FYI:
Regards,
Ted
June 10, 2016
Dear WEALTHTRACK Subscriber,
Are consumers dangerously close to their debt level tipping point? That’s what the latest study by CardHub implies. In its quarterly assessment of household credit card debt, the credit card comparison service found that although consumers paid down nearly $27 billion in the first-quarter, it was the smallest first-quarter pay down since 2008 and covers only a third of the $71 billion in card debt added last year.
According to CardHub, these debt levels are unsustainable and put us on a track to have a record $1 trillion in outstanding balances by year end.
If your debt levels are getting you down, CardHub has some excellent tips for debt reduction as well. You can read the full report here, or via the link on our website over the weekend.
It's the final week of the spring fund-raising season on Public Television, so we are revisiting a show about the challenges women face in retirement and the best strategies to overcome them.
Since we launched WEALTHTRACK in 2005 our mission has been to help our audience build financial security to last a life time. It’s a gender neutral goal. However our surveys show that the majority of our viewers are men, which is why we started our series WEALTHTRACK WOMEN a few years ago, to specifically reach women and address their financial needs and priorities. It turns out theirs’ differ in some significant ways from men’s.
Number one, women live longer. The vast majority can expect to be solely responsible for their finances in their later years. The average woman typically earns less than a man does over a lifetime. There are some much publicized pay disparities, but a major reason is that women work fewer years than men. Here’s where both priorities and necessity come into play. Women take more time off to raise a family or act as a caregiver, frequently for aging parents.
A recent Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies survey found that 28% of women work part-time, compared to only 14% of men, translating to a lower wage base for them and a lesser likelihood of access to important employee benefits such as health care and retirement plans.
Then there are the psychological challenges. A Fidelity survey found 92% of women want to learn more about financial planning, but 80% confess they have refrained from discussing their finances with those they are close to because it’s too personal. They don’t want to share the information, or it’s too uncomfortable. Only 47% say they would be confident discussing money and investing with a financial professional.
This week’s guest, Jewelle Bickford is committed to overcoming that reluctance and empowering women to take charge of their financial lives. Bickford is Partner and Wealth Advisor with Evercore Wealth Management, where she focuses on family governance and private wealth education, with a special emphasis on women through her Wise Women series.
Prior to Evercore, she was a senior strategist with GenSpring Family Offices where she worked with high net worth families, again with a focus on women and wealth.
Before that she was the only female global partner at the investment banking firm Rothschild Group, where she was in charge of their global asset securitization business.
In the decades I have known Bickford she has always devoted substantial professional and personal time to helping women succeed. In this week’s interview, she’ll explain why it is so crucial for women to manage their financial lives and how she advises clients to achieve that goal.
If you can’t watch the show due to pledge special programming this week, it will be available on our website, as streaming video or a podcast. You can also find the One Investment picks of our guests and my Action Points there, along with our online EXTRA features, designed to give you greater insights into our guests and the topics they are covering.
Thank you so much for watching. Have a great weekend and make the week ahead a profitable and a productive one.
Best Regards,
Consuelo
