NORFOLK, Va. — It's never too late to start saving and reach your financial goals. Although, without the right resources or information it can be difficult.
Traditionally, women have been less active when it comes to investing, but according to a 2023 report by Fidelity, that’s changing.
The investment landscape is changing, in part because of businesses like Penny Finance. The company prides itself on being a financial mentorship company for women with tailor-made money plans, instant insights, and digestible financial education.
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Kennedy Edwards, a Penny Finance Member and host of Edified Minds Podcast, says the program changed her life.
“[My bank account] went from the negatives to way, way above goal,” she says with a laugh.
While she's in a good spot now, Kennedy says before she felt confident about her finances, she was just a senior graduating college.
"For all the work that I had done in college - you know, how college students, they have the little jobs - I didn't save a penny,” she says.
She continued, “I started to take it seriously, after just realizing loans were building up, I didn't have any money saved up and it was time to grow up.”
Kennedy tells me she was looking for help managing her money and stumbled across Crissi Cole, the CEO and Founder of Penny Finance.
Cole tells me, “I just kept meeting women who would ask me, 'Crissi, how do I invest my 401K? How do I do my taxes? How do I get out of debt? Should I use this 0% credit card?' Over and over and over again, and one day, it was actually my husband who was like, 'Okay, you need to just stop talking about all these people that you're helping on the side - why don't you start a business to support them?'"
And she did. The company was born with the goal of helping more women get out of debt.
"If you look at the data when we started Penny, women were retiring with about 1/3 the wealth of men because of a major investing gap. A new report came out a few months ago that we're now retiring with half the wealth. So, we're making progress,” she says.
That progress, Cole says, starts by changing your mindset with money and putting what you earn into a high-yield savings account.
“We have to keep up with inflation [and] we have to grow our wealth or we're not going to be able to retire,” she says.
To set you up for success this year, Cole says:
- When you spend, do it mindfully
- Focus on your payment plan, not your debt
- Don’t just save — invest
"That is the biggest misconception: 'Like, I can't invest. I don't make enough money.' Yes, you can. You can invest with $100,” Cole says. […] “If you just look at the numbers, 70% of women are not investing. Only 24% of men are not.
Edwards tells me, “When women do take the time to invest, I think we're more strategic, and that can be our superpower."
It’s a superpower that Edwards is leaning into again this year.
"If I take care of my financial health, if I let go of loans, it's actually going to positively impact the generation after me: my future children, my future, hubby wubby. And so that's why I'm doing this,” she says.
Edwards offers this advice to women looking to make a financial change:
- Take advantage of your resources
- Cut down on your debt so you can be free of what’s holding you back
- Get into investing so that money can double on its own
