What do girls need to be taught about careers/financial matters?

[poshsnobtwit]

This obviously applies to boys and girls, but I'm doing a talk for teen girls so I'm asking about girls specifically. Many times on the careers advice/how to earn £100k threads I've seen posters saying "I wish I knew that when I was young...they don't teach you this in school" and I'm trying to remember what these things were but can't recall a lot of them What I do remember:

1. Working backwards - look at salaries and see what careers fall into this bracket, then choose a career path
2. A salary x3 higher does not mean x3 take home pay
3. The sky's the limit vs the glass ceiling
4. You don't need to be passionate about your work (although it helps)
5. Hard work does not necessarily result in success

Can anyone suggest anything else they wish they had have known, or think is important? Not necessarily positive things, reality is fine too. These are teen girls, from a range of backgrounds, from children of asylum seekers to medical consultants.

Don't assume that your colleagues are your friends (it's a bonus if they are) , but they may be after the same job roles you are after.

Loyalty in jobs are often not rewarded. Don't be afraid to negotiate payrises, know your worth. Often the way to get payrises is to change employer.

I wouldn’t look at salaries exclusively, although that obviously plays a factor in decision making. Think about values, skills, what you enjoy. Typical working hours. Not everyone can do a £100k job.

Thinking about options other than university.

Starting pension early. Pension, pension, pension. So many people I know don’t pay into one.

The importance of saving, even if it’s a small amount.

Stocks and shares ISAs

Public v private sector pros and cons, employment, pensions etc.

Use graphs like this to help them take a long view of effort Vs success. It might be a decade or two in that they start to actually feel successful.

If you give up on the way, you definitely never get there. In lots of careers, it's about hanging on long enough in a fairly shit position.

I'd also recommend to all women to stay employed throughout motherhood, even if they choose to go PT. The cost of childcare is always worth it. The loss of experience, skills, pension, career progression when trying to enter the workforce 10-18yrs later affects your chances of getting a good job. Being financially dependent on your husband isn't ideal given the number of issues that could go wrong (financial abuse or trapped in an awful relationship because you cannot support yourself or divorced and left with nothing). Of course things change with DC with disabilities but there are still ways in which mothers can work.

Start with basics:
how income tax is calculated, explain the different tax bands
what is National Insurance
State pension, especially the amount, and why it is important to start a private one from day one of employment

Explain interest on loans/mortgages and how non-payment or minimium payment on credit cards work/affect your credit score

Explain Isa

What are benefits and how to work with a budget.

A career is great but not everyone will be where they dream to be. And it's ok to love your profession and not earn a fortune. I would hate DD being told off for dreaming to research and work in museums/archives because it won't pay a lot.

Explain that having a child doesn't mean the mother is the one sacrificing and paying for everything. A child has often two parents and both are supposed to work as a team which also means pooling salaries as household income both have equal access to.

Never accept a man who thinks a woman has to ask for pin money during unemployment (be it maternity leave, SAHM, made redundant, being off with long-term illness).

The impact of pregnancy / childbirth. That childcare should be a family expense not, "Oh it's not worth you working" because childcare costs so much.

If you intend to have children start saving now.

That a Nikkah is not a legal marriage in this country, if you have one make sure you get a legal marriage too.

Tell them not to have kids with someone who believes that their own career is more important.

1. A real-life example of how credit card debt is paid over time…the difference it makes to the total payback/timeframe if you pay the minimum only.
2. How student loans work….that they’re not really a loan per se, more like a graduate contribution tax. How much you pay back, giving examples of salaries and the annual payback, emphasising that the years you earn below the threshold you pay back 0, that it’s written off after 40 years, etc. (Martin Lewis has some good guidance on this.)
3. How to do a monthly budget. How cash envelopes work, and that you can use virtual cash envelopes via banks and apps too.
4. Interest rates of overdrafts, with a real-life example of how much an amount, say £500, costs you over a year in interest.

Tell them it's OK to choose a career and then have to change direction due to detesting it, motherhood or other circumstances.

They are going to be working until they are 70 so it will be expected that their careers change and evolve over time.

Therefore there is nothing wrong in them choosing a career that potentially has high earnings when they are younger and then moving sideways.

