Day: June 16, 2022

Why It’s Critical for Women to Take Control of Their Personal Finances

On this episode, sponsored by APhA, Robin Hauser, an award-winning director and producer, talks about her most recent documentary, $avvy, which explores why it’s critical for women to understand and take control of their personal finances.

About Today’s Guest

Robin Hauser is the award-winning director and producer of documentaries (CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap, Bias, $avvy, Running for Jim) made to illuminate causes about which she is passionate. Those include the gender gap in tech, unconscious bias, equality, and financial savviness. Robin’s work has carried her around the world, from the TED and TEDx stage to the White House, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, and conferences worldwide, speaking about mitigating bias in artificial intelligence, the likability dilemma, diversity, inclusion, financial wellness, and gender equality. A self-described “disruptor,” Robin is committed to provoking thought to address the most important socio-economic issues we face today.

Episode Summary

There is an antiquated stereotype that women are ill-equipped to deal with the complexities of finance, but did you know that women outperform men when it comes to investing? In today’s episode of the Your Financial Pharmacist podcast, YFP Co-Founder & CEO, Tim Ulbrich, PharmD, is joined by award-winning director and producer, Robin Hauser. In connection with her most recent documentary, $avvy, Robin walks us through the gender-based stereotypes surrounding finances while giving us her lived experiences of unconscious bias. Robin shares her motivation and inspiration $avvy and why it is an important work for people to view. The $avvy documentary addresses why women often take a passive role or give up their role in managing their finances, particularly millennial women. We dive into the different responsibilities men and women have concerning the financial planning of their households. Robin then highlights some of the obstacles facing women who want to take control of their finances—surprisingly, age is a noticeable factor. The conversation takes us through the confidence gap, and Robin states the importance of financial literacy education and instruction from an early age. Listeners will learn all about the pain of paying and the reasons behind financial education being a male-dominated space. 

Key Points From This Episode

• Robin’s real-world example of unconscious bias. 
• The gender-based stereotypes surrounding finances. 
• How day-to-day and long-term financial planning responsibilities differ in a household.
• Why a woman’s lifespan is an important consideration. 
• The biggest obstacles facing women who want to take control of their finances.
• How women outperform men when it comes to investing.
• The psychology of confidence.
• Negotiation and gender perception. 
• When financial literacy should be taught to women, men, and teenagers.
• The pain of paying.
• Why it’s mostly men who are the educators of financial literacy. 

Highlights

“‘You do know that women have pocketbooks too, right? Women can buy condos or can join a timeshare.’ It was as though it never occurred to him. Poor guy.” — Robin Hauser [0:04:31]

“It just really struck me that they were missing this entire demographic by not actually approaching women.”  — Robin Hauser [0:05:00]

“The reality is that we all take on a lot. So we need to divide and conquer at times, to be most efficient.” — Robin Hauser [0:08:05]

“We live longer than men. Even if you live a full life, chances are that a woman’s going to live eight years at the end of her life on her own.” — Robin Hauser [0:08:33]

“90% of women who are widowed or divorced changed financial planners or advisors within the first year.” — Robin Hauser [0:11:09]

“Because of women’s patience and their sensibilities to risk, they tend to make better investment decisions.” — Robin Hauser [0:13:13]

“We violate societal norms of what it is to be a likable woman when we are negotiating hard for ourselves.”  — Robin Hauser [0:16:54]

“There’s no reason that you can’t learn in high school the positive and negative impacts of compounding interest.” — Robin Hauser [0:20:00]

“When you take two things that tend to have the stereotype to be very male-centric, I think it stands to reason that there are less women there.” — Robin Hauser [0:26:40]

“I do think that it’s hard to be what you can’t see.” — Robin Hauser [0:27:18]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode

• $avvy
• YFP Planning: Financial Planning for Pharmacists
• Schedule a free Discovery Call with YFP Planning
• Join APhA – Get 25% Off Your Membership with Code: YFP
• CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap
• bias
• Running for Jim
• Tino
• TEDxMarin: Robin Hauser: The likability dilemma for women leaders
• Connect with Robin Hauser on LinkedIn
• Follow Finish Line Features on Instagram: @finishlinefeaturefilms
• Finish Line Features
• Your Financial Pharmacist Disclaimer and Disclosures

