50 percent of the workforce; more
than half (55 percent) of women with infants now work outside the home in addition to their
family and household responsibilities, according to the 2000 U.S. Census.
securities.
Some of these women may be in need of education and encouragement to take charge of their
available financial options and to become proactive participants in saving and investing for
the future. That education can, and probably should, come in the form of discussions with
friends and relatives, brochures and reading materials, web sites, financial advisors, investment
clubs, news articles, investment newsletters, televised interviews and any other sources of
information that support and inform women as they learn.
If you are a father, son, husband, grandson, boyfriend, colleague, friend or business associate
of a woman who works or is responsible for her own financial destiny, take it upon yourself
to encourage, cajole, goad, needle or wheedle – whatever it takes to get her started.
[Editor’s Note: As part of an overall redesign of its web site scheduled to be launched in 2002,
U.S. Global Investors will premiere the USGI Learning Center featuring a glossary, a step-by-step
guide to planning your investments, tools and worksheets to assist in your planning and
extensive information on various retirement options.]
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Investment Professionals 