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.

Boys and Girls should be taught to stand on their own two feet and not be financially reliant on another person, you should always have your own source of income

You have more rights and therefore financial security once you've been in a job two years or more in the U.K.

Any job issues get on the acas website for advice, phone if necessary.

Try a career you think you'll like that pays well enough to survive happily on. If you don't like it try something else. The best time to try different jobs is when you're young and don't have a mortgage. After you get one of those you're too scared to change career.

Men tend to be more confident in saying yea I can do this and that.
Women more honest if they feel they may not be up to the task.
Perhaps that needs to change and we should be more prepared to say "yes I'm a quick learner and I WILL be able to do payroll once trained". Rather than "I don't know I've not done that before"

Quite. Someone who has been asked to give a talk to teenage girls and is asking for basic advice on here?
Perhaps decline, OP and they can find someone else.

Oh and maybe hard work in a career that pays well DOES equal success.

(Relatives a high tax band earner who knocks his pan in doing Sales and gets mega bonuses - however never sees his kids, but plans to retire at 50 on a mega pension)

It's hard work that's drudge work that doesn't. You can clean and clean but you'll never get a bonus.

Oh and make sure whatever qualifications you get are relevant to your career path. I could have a degree and do the same job I'm in. It would have been a student loan wasted as I don't need a degree.

Actually, I remember the thing that helped me progress. I started to apply for jobs I had around 60% of what they were looking for. Before that I had been looking at over a 90% fit before applying.

Try to have a 'fuck off fund' so you can walk away from a bad relationship/house share/job if you need to.

Never lend large sums to anyone. I'd be prepared to give a friend in need money that I can afford to give, I would never lend what I can't afford.

If you need credit to buy something you want, then don't buy it or save up for it. Something expensive and essential maybe, but if you can avoid owing on credit, then avoid it.

Op, what age, year is your talk?

I found this scrolling. The app, nibble which isn't free, and is too basic, so isn't what you need, but this one screenshot is good. I bet there are better apps that do focus entirely on that financial screenshot stuff.

and I'm sure there are plenty of others apps that would appeal to a Yr 12?

Never be financially dependent on your partner.

Always have some 'just in case' money (secret).

Some good ideas - on the 'choosing a career path' thing, I'd also try and somehow convey (whilst not being rude to their school careers office at all) that (a) there's no need to pick a fixed career path at 15, or even 18 or 21, they shouldn't worry if they're not sure what they want to do yet and (b) there are a huge range of job options beyond what their teachers and parents will tell them about. When my kids were being advised on a level and degree choices their school seemed to be aware of about 5 'good' jobs, doctor, dentist, nurse, lawyer, teacher kind of thing. If you didn't want to do any of those you were pretty much told just to pick whatever school subject you were best at and aim to do that as a degree.

That's not terrible advice but I do think it's quite short sighted and leaves out the enormous range of corporate and technology based careers that lots of bright girls will fit well into - I think my girls in particular were led down an arts-based path because of this advice, which hasn't served them badly to be fair, but they were perfectly capable of doing sciences or maths as well, and might have pursued that option had they been more aware of the all the different kinds of jobs they could do under the banner of engineering for instance. And anything involving computers/software/tech the school were completely clueless on (not their fault, I'd have no idea either but they could have recommended some research rather than just blindly encouraging english lit and history degrees).

Exactly my thought - shouldn’t this be done by a qualified career advisor or a qualified financial advisor? Sounds like could be full of your opinions and lack of facts

I've clarified several times that this isn't a careers talk nor financial advice. I would like to bring in several points though, and I will obviously be bringing in credible sources, I'm not going to be quoting usernames on mumsnet.

Don't have a joint account with someone who is financially abusive.
Don't continue to buy a house you've only seen AFTER he put in an offer.
Don't allow him to have your debit card under any circumstances.
Don't allow him to take out payday loans and credit cards in your name (without your knowledge) and let him leave them with you to default.

You don't need to be passionate about your work (although it helps)

I agree with this but would modify it to include:

• think about your personality/working style - are you introvert, extrovert, a salesperson, analytical etc. It's easiest to dedicate yourself to the right kind of work and thrive in your comfort zone.
• work-life balance - you can't buy good health, but you can outsource a lot else.

My passion is writing. I think of myself as a writer who earns money in IT.