Episode Transcript

[INTRODUCTION]

[00:00:00] TU: Hey, everybody, Tim Ulbrich here. Thank you for listening to the YFP podcast, where each week we strive to inspire and encourage you on your path towards achieving financial freedom. This week, I had the pleasure of sitting down with award-winning director and producer, Robin Hauser, to talk about her most recent documentary, Savvy, which explores why it’s critical for women to understand and take control of their personal finances. During the show, we discuss the main obstacles for women to take control of their finances, why women typically outperform men with investing, and why negotiation skills are essential for women to embrace as it relates to the financial plan. 

Before we hear from today’s sponsor and then jump into the show, I recognize that many listeners may not be aware of what the team at YFP Planning does in working one-on-one with more than 250 households in 50 plus states. YFP Planning offers fee-only, high touch financial planning that is customized for the pharmacy professional. If you’re interested in learning more about how working one-on-one with a certified financial planner may help you achieve your financial goals, you can book a free discovery call at yfpplanning.com. Whether or not YFP Planning financial planning services are a good fit for you, know that we appreciate your support of this podcast and our mission to help pharmacies achieve financial freedom. Okay, let’s jump into my interview with Robin Hauser.

[INTERVIEW]

[00:01:17] TU: Today’s episode of the Your Financial Pharmacist podcast is brought to you by the American Pharmacists Association. APHA has partnered with your financial pharmacies to deliver personalized financial education benefits for APHA members. Throughout the year, APHA will be hosting a number of exclusive webinars covering topics like student loan debt, payoff strategies, home buying, investing, insurance needs and much more. Join APHA now to gain premier access to these educational resources and to receive discounts on YFP products and services. You can join the APHA at a 25 percent discount by visiting pharmacies.com/join and using the coupon code YFP. Again that’s pharmacist.com/join and using the coupon code YFP. 

Well, I’m really excited to welcome on this week’s podcast, Robin Hauser, who’s the award-winning director and producer of documentaries CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap, Bias, Savvy, Running for Jim, made to illuminate causes about which she is passionate. Those include the gender gap in tech, unconscious bias, equality and financial savviness. Robin’s work has carried her around the world, from the TED and TEDx stage to the White House, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, and conferences worldwide, speaking about mitigating bias in artificial intelligence, The Likability Dilemma, Diversity Inclusion, Financial Wellness and Gender Equality. A self-described disruptor, Robin is committed to provoking thought to address the most important socio-economic issues that we face today. Robin, welcome to the YFP podcast.

[00:02:50] RH: Thanks, Tim. I’m happy to be here.

[00:02:52] TU: I’m really excited to have you on the show and to dig into the documentary that you helped produce, Savvy. This came from a friend of mine who let me know about the documentary. I’m so glad that she did, because I think it’s going to be an incredible resource for the YFP community and, of course, for pharmacists and others even beyond. I want to start with a story, Robin, that you shared in your 2019 TED talk (that we’ll link to in the show notes). That TED talk was called, “The Likability Dilemma for Women Leaders.” 

You share a story when you’re on the ski resort and a man approached you and asked you if you’re with a husband or a fiancée. You said, “No” and started to head back toward the lift, and your curiosity got the better part of you and you decided that you were going to follow up and have a conversation. Take us there and tell us what happened at that moment.

[00:03:43] RH: Right. This is such a good example to me of unconscious bias, right? I’m walking through the ski resort. I’ve got a pair of skis on my shoulder. This man, he was young, probably late twenties/early thirties, just came up to me and said, “Hey, excuse me, are you with a fiancée or a husband?” I said, “No.” He said, “Oh, okay.” Sort of like, okay, never mind. So I kept walking and I thought, this is—wait. I’ve got to find out why he asked me that. I turned around and walked back to him and I said, “Hey, I’m just curious. Just wondering why you asked me if I was with a man?” He said, “Oh, because we’re selling timeshares.” That gave me pause. Then I looked at him and I said, “So you don’t sell to women?” He said, “Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. Well, we could. Yeah. Are you interested?” I said, “Well, no, not really.” I said, “You do know that women have pocketbooks too, right? Women can buy condos or can join a timeshare.”

