Sheconomics: Women and Their Finances

A new British book written by two women, Sheconomics, might bring some controversy for the two authors, Karen Pine and Simonne Gnessen. They’re claiming that women have inferior skills to men when it comes to dealing with finances and they’ve written this book to explain why this might be so and to suggest ways that women can change this.

According to Pine and Gnessen, the whole finance world is focused on men. The language used to talk money is a turn-off to many women, and the lack of emotion and feeling involved in financial decision making excludes women too. Many women even simply allow their partners to take control of their finances without giving it a second thought. But the facts are that many women will be single by the time they reach retirement age and should inform themselves now about how to manage their finances better.

One of the key points that the authors make is that emotion plays a part in finances, but it shouldn’t play too much of a role, and women need to recognize this. That starts even at the level of “retail therapy”, when women don’t mind spending money to cheer up their mental state, regardless of the financial impact. They suggest that women should take responsibility for their money and spending habits and learn more about investments and pensions.

And in their defence, they do recognise that there are millions of women out there who already do this very well! But they say that research shows there are a lot of women who don’t, and this book is for them.