Women Learn How to Manage Their Personal Finance at Ruang (Ny)aman

Though men and women are more similar than different when it comes to managing money, there are a handful of personal finance challenges that are unique to women. From staying on top of women’s personal finance situation (whether you are single or partnered) to surviving a divorce or the death of a spouse, to planning for a better quality life as they age, women should learn how to prepare for a financially secure future.
This is why this month’s Ruang (Ny)aman session pick the topic of “Managing Personal Finance for Women”, featuring Metta Anggriani, a Certified Financial Planner at Anggraini & Partners. The gathering took place on July 19, at Ke:kini coworking space in Cikini, Central Jakarta.
Metta started the session by explaining about the myth of women and money. Women have been wrongly stereotyped as  being an impulsive spender, wasteful and high maintenance.  In fact, she said, often time women are better at managing money than men.
In addition, she points at some glaring facts in Indonesia: women are generally charged higher premium for health insurance than men, but men’s life insurance premium tend to be higher than women, showing that in general, men’s life expectancy is lower than women.
“The purpose of managing personal finance for women is to make women self-reliant and empowered in accordance with women’s nature, needs and life cycle,” said Metta.
At the event, Metta introduced some financial planning theories such as the Priority Pyramid, which suggests some financial milestones you should achieve in the order of priority. Another one is the  Financial Life Cycle, which is a tool used to achieve financial success based on the development and implementation of financial goals and SMART Financial Goals. She also said that setting our life goals is essential.
“Once we can define what our life goals are, it will be easier for us to set our financial goals,” she said.
Metta guided the attendees to fill out some handouts as an exercise of “financial check-up”. The forms contain information to reveal personal cash flow statements and personal financial statements, so the attendees can tell whether or not they are  financially healthy.
When asked about their scores, only one person of out of the more than 30 participants turned out to be financially healthy, showing how few women knew the best practice to manage their money.
“The most important thing is to understand the difference between your wants and your needs,” said Metta.

Said Firliani Purwanti, author of The O Project who partners with Magdalene and Ke:Kini in running Ruang (Ny)aman: “This session is very important for women to make them more independent in financial. It is very useful for women so they can manage their finances for their own happiness.”
The participants expressed their appreciation for the information they had learned during the session.
“This has been a very eye-opening session and I wish I had known this a long time ago. I learned a lot about managing my personal finance, and I will definitely practice it daily,” said Dara, one of the attendees.
The next session of Ruang (Ny)Aman will be discussing the topic of mental health. If you want to participate in Ruang (Ny)Aman’s next event, follow Magdalane’s social media accounts.

Find out how this safe house is helping to empower girls and young women who had spent much of their childhood in the sex industry and follow @bunnnicula on Twitter.

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