It was as though it never occurred to him. Poor guy, he’s just trying to do his job. But I think that it’s the way they trained him. to go for probably the average (which is fine) couples that are together, heterosexual couples, and ask the guy, because, usually, it’s the man handling the purse strings and making long term or investment decisions. It just really struck me that they were missing this entire demographic by not actually approaching women.

[00:05:09] TU: You shared another story in that same TEDx talk where you had a cocktail party and you asked the man about his line of business, and he said he was in the fintech business. You said, “What type?” He said, “Well, it’s complicated.” I think it’s just another example of what you just mentioned there. My question for you is, why do women often carry this implicit bias that women don’t understand finance or they’re not involved in the finances? Where does that come from?

[00:05:33] RH: Well, and I just want to point out that these are, likely, very well-intended men. When this man said to me, “Oh, it’s complicated,” he did definitely say it in a dismissive way. What I was curious about is, had I been a man, how he said that to me. Would he still have said, “Oh, it’s complicated?” Or would he have said, “Well, actually, we’re a white bank and we’re raising 10 million for a first fund” or whatever, and gone into details about it. But he just assumed—and maybe it’s because I’m a woman, maybe because I’m blond. I don’t know—but he just made this assumption that it would be probably too complicated. Then, my response to him was, “Try me. You might be surprised. I actually might be able to understand you and the concept of whatever your fintech deal is.” 

A lot of it is stereotypes. I mean, it’s really interesting that in our society—our society dictates that finance is male territory. If you look back over the years, that’s how it’s been. So, even if a woman handles the lunch money or the day-to-day grocery money, it doesn’t mean that she’s involved in long term financial planning. It doesn’t mean that she’s necessarily involved in, how much are you saving? Who’s your mortgage with? What debt do you even have? I mean, these are questions you might not be able to answer.

[00:06:49] TU: Yeah. Just the point of vulnerability here for a moment. My wife and I had this conversation not too long ago, where just what you said there—my wife stays home. We’ve got four boys, just phase of life we’re in. She, day-to-day, is spending money on the groceries, activities, home schooling things. She has a much closer look on the financials day-to-day than I do. But long-term planning, I was really taking a lot of that under my wing. We really identified this disconnect between the long-term planning and what was happening day-to-day. We said, “Really, if anything you should be in charge and empowered in the financial plan. Obviously, we both need to be involved.” 

I think that’s a very common thing that can happen. We really felt like it was a great moment to take a step back and say, “Sure, there’s the issues where if something were to happen to one of us, do we both make sure we have a good understanding of the whole plan?” But just objectively, day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month, year-to-year, especially in the phase that were life that we’re in, it just makes sense that she would really be taking the lead in what we’re working on financially.

[00:07:49] RH: Well, that’s right. When you think about, look, we’re all really busy, right? Division of labor in a partnership, in a marriage, is important. You don’t both need to always take the kids to school. You don’t both need to walk the dog together. I mean, if you can, that’s wonderful, that’s fabulous. But the reality is that, we all take on a lot. So, we need to divide and conquer at times, to be most efficient.

My point is, that’s not what we need to do with money. With money—when it comes to money, and planning money and understanding personal finance, it’s something that we need to at least collaborate on once a month, so that we know. That’s exactly right, as you said. Here are the reasons that women are so vulnerable. Number one, we live longer than men. Even if you live a full life, chances are that a woman’s going to live eight years at the end of her life on her own. We earn less money because we spend more time out of the workforce; therefore, we have less Social Security. And we earn less. We earn $0.80 to the dollar that a man makes.

This is why 80 percent of women, 65 and older, live in poverty (80 percent more than men). That’s astounding. I mean, that’s a problem. Women need to get involved with personal finance, take the reins of their money, and really understand how to grow their wealth. So that if they did or when they do end up on their own, they’ll be able to handle it.

[00:09:13] TU: Which is a great call to action. Our communities, I mentioned before, we hit record, the pharmacy profession is predominantly more women than men, especially as of late with graduates over the last 20 years or so. Such a good call to action and reinforcement for our community. So, the Savvy Documentary addresses why women across the board often take a passive role or give up their role in managing their finances. You say, particularly in millennial. Obviously, there’s many factors as to why, but what do you feel like is the greatest obstacle or two for women being able to take control of their finances?

