Here's one way women can feel more empowered when thinking about their finances

Provided by Dow Jones

Jun 10, 2023 12:48 PM UTC

By Philip van Doorn

Also: How a young executive is transforming an already good restaurant chain, an investment bootcamp and different approaches to dividend stocks

Sometimes it seems as if the deck is stacked against you. For women, high inflation and soaring housing costs in many parts of the U.S. can be compounded by a perception that they are unable to work toward financial independence.

Alessandra Malito shares the results of a survey that found that women shy away from, or are not included in, discussions of financial topics. The survey of 400 women indicated that 55% don't know whether they have saved enough for retirement. And despite career gains over recent decades, women are still more likely than men to have their working lives disrupted so they can care for others. One of the problems that can keep people -- and not only women -- from saving for retirement is that they can be intimidated by financial jargon.

And that is where a focus on empowerment might help. Many public and private employers match employees' contributions into retirement accounts up to a certain amount, although not everyone has this potential wealth-building advantage.

Let's say your employer is willing to match contributions up to 3% of your salary. That means if you put in 3% of your pay each pay period, you instantly double every dollar you contribute. That is empowerment. It doesn't matter how the money is invested. And if you can slowly increase your contributions, the match is still significant. If you contribute 10% of your salary, for example, and your employer matches 3% of your salary, you just made a quick 30%. That's one way to get ahead over the course of a career.

Then, once you are contributing, you can empower yourself further by learning about how your money is invested in the retirement account and what choices you have. You might have a colleague you feel comfortable discussing this topic with, or you can call the company that manages your retirement account. Whether you're a woman or a man, it doesn't pay to be shy.

Concluding the Investment Bootcamp

Paul Merriman has wrapped up his Investment Bootcamp series of articles with a summary of how to improve your investing returns while not letting your emotions get in your way. Links to all the article in the series are included.

How a young CEO is improving a restaurant business -- from presentation to art to operations

Charles Passy interviews Damola Adamolekun, who is 34 years old and became the CEO of P.F. Chang's in 2020. Adamolekun explains how he got there by way of Nigeria, Brown University, Harvard Business School, Goldman Sachs and Paulson & Co., along with all the steps he has taken to make P.F. Chang's even better than it was.

A reckoning for virtual-currency exchanges

The Securities and Exchange Commission came down hard this week on Binance and Coinbase (COIN), suing both for allegedly operating illegal securities exchanges. This is a big story with many moving parts, and you should sign up for the Distributed Ledger newsletter, which covers the entire cryptocurrency landscape. This week, Anushree Dave provides what may be a surprising answer to this question: Is it still safe to invest in crypto in the U.S.?

Mark Hulbert describes four valuation models for Bitcoin.

Here's a rundown of coverage during a pivotal week for virtual currencies:

Apple makes a big splash with its VR goggles

This week Apple (AAPL) unveiled its new Vision Pro virtual-reality headset, which won't be for the faint-hearted, considering its $3,499 price tag.

Meta Platforms (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose company will be Apple's main competitor in the VR-headset space with its far less expensive Oculus Rift, wasn't impressed, writing in an email to employees that "every demo that [Apple] showed was a person sitting on a couch by themselves."

Quentin Fottrell questions the use case for the Vision Pro compared with the iPhone and outlines 10 reasons he won't be jumping aboard this VR bandwagon.

More coverage of Apple and the Vision Pro:

Be careful with small-cap stocks

The chart above shows this year's returns for the small-cap Russell 2000 Index and the S&P 500 , with dividends reinvested. The small caps have been volatile, and now that they have been soaring again, William Watts shares a technical case for not jumping on the small-cap rally.

Need to know:Stocks would fall right back into a bear market if they adopted economic view of bond market, JPMorgan says

Dividend stocks

Stocks of companies that steadily increase dividends over the long term can help you weather storms as you pursue growth. Or you might go for dividend stocks with high yields for income. Here are various approaches:

In case you want to move to Florida ...

Florida has a unique market for homeowner's insurance, flood insurance and -- for some people near the coasts -- wind insurance to cover hurricane damage that might not be covered by a regular homeowner's policy.

If you plan to take out a mortgage loan to finance a home purchase, you had better do everything you can to make your own estimates of how much your property taxes and all the insurance coverage that will be required by the lender will cost. It is common for these expenses to be underestimated by a lender, setting you up for nasty surprises later on.

Aarthi Swaminathan takes a hard look at flood insurance.

She also has advice for people suffering from the forest-fire smoke that has blanketed the northeast U.S., based on her own experience.

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-Philip van Doorn

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06-10-23 0848ET