IF YOU'RE FROM VENUS, WHY GET YOUR FINANCIAL ADVICE FROM MARS?

It is important that women feel skilled and confident about managing their money, so we've included articles and tools in this guide to help you become more informed and proactive about financial issues.

Your gender may affect your financial future. Did you know...

• Women leave the work force for an average of 11.5 years, compared to 16 months for men?
• A woman who leaves the work force for only seven years early in her career may receive half the retirement benefits of her male counterpart?
• Women live longer than men do—an average of seven years?
• 50% of women over age 65 outlive their husbands by 15 years?
• Three in four women are single when they die?
• 75% of caretakers for elderly parents are women?
• Women are awarded child custody in 86% of divorces, and 50% of child-support payments due are received only in part or not at all?

Rules of thumb aren't much help when they're designed for the opposite sex.

Even if men and women do come from the same planet, their lives are generally pretty different. So when someone says you need to save 10% of your income for retirement, ask whether that rule works on your side of the gender gap.

If you have five children, you wouldn't base your grocery budget on the average food bill for a family of four. We don't think this approach makes sense for financial planning either. How much to save for your retirement, which investments to include in your portfolio, and which insurance policies to buy shouldn't be decided based on what's best for the average American. Fact is, most of us aren't very average—and the average woman is so different than the average man that we spend millions on books to help us understand each other.

Despite these realities, most rules of thumb for managing money are based on the average man's financial experiences instead of the average American's.

"There are a number of financial situations that are more prevalent for women than for men," says Debra Nichols, director of Women's Financial Advisory Services at Wachovia. "Sound financial guidance must reflect those circumstances."

Women's Planning Quiz

Investing Is More Than Percentages

There is no magic formula for ensuring a comfortable retirement. For one thing, your savings plan should take into account how many years you may not have a paycheck to save. Despite the stay-at-home-dad trend and the growing number of dual-income families, women still take an average of nearly 12 years off work to raise children or care for aging parents.

Consider such statistics in light of the fact that women are still paid an average of 20% less than their male counterparts, and you begin to see why some financial planning rules of thumb don't work for women.

The remainder of this guidebook is designed to keep women informed about how their financial lives can differ from a man's and to give women ideas for planning for a secure future.

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