I earn over 100k. I was taught by dad that it’s inpossible to be rich without taking financial risks. He taught me how to invest from a young age. Mum, inadvertedly, taught me how to ignore negative criticism and to become bolshy (had to defend myself). And these are the skills I’m teaching my son.

I keep seperate finances to my husband. Joint account is just for bills. I invest 50% of my income. When it comes to jobs I take work that interests me but isn’t lower than what I currently earn. I also take risks with jobs in that I’ll apply for jobs I’m not qualified for if I feel I can fulfil most of the roles and responsibilities. The 50% rule works here - ie if you can tick off 50% off the role expectations then you can do it.

I also code. I’m a hardcore coder and am constantly learning and portfolioing new skills.

I agree with all the comments above about children/maternity/childcare etc. I live an area where there are a very very large number of BAME single mothers who basically have to give up work to look after the children - if the dad does EOW they are lucky.

Also given the way that BAME women are treated in maternal health care I would suggest talking to them about how to protect themselves financially if something goes wrong physically or mentally at or after the birth. 10% of women suffer from severe PND and that figure is higher in the BAME population so if they can afford some income protection insurance that would be a sensible investment once they start thinking about having children.

You dont need to have a boyfriend/girlfriend/partner/husband/wife... it is not compulsory.
You are enough.
People in your life should enhance it, make you feel good about you, support your dreams and aspirations.
If they dont - walk away.

Think about transferable skills - I don’t want to work in corporate forever but whilst I’ve been there I’ve gained project management and coaching qualifications which I can take with me or use to become freelance/self-employed in the future.

The book Girls Just Wanna Have Funds is also a great read on budgeting, saving and investing.

"A Story of a F*ck Off Fund" is great and should be taught in schools as far as I'm concerned - can't link as I'm in work sorry

I’d be talking about how changeable life is. The dream job becomes a nightmare, you or a loved one becomes disabled, there’s a worldwide pandemic and all of a sudden your plans needs to change. Build a skill set that’s transferable, have a contingency plan for finances, don’t overstretch yourself financially - take calculated risks. It’s not unusual for career plans to change over a lifetime, be open to retraining and changing when it suits you.

Don’t stress too much when plans do change, accept it as part of life - there always time to rebuild.

Explain how student loans work and in particular how the interest works. How they can be paying the percentage of their income for years but still the debt grows. Explains how many people will have been paying it for the full term but still not paid it off (may not even have paid off the interest) and those people are still included in the official figures of how many people pay off their loans (i.e. the false narrative that x% don't pay it off, which is actually don't pay it off in full, but have still paid a shedload). Explain how "middle earners" are the worst hit as they're paying the full percentage of income yet aren't paying off enough to clear the debt. Whereas low earners don't pay off anything at all and high earners pay it off quicker so the interest doesn't rack up as much!

Be VERY wary of becoming associated with anyone else in terms of lending, insurance etc. You may think they're only asking for a favour, but once you're "associated", it affects you if they do something wrong. Such as defaulting on a loan or tenancy you've gone into jointly with them or as guarantor (including student houses). Or putting someone else on your car insurance which will affect your future car insurance if they have an accident. Stand firm, and say no. If they can't get a loan/insurance etc without your commitment, there's a reason for that!!!

I agree. They need to look at the full picture, especially things like enhanced maternity and sickness pay, final salary pension schemes, holiday entitlements, etc. You really shouldn't just compare headline gross pay.

I wish I'd considered how much of your life you spend at work. I think that means it's really important that you like it as much as you can.

Absolutely @EmeraldRoulette. Marriage is not beneficial for everyone and people need to be able to assess what is best for their situation.

My top observations

1. Make sure you are financial independent and can look after yourself
2. Work hard, add value and make a difference. Work ethic is important.
3. If you can problem solve you will always have a job
4. Earning money is important. Ability to earn money is important.
5. Take risks, if it doesn't work you tried.
6. Make sure you know as much as you can, even if it is not your job, make sure you have an overview.
7. Life isn't a straight-line, be flexible with your path and direction. We all need to change direction sometimes.
8. Learn from those around (dos and don'ts!)

Specifically finance

1. Save have 3 months salary behind you preferably 6.
2. Pay your credit card off every month
3. Pensions are cool, start saving
4. Live your life, save for that holiday and go and enjoy it. Life is a balance.
5. Stuff is not important experiences are.