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Shannon Fowler: Hi, everyone. My name is Shannon Fowler, and you may know me as one of the advisors behind the 403(b) plan here at San Juan Regional Medical Center. And I work alongside Cole Stoneman, which many of you likely know, and also Hussein Montoya.

So today, I'm here to actually talk about women and finance. But don't worry for the guys that are listening, I'm sure you'll find some good nuggets of information too. But that is the topic for today. So, the reason I got into this line of work, so I am a female financial planner and I have been doing this for about 20 years, and it's a very male-dominated industry. So, only 20% of advisors are female.

And so, when I kind of got into this role, I essentially came into it because I felt like, if my parents would've had someone walking alongside them like me during the messy middle of life with the kids and the careers and the bills and all the dreams happening at the same time, they might've had a healthier relationship with money. And that relationship would've then been handed down to me. But I didn't get that. My dad was busy trying to build his company. My mom stayed at home to raise us. And so, they had a very different approach to money and the way that they showed up with it. And so, that is something that I'm passionate about helping clients with.

So, I think one thing I want you guys to hear out there is that you were never bad at money. I want you to really hear that—you are not bad at money. They don't do a great job teaching us these things in school, high school, college, and you've never been bad at money. But for a very long time, the systems around us right have been designed to make you feel like you are.

Consider the fact that women weren't legally allowed to have their own credit card or co-sign for a loan until 1974. That's not that long ago. And so, there's likely people in this hospital who were already adults when that law changed. So, that's not personal failure. That's just a historical one. So before we go any further, I just want you to set down that story that you might be carrying around money or feeling behind or feeling like it's too late or feeling like you're bad with it because that story was never really yours to begin with.

Let's talk a little bit about the things that I hear most often from the women that I'm working with. And I say this with zero judgment because I have worked with brilliant, educated, hardworking women, nurses, doctors, administrators, teachers, stay-at-home moms, you name it, I've had conversations with them. And women are exceptional at everything they do, but they will still say things about money.

First one that I hear a lot is, "Well, I'll start later." And here's what later actually costs you, a woman who starts investing at 25 versus age 35, just 10 years, could have nearly twice the retirement wealth by the time she's 65. And that's simply because of compound interest. So, time is the one ingredient in this equation that you cannot buy back. So, later is the most expensive word in finance.

Second one I hear, "I don't know how to invest." I don't know what to pick. I don't know what to do. And here's what the data actually says about that. So, studies show that women typically are better investors than men. Now, I'm not saying it's by a whole lot, but what I am saying is it because women tend to take more calculated risks? They don't panic-sell when the market drops, and they tend to outperform male investors on average. And so, you don't have a knowledge problem, you just have a confidence problem. And the confidence is something that builds over time.

The third one that I hear a lot is, "I don't want to lose any money." I understand that fear completely. Like, I see that every day working with clients, especially, you know, when the market's doing what it's doing, it's up and down and it can feel like a roller coaster. But I want to reframe that for you. So, the risk that you are most afraid of is losing money in the market, but the risk that will actually hurt you, that quiet, invisible risk every single day is doing nothing. So, taking no action is actually hurting you more than getting invested in the market. So, inflation is shrinking your savings right now while you wait for the perfect moment to start. So, there is no perfect moment.

And the fourth one, and I say this with so much love is "My partner's better than me. I just let them handle it." And I understand why that feels like a reasonable arrangement, right? But I need you guys to understand something. Statistically, 80% of women will be solely responsible for their own finances at some point in their lives, like whether that's through divorce or becoming a widow—through circumstances that none of us plan for. Being informed is not a sign of distrust in your relationship. It's the deepest form of self-respect. So, you deserve to know what's going on and where you stand and how everything is being invested. It doesn't mean you have to enjoy it or think that it's the best thing ever. It might not be super interesting to you, but you do deserve a seat at your own financial table.

There's one thing that's getting a lot of attention right now, and you may have actually heard about it, but by 2045, there's an estimated $84 trillion that's going to transfer from the Baby Boomer generation to their heirs—84 trillion. So, that is the largest transfer of wealth in the history of the world. And so, women are positioned to inherit the majority of that. And that is because women statistically outlive men by about five years.

Now, if we look at this from a longevity standpoint, we all know that people are living longer, and that's another reason why we want to get started sooner rather than later, because we don't want to outlive our wealth. And we want to make sure that we can take care of ourselves in those later years so that we have control. That's where something like long-term care might come into play when you're typically down the road when you're in your '80s. And you might need some help. That's where we can have conversations about what that would look like. Because if you walk into a nursing home today, you are likely going to see basically seven out of 10 of the residents there are going to be women. Sorry, guys, we knock you off first. And so, we're usually taking care of the men. But then once they're gone, there's no one to take care of the wife or the woman. And so, it's essential that there's enough assets for her to be able to sustain.

And so, right now, someone in this hospital, I'm sure you have a parent that's aging, right? You're kind of the term sandwich generation. We're taking care of kids while we're also taking care of aging parents. Someone's also probably navigating a marriage that's changing. Someone wanted just went through a divorce that they didn't see coming. Someone is a young nurse just thinking that retirement is really just too far away. That goes back to the, "I'll start later." So, this is your life. And the time to build your relationship with your financial future is not when a crisis forces you to. You have control, like you have the gift of choice.

And so, I also want to take a moment just to demystify something, because one of the biggest barriers I see is that people believe that financial planning is only for the wealthy, and that you have to have a certain amount of money before you deserve a seat at the table, and that is simply not true.

So, Cole, Hussein, and I, we are financial planners and offer free financial planning to all hospital employees as an extension of your 403(b) plan. So, there are no dumb questions, small questions. We can literally talk to you about anything within your financial picture and break down the conversation for you if you've had any lingering questions that are kind of in the back of your mind, so please don't be afraid to use us. We are happy to have those conversations because we understand how impactful it is for your life.

I want every single person in this hospital to hear this—from the person that just started their first job here to the person—I know some of you have been here for 30 or 40 years. There is a plan that's right for you, and you don't want somebody else's plan. So, you don't have to feel like you're behind or you should be here, or they're doing this. Where you actually are right now today is fine, and we can kind of help you get launched in the right direction. So, you don't have to have it all figured out to begin. You just have to start.

So if you guys have any questions or ever want to just flesh out a conversation, please don't be afraid to ask us. Somebody listening right now is also in the messy middle. I'm right there with you. And I am trying to pass down that gift of not passing on my money story that I grew up with, because there is so much happening, right? There's the careers, the bills, you're trying to do it all right. And it's beautiful and it's chaotic and it's all at once. And so, the story that you're writing with money right now, the way you talk about it, the way you engage with it And the way you either avoid it or you face it head on, is what your kids see. So, people are watching, your kids are absorbing, and your future self will be so glad that you had this conversation. So, ladies, we are not bad at money. We are not behind. And we are not too late. We were just never really given the right guide at the right time. So, this is exactly the work that we do.

So if you guys have any questions, please let us know. You can find me through our website. It's www.ironbridgewc.com. And so, I hope you guys all have a great day. Thanks for listening.