News from Australia.

I have a special interest in Australia as my daughter lives there, so I was intrigued by this survey from Stockspot and the magazine Women’s Agenda. Here is some of what the survey of 800 women found.

First, women in Australia, wield a huge amount of power when it comes to household finances, with four in five saying they’re responsible for the purchasing decisions at home. Yet a number of barriers continue to hold women back from investing, widening the ‘investment gender gap’.

More than half of Australian women say a lack of trust in banks and financial advisers stops them from seeking out investment advice.

In the survey, women said that just over half (53 percent) of them have never seen a financial or investment adviser, while a majority (57 percent) cited a lack of trust in the guidance they offer.

Two-thirds (66 percent) of all women said revelations from the royal commission had affected their trust in the sector – with the respondents being more likely to trust their own online research above anyone else when they seek advice.

The survey saw 57 percent of women list internet research as their most trusted source for advice and innovation, compared with 39 percent who felt most at ease with their investment or financial planner.

Only 37 percent said they would trust a partner and 12 percent would trust a bank, the same proportion as those who trust no one.

Around 57 percent of women have invested in shares at some point.

The report noted that 48 per cent of women said they had a lack of money to make it worthwhile, as a reason preventing them from seeing an adviser.

The figures for women seeking advice escalated when considering individuals under the age of 35, with a third reporting having ever seen an adviser, with around half (48 percent) citing a lack of trust in the guidance given by professionals.

“A lack of money” was cited as the number one barrier to investing for 59 percent of all respondents.

Other top reasons included fear of losing money (48 percent), trust issues, lack of confidence (48 per cent) and knowledge (56 percent).

The report also found almost half of the women (44 percent) believe they are socially discouraged from investing in stocks.

Around 37 percent of women disagreed they would feel confident investing in shares if they had the money to do so and a further 17 percent strongly disagreed.

Looking at where women place their money, half of the survey respondents said they invest in a high interest savings account, while 60 percent own their home.

Around 39 percent reported making additional superannuation contributions while 38 percent had invested in shares and 29 percent had placed money into an investment property.

Currently, Australian women are retiring with around half (47 percent) the superannuation of men, indicated by Rice Warner figures. They are also earning less – with the national average for full-time workers is 14.1 percent less than their male counterparts.

Despite this, most respondents in the Stockspot survey did not lack financial ambitions: more than three-quarters stated they have “specific financial goals” they are looking to achieve or have already completed.

Women were also found to be much more confident about investing in property, with 61 percent agreeing with the statement and with 41 percent adding they would opt to pay off a mortgage before investing in the stock market.

Saving for retirement in the gig economy

Saving for retirement in the new economic reality will be hard. The new “gig economy” consists of freelancers, part-time workers, independent contractors, and the self-employed. It’s estimated that more than 40 percent of workers are no longer salaried employees and that this percentage will continue to grow.

These people will be solely responsible for their own retirement and financial well-being, if we don’t provide easy digital tools for savings, we could be looking at a generation of workers struggling to achieve financial security in retirement.

Apple Pay and Amazon’s one-click buying are examples of digital tools that have made it easier than ever to spend money. With tools like Robo-savings apps, the goal is to make saving money just as easy.

Another example is to provide just in time feedback to your mobile device. Apps that track your investment performance and spending habits can have a huge impact on your behaviour. Users of a U.S.-based app called Personal Capital decreased their spending by 15.7 percent. Most of that decrease came from discretionary spending, with users spending less on categories like dining out.

Results from government surveys support this behaviour. The majority of consumers with access to their financial information on mobile phones check their balances before making large purchases, and of those who check, 50 percent decide not to buy an item because of the feedback.

When I was teaching, one course I taught was financial literacy. A major issue with teaching financial literacy in school is that students can’t apply the concepts they learn until many months or years later. One study found that, like other education, financial education decays over time; even large interventions with many hours of instruction have negligible effects on behaviour 20 months or more from the time of intervention.

Using technology and apps that provide just-in-time financial information perhaps can solve this timing issue, providing people with crucial information when they need it the most.

Procrastination

Procrastination is a nearly universal human trait. The tendency to procrastinate also undermines our self-confidence, convincing us that we are lazy or worthless. What is it in human nature that makes us delay doing certain things until the last minute--or forever?

Somewhere in your life, at home or on the job, you’ve been putting off doing something. The task itself might not be all that important, but it’s something you think you ought to do, and that persistent inner voice won’t quit until it’s done

Psychologists tell us that procrastination is a symptom of a hidden fear or conflict, a buffer that protects people from taking actions that may force them to confront painful feelings and unresolved issues.

For some people--a relative few--procrastination brings serious consequences. They lose jobs or relationships because of their apparent inability to complete projects on time or follow through on commitments or they realize too late that they have nothing saved for retirement.

How do we overcome our tendency to procrastinate? One way is that instead of setting vague, general goals, we pursue concrete behaviours that, pursued step by step, will lead to a goal. Another suggestion is if you have to start a project don’t wait until you think you have the time to do it all at once. Better to get started and use small bits of time--15 minutes here or there--to make continual progress toward your goal.

Some believe that the right dose of discipline and effort can help curb our procrastinating nature for a while, but this habit is powerful and we quickly fall back into bad habits. Savings plans get derailed, diets get cheated on, and, well, you never did go to the gym.

So what’s the solution? It’s called automation, and it goes beyond simply paying yourself first.

There is a lot of research that suggests that one of the best ways to get people to save for retirement is to automatically enroll them into the group savings plan instead of leaving it up to individuals to opt-in. Automatic savings plans are the most effective way to build up a nest egg. If you have to actively think about saving, odds are you won’t do it.

People were asked in a survey could you save $150 a month or would you save $5.00 a day. 7% of those surveyed said they could save $150 a month, yet 30% said they could save $5.00 a day. (Do the math…:-) Putting away even a small amount every month is a great first step, but perhaps there’s more you can do to ensure that you have a good retirement.

Back in the mid-1990s, behavioural economists devised a program called Save More Tomorrow that used nudges to help people make better long-term financial decisions. The program invites employees to gradually increase their savings rate over time.

Save More Tomorrow turns our natural tendency to procrastinate into a positive outcome. While most people would cringe at the idea of saving an extra $100 today, they’re more likely to agree to save that much in January, when their raise kicks-in. The Save More Tomorrow program asks the question and then automatically commits you to that increased amount in the new year. You don’t have to think about it again.

These desires haunt me.

As we go through life, we find that we desire different things out of life. We may desire love, money, fame, understanding, parental love, a job or a friend. When I was living my life, I came across a few people that I thought tried too hard. They desired friendship and became annoying in their attempts to please the person or people they wanted to befriend them.

They wanted advancement so they became annoying in their attempts to curry favour with the bosses so they would be noticed and promoted. They wanted to love but they became annoying in their attempts to win the person they wanted to love them.

Sometimes going full speed to get what you want works, but I have found that for all things and non-things that you may ever want that sometimes the fastest way to get them is to forget them.

I don’t mean putting your desire out of your mind, but I do mean that you should focus on just being the most amazing human being you can be. If you do that then I think you have a better chance of getting what you desire out of life. The reason is that we all like to be associated with winners, who are nice.

As humans, we love to be around people who are warm, friendly, pleasant, and have confidence in themselves. If you work at being your best at some point all of your heart's desires, spoken or unspoken, will be drawn to you more powerfully than a magnet is drawn to steel.