[00:09:46] RH: Probably intimidation. I think what happens is that—I mean, the financial industry was built by men for men, not on purpose to exclude women. It’s just that’s the way it was when Wall Street was being created. It was men that was handling that, that organized that, right? So, along with that comes this sense of ambient belonging. We’re using a lot of acronyms, ETFs, SEP, your IRA, what do these things mean? Even very well-educated, very intelligent women can feel marginalized and can feel intimidated if they haven’t kept up and if they don’t understand. 

Especially now with technology and the way fintech is working. There’s all sorts. I mean, cryptocurrency, there’s all sorts of new terminologies. It takes you no effort to keep up with what does this all mean, right? So, I think that that’s probably the biggest hurdle is this intimidation factor, thinking, “Oh, boy, I really should have kept up with this all these years and I haven’t. So now I’m behind and I don’t even know. It’s overwhelming. I don’t know how to catch up. I don’t even know how to start.” 

Often the woman who is busy with kids and probably her own job and volunteer hours and everything else, doesn’t make the time to go to the financial planner with her spouse. Therefore, she doesn’t really have a great relationship with that person. 90 percent of women who are widowed or divorced changed financial planners or advisors within the first year. What does that tell you? That tells you that women are not relating to the financial advisor or the financial advisor doesn’t really understand the plights or the issues that women face when it comes to money, and they’re not really working to maintain their female clients.

[00:11:35] TU: Yeah. Perhaps weren’t invested in that relationship together or a part of the decision making for that relationship to begin with. It’s one of the reasons, when we’re talking with individuals that are looking for planning services, if it’s a situation where it’s a spouse or a significant other, but folks are doing that together, both parties need to be present from jump street.

Now, as time goes on and maybe that schedules get busy, maybe it’s not realistic that, for every single meeting, two people are always there. Upfront decision making, understanding the goals, the priorities, the issues, it’s so important to have both individuals that are involved. One of the things that you highlight in the documentary, that I thought was fascinating, is the statistic that when women invest, whether that’s hedge fund managers, mutual fund managers, or individually, they outperform men by about 1 percent annually.

When I saw that, we preach and teach on this podcast, that 1% really matters. Our listeners know that in terms of a compound effective 1 percent over time, whether that’s in returns or perhaps fees or a combination of both, so when I see 1 percent, that matters, that’s significant. Why is this? What’s behind this? Tell us more.

[00:12:42] RH: Yeah. I think it’s one basis point a year, which corresponds to about 1 percent. I think what that is, is women are more risk aware. They’re not more risk averse. They’re more risk aware. So, women understand the risks involved in investing. They might pay a little bit more attention into being well diversified, to not jump into something that sounds like it’s a really good investment but could have a huge negative impact on a portfolio if it were to go wrong. So, because of that, because of women’s patience and their sensibilities to risk, they tend to make better investment decisions.

[00:13:22] TU: Yeah. That, of course, compounds over time. We know when you look at simulations of portfolios, if you’re able to mitigate the volatility of a portfolio, but take on appropriate risks of the long term, you’re going to see really good returns, so that makes sense. The other aspect that I’ve seen, in my own situation, and a pharmacist I talk with (all across the country, the men that are pharmacist that listen may not like me calling them out), but there tends to be a little bit more overconfidence that I see in terms of— certainly there’s varying levels of education—but is there an openness and a receptiveness to learn and to have someone come alongside of you to be able to advise, but also to keep your accountability? I know that’s a big generalization, of course, but I think there’s a different level of receptiveness that may come to that as well.

[00:14:09] RH: Well, there’s no doubt that there’s a confidence gap when it comes to women and to girls. This is just something that we tend to suffer from, right? There have been some really interesting studies, and in catalyst of the study several years ago that showed ten different qualifications that you would need, whether you’re a woman or a man, to apply for a job. Men tended to apply with confidence if they had even just 60 percent of the qualifications, right? Women even who had 100 percent of the qualifications still were not 100 percent confident that they would get the job or that they qualified for the job. So, there’s a big difference in physiologically. Is that because of testosterone? Maybe.

