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A MAN is not a financial plan. And no one knows that better than 33-year-old Brisbane art director Kristin Poulter.
"Money was not a problem for me when I was in an eight-year relationship, but that all changed when we broke up," she says.
"Suddenly I found myself on my own with credit card bills and no real financial plan for the future.
"I had a good job, but realised I was doing nothing constructive with my money. I met a woman at a party who told me I should see a financial planner and take control.
"I did just that and worked out a five-year plan. Within 12 months I had bought an apartment in Albion.
"I did lots of investigating to make sure it was a safe buy, and I think I have definitely invested in a growth area.
"All in all I feel empowered, in control and much more relaxed about my life.
"I am still single, but now know that I do not need a man for financial security."
Kristin has no hesitation in recommending an upcoming Brisbane money seminar called A Man is Not a Financial Plan, aimed at helping women take control of their financial futures.
Finance consultant Linda Coates, who is leading the talk, says she has spoken to bankers who claimed they'd much rather lend money to businesswomen than businessmen because women calculate risks better.
"But women don't see themselves that way," she said.
"As women, we are great at looking after the needs of others. But when it comes to ourselves, we often move to the bottom of the to-do list. It's easy to look at un-ordered bank statements, a shoe box of receipts – many of them for shoes – and scattered pay slips and think, 'I will eventually get to that'.
"There is more to a financial plan than your yearly tax return and a savings maximiser."
The majority of women aged 24-40 do not have a financial plan and Ms Coates, a senior consultant with the Masu Group, believes it is time for the tide to change. Masu Group research has found that in Australia:
•Women aged 25-40 are the fastest-growing wealth demographic.
•Females account for 60per cent of start-up business.
•There's been a 50per cent rise in single female home-owners in the last decade.
•Women see themselves as the household's accountant.
•Women are the main breadwinners in one in seven Australian homes.
•Fewer than twoper cent of single women of pensionable age in 2002/3 had enough for a comfortable retirement, and 38per cent of women had no superannuation at all.
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