They can learn this from Martin Lewis book aimed at teens on financial education. This will give more info than a one of talk.

On the student loan front. If they have paid off some of their loan but then their income drops they can claim back some of what they have paid.

What a cheque is and how they work. A friend's son got a payment from his uni, as a cheque, and had o idea how to turn it into money in his bank account.

Think about what is important to you in life and then find the career that matches/fits in with that rather than starting with the career. We work to live not live to work.

Is routine important to you? Choose a job with security and set hours.

Want to have lots of nice holidays and a big house? Think about high earning careers

Want lots of children and a career? Think about what careers are flexible.

This is what I wish someone had told me instead of focusing on what careers sound interesting, hobbies you enjoy etc.

Hard work is not the whole job. I feel like I see more BAME new starters keep their noses to the grindstone, and don’t necessarily get anywhere fast, thinking they need to prove themselves - whilst the ‘nepo babies’ who come from wealthy backgrounds/private school etc do work, but also carve time for socialising/never say no to coffee with a manager/colleague etc and pick up networking much faster.

• If you want to keep a good career then it's easier to keep working as you have children than to hope to return (even at the same level) after a gap.
• You are more likely to get part time or flexible working from an existing employer who knows you than through an entirely new one.
• You are more likely to succeed at work and in your career if you enjoy your work - so money is not the only factor in choosing a career path.
• Building relationships is a critical factor in having a successful career - so being a good and trusted person to work with matters.

-Take responsibility and help to solve problems not complain about them. -Ensure you understand the finances of the businesses you work in - not just your own. Get to grips with budgets and accounts and how to read them.

• Speak up.

I think understanding pensions and the importance of them is something every young person can benefit from. Especially women, who often take a huge hit to their pension in the child rearing years.

And the obvious - always retain financial independence to the extent you could support yourself if necessary. Love many, trust a few, always paddle your own canoe.

I think the importance of joining in the extra curricular stuff at work is something that many young people don't understand these days and should be emphasised

Tell them that they need to follow their dreams at least to a point, because money isn't everything. Statistically speaking very few if any will be earning 3x the national average wage, we need to be encouraging happiness too. Debt, compound interest and the need to be financially independent are better topics than be a banker or corporate lawyer. But do stress that girls really can do anything, my dd goes into schools and they are amazed that she's allowed to do her job! Tell them engineering is the way to go!

It's not all about money. Do something you enjoy?
You are not worthless if you don't earn 100k?

Re head north and pensions, just open a self invest personal pension.
Sipp.

These are all really good, thank you very much, and keep them coming. I can't reply individually but just wanted to clarify the "hard work doesn't necessarily mean success". I'm certainly not coming in from the angle that results don't matter and they can get everything handed to them - the majority of these girls are POC, some of their mothers are medical consultants, and some of them are cleaners and carers. The latter work very hard, but society certainly doesn't see them as successful, and nor does their salary reflect the hard, valuable work they are doing.
And this is a talk along the lines of "what I wish I was told when I was younger", it's not careers guidance or financial advice, I will be making that very clear, but there are many issues that we aren't taught about and it can come as a big shock when it happens, and I am very much of the 'forewarned is forearmed' school of thought.

I don't always agree with Caitlin Moran, but in this article she is bang on - best advice is not to marry a cunt primer.com.au/caitlin-moran-women-glass-ceilings/. Should be compulsory reading in school/college.

All of this particularly about not giving up work to raise children especially if not married.

Plus the way that small purchases add up to huge amounts. The amount that some people spend on grooming, lunches/coffees, car finance, fast fashion, replacing tech, subscriptions, etc etc can be eye watering and even small changes in what is bought and looking for the best price can make a difference of thousands of pounds a year, tens of thousands a decade, or hundreds of thousands over a working lifetime.

Be very careful about going into a career that ties you into a high cost area where you'll likely have to rent for years. Look at other cities in the UK and you'll likely still always be able to find work but far more likely be able to buy a house much sooner.

The financial impact of career breaks, particularly on pensions (highlight the pension gap between men and women).

That if they're interested in travelling and working abroad, they can take advantage of Youth Mobility Scheme/Working Holiday visas whilst they're young and don't have dependents.