What it says is that we need to push ourselves as women. We need to push ourselves to become more confident, to take on investing, to decide that we’re going to take that promotion in order to stay on a good career trajectory, because otherwise, I don’t know that we’ll ever feel 100 percent confident that we’re ready for that next step. But when we do take it, we perform well, right? So, it’s just a matter of feeling confident and understanding that we can take that risk.

[00:15:24] TU: Yeah. As you challenge the women to lean into that confidence and be comfortable taking some of that risk, I would challenge the men listening to really ask themselves, “Am I perhaps overconfident in the financial plan? What are the opportunities for learning and improvement and perhaps a different perspective as well?” Robin, you also touched on in the film Negotiation Skills, a topic we’ve talked about in this podcast before, specifically around credit card negotiation, salary negotiation. Why is this so important for women to develop and refine, and why do you think it’s something that many women may shy away from?

[00:15:55] RH: Well, I think we shy away from it, because the confidence gap, what we just talked about. But negotiating is a really interesting thing, because what happens is that women and men, when we negotiate, women tend to outperform men in negotiations, but only when women are negotiating on behalf of somebody else. When we negotiate for ourselves, we are not as successful. Why is that? Well, it’s because in our society, women are supposed to be especially, a good woman, right, is supposed to be supportive, deferential. We are not necessarily rewarded when we come across as overly confident, overly assertive, decisive, right? But those are things that men actually are rewarded for, because they are seen as leadership skills in men more than they are in women.

This comes into this likability dilemma. But when it comes to negotiating, it’s fascinating, because women, we violate societal norms of what it is to be a likable woman when we are negotiating hard for ourselves. We come across as being selfish and self-centered and maybe even greedy, right? Which is ridiculous, but those qualities, we tend to tolerate more in men and expect more of in men than in women. So, what does that mean? Women have to often come to the table, negotiate and give examples of why they need money, which is interesting. Why they would need a higher salary? Those are things that men aren’t burdened with as much. I think that if you’re an employer, I think we need to pay attention to this. We need to understand. 

If you want to retain women, if you want women to rise in your company, we need one: to push them to take promotions. Two, understand that it’s going to be harder for her to ask for a salary raise, even though she has earned it and deserves it. So, we need to be aware of that. We need to also be aware of the fact that women know how we’re perceived when we negotiate. So, we are careful about how we negotiate in what we do. The reason we need to continue to negotiate successfully regardless is because otherwise the pay gap widens.

[00:18:09] TU: Yep. That’s where my mind is just going around with the pay gap and I appreciate the call to action to the employers that are listening. So important to be aware of it and to be taken action appropriately, especially in a field like pharmacy where we have great flexibility, where pharmacists may through different seasons of life, cutback hours or increase and then take back hours or overtime, depending on family needs and other needs, which is a great benefit, but also can be a challenge if you’re stepping out and into the workforce to make sure that that pay differential is not widening over time.

I think the responsibility certainly lies in part on the employer, also in the individual, to be able to effectively negotiate for themselves and to be confident in doing that. It’s a great, great piece. We often, on this show, talk about the lack of financial literacy available to pharmacists while they’re in pharmacy school. I know financial literacy education is a big topic, one I’m passionate about, that really should start as early as possible and be as longitudinal as possible. This is really striking for our profession, where we have new graduates coming out on average with about $170,000 in student loan debt. Because of the lack of financial literacy of education, I think it’s easy to make missteps along the way. 

My question here is, were there any key lessons that you took away from the documentary, in the preparation of the documentary, that really focuses on helping to improve financial literacy among women? Even if it’s access or interest, how do we overall raise the level of financial literacy in education and make it one that is accessible of interest and also is able to be action oriented?

[00:19:46] RH: Well, and this is for men and women, we need to have relatable financial education courses in school and in high school even. I mean, I’m even a proponent for starting them age appropriately in grade school. But there’s no reason that you can’t learn in high school the positive and negative impacts of compounding interest for example. You need to understand that you can’t just— that you need a credit card. First of all, you need a credit card in order to establish good credit. 

