When you put it into prospective, it wasn’t so long ago that women were expected to stay in the home and tend to their family, while men were expected to take care of everything else (money included). Fifty or sixty short years later, that idea seems hopelessly outdated. Many women want a career and their own financial stability, and their incomes are often depended upon to keep families afloat.
This new focus on women as hard working breadwinners is catching the eye of financial experts. A new crop of websites designed specifically to assist women in the management of their money are turning up. And these websites go far beyond helping to plan for spending on groceries and clothing. They are designed to help women save, invest, and plan for retirement.
The giant among consumer friendly financial websites is Mint.com. Though not specifically targeted to women, it has long been heralded as a content marketing powerhouse because of its successful blog and the simplified way it delivers financial information to users. As detailed in the article “Women and Money: Why We Need To Take Control Now” in the September 2012 issue of Real Simple magazine, women need to feel like they understand what they are reading about financial issues, and not feel isolated by difficult terms. In this context, Mint.com is ideal for use by women who otherwise might have felt alienated by traditional financial advisors.
Sites focused solely on women include DailyWorth.com and Womenandco.com. DailyWorth focuses on the desire for women to exist in a community and feel connected. Though they publish numerous articles on everything from asking for a raise to getting a mortgage, they also have a forum where women can connect to ask questions and share tips about their finances with other women. This community has empowered users to share their concerns (like saving for college or investing in stocks) with other women who face the same challenges.
Womenandco is a service of Citibank and provides an incredible wealth of knowledge directed to women. From articles and videos to blogs and social networks, the site delivers information the modern women needs, from primarily female sources. Authors and advice givers are generally female, and the site has a good balance of topics that range from personal to professional. Indeed, the website’s strengths lie in their ability to recognize the wide range of concerns modern women have, from the cost of raising children and caring for aging parents to planning for retirement and successfully negotiating pay for a new job.
Today’s women are focused on not just their families but successful careers, and along with that the success of their finances. Marketers have been smart to realize that women want financial information delivered to them on their terms, in the way they like, and successful online content has followed.