In fact, when you get to college and you’re going to rent an apartment, they’re going to check your credit score. S,o you need to establish a credit score by having a credit card and yet paying off the minimum. Nobody teaches us how to use credit cards, right? Unless we’re having to have parents that teaches these things. Otherwise, you, probably everybody, that comes out of school comes out of the pharmacist training and school gets, what, maybe three different credit card invitations a month? 

[00:20:40] TU: At least. 

[00:20:41] RH: Yeah. At least, if not a week, right? I mean, it’s ridiculous. Yet in any of those, unless you’re going to— even if you read the fine print, does anybody stop and say, “ut here, let me actually teach you how to use this.” Because paying the minimum is not enough. Paying the minimum means you’re actually going to be paying interest, right? 

[00:20:58] TU: Yeah. Lot of interest.

[00:20:58] RH: Interest is accruing, a lot of interest. Some of those credit cards, those initial credit cards, are over 25 percent, so that’s huge. I think that’s essential for men and for women. We need to know what our credit score is. We need to pay off the total balance on a credit card every single month. We need to use less than 10 percent usage of it in order to have the highest credit score rating. But these are things that nobody teaches us, right? I think that’s important. Then I also think that, yes, whether you’re in business school, whether you’re coming out of pharmaceutical school. There’s no reason that there can’t be an education or finance course that’s specific to your industry, right? I think that that’s something that we’re owed, especially if you’re going to end up with $170,000 in student loans debt.

[00:21:43] TU: Yeah. I think we’re starting to see momentum among this. I think there’s other health professions I would give kudos to. I think medicine has done this well, from an association colleges standpoint. Veterinary medicine has done this well, from an association colleges standpoint. I think what we need immediate past is the stigma and the idea that this is a doctorate level education and personal finance doesn’t belong. It does belong, right. Because we know the connection between financial wellness and one’s ability to be a clinician and to work effectively in their role. Those things are very well connected. So, I think we’re starting to see momentum in our profession around this topic, which is very exciting. 

Of course, for folks that are listening and have kids at home, what a great opportunity to just begin conversations as early as you possibly can. These come up all the time if you watch and listen for them. I remember being with my oldest son, who’s now about to be 11, probably when he was five, maybe six, and we’re at the grocery store and he just asked me a question once at checkout. He was like, “Oh, so dad, you just swipe the card and then you get the groceries. Is that how it works? You just swipe the card and you get what you need?” I was like, oh, my gosh, what a great teaching moment, about how does money go from work into a bank account. There’s not physical cash, right? 

This is such an incredible learning moment, but that is a foreign concept. If a child gets money from a gift or from work and it ends up online, but I don’t see it in front of me, but it’s in an account. What? What is that? What does that mean? So, I think just such a great opportunity to be having these conversations, if we’re in a position to do that.

[00:23:18] RH: Yeah. It’s so interesting. The psychology behind all that too, right? We are just swiping. I mean, it’d be interesting to see how your son would react if you pulled out your wallet and paid in cash, which none of us do anymore for the groceries, as opposed to swiping that card, right? There’s something that they talk about called a pain of paying. I think that’s really interesting, because it is much less painful to pay with a credit card. It’s more painful when we see our balance at the end of the month than we have to say, “Okay, pay that off.” But in terms of swiping versus taking out a few twenties or fifties from our wallet, that hits us a little bit more in terms of the pain.

Let me tell you, I mean, with Venmo. What’s Venmo? I mean, that it’s crazy, right? There’s just this fictitious balance. I mean, it is a balance, actually, but you almost forget that it’s tied to your checking account and there seems to be no pain in that at all, which is why it’s so easy to spend.

[00:24:15] TU: Yeah. One of things my boys will often ask me now, I guess I’m glad that they’re comfortable asking the question, but they often ask, “How much does that cost you, Dad? How much is that cost you?” Sometimes your reaction is like, “Oh, my gosh, I had no idea.” Or “Oh, that’s not bad.” I’m like, “Well, it’s still a lot of money and let’s have a conversation about work.” But you also want to create a scarcity mindset. So, there’s a delicate balance as you’re having these conversations with kids about money, but there’s things they can relate to, right? 

If they get a dollar or $3, or whatever the tooth fairy pays now nowadays for a tooth, they understand what that is. If they can understand something cost $20 or $50 that might really resonate with them and be able to put their arms around exactly what is the amount of something. And, to your comment about the pain of paying, it becomes real when they can really see the tangible dollars that are at play. One of the other things I wanted to ask you about is it feels like, to me, there’s a significant inequality of who is leading the financial education out there. One of the reasons I was so glad to see this documentary specifically geared towards empowering women around money, and obviously the work that you’ve done here is— it feels like if you look at the traditional education around financial topics, it is largely led by men. 

Now I think that’s shifting what’s happening, but let me give one example. I’m going down the rabbit hole right now. I’m learning about cryptocurrency. One, because it’s a topic I feel like I’ve got a baseline knowledge in, but as we get more questions, I want to, myself, become more knowledgeable. I’m digesting YouTube videos and blogs and books, and I’m pretty far into the journey. I can maybe think of on one hand (if even that many) women that are leading the conversation and the education around cryptocurrency. Well, that’s one example. I think it sheds light into other areas of the finances, whether we’re talking about the alphabet soup of retirement planning, or estate planning, or tax planning. It feels so heavy on the male side of the equation as it relates to financial education literacy. Am I reading that correctly? 

[00:26:17] RH: Well, yeah. I think so, because I mean, there are many more male financial advisors than there are women. This is something that there’s a big effort to change in trying to get more women into financial advising, but I think especially when it comes to crypto, and why? Well, because crypto’s a merge of finance (which we know is male oriented) and computer science, which is male oriented. When you take two things that tend to have the stereotype to be very male-centric, I think it stands to reason that there are less women there. Again, back to that idea of ambient belonging. I mean, if you just don’t feel you belong there, if it doesn’t feel like home when you’re—so if a woman goes to a cryptocurrency conference and she’s one of the only or the few women there, she’s going to feel like she doesn’t belong, right?

It’s really hard to pioneer and to push through being the minority, and many women have. Same goes for people of color, right? I do think that it’s hard to be what you can’t see. So, we need to get more women into finance and into crypto, into computer science and sciences in general. I love hearing that pharmaceuticals has a stronghold of women, that is fabulous. But this is what we need to do in order to change the stereotype. 

[00:27:39] TU: Well, this is great, Robin. I really appreciate the conversation. I would encourage folks to make sure that they check out the Documentary Savvy. We’ll link to it in the show notes. Where is the best place that folks can go to learn more about you and to follow the journey and the work that you’re doing?

[00:27:53] RH: Well, finishlinefeaturefilms.com is our website. We will list different screenings of Savvy, whether it’s film festivals or whether we’re doing public screenings, you’ll find them listed there. So, keep an eye on that website.

[00:28:06] TU: Awesome. We’ll link to that in the show notes. Thank you so much, Robin, for your time. I appreciate it.

[00:28:10] RH: Thank you, Tim.

[OUTRO]

[00:28:11] TU: Before we wrap up today’s episode of the Your Financial Pharmacist podcast, I want to again thank our sponsor, the American Pharmacists Association. APhA is every pharmacist’s ally, advocating on your behalf for better working conditions per PBM practices, and more opportunities for pharmacists to provide care. Make sure to join a bolder APhA to gain premier access to financial educational resources and to receive discounts on YFP products and services. You can join APhA at a 25 percent discount by visiting pharmacies.com/join and using the coupon code YFP. Again that pharmacies.com/join, using the coupon code YFP. 

[DISCLAIMER]

[00:28:50] TU: As we conclude this week’s podcast, an important reminder that the content on this show is provided to you for your informational purposes only and is not intended to provide and should not be relied on for investment, or any other advice. Information in the podcast and corresponding materials should not be construed as a solicitation, or offer to buy or sell any investment, or related financial products. We urge listeners to consult with a financial advisor with respect to any investment.

Furthermore, the information contained in our archived newsletters, blog posts and podcasts is not updated and may not be accurate at the time you listen to it on this podcast. Opinions and analyses expressed herein are solely those of your financial pharmacist, unless otherwise noted and constitute judgments as of the dates published. Such information may contain forward-looking statements, which are not intended to be guarantees of future events. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. For more information, please visit yourfinancialpharmacist.com/disclaimer.

Thank you for your support to the Your Financial Pharmacist Podcast. Have a great rest your week.

[END]

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