Hyderabad: Speakers participating in a discussion on women and wealth encouraged women to take an interest in financial matters beyond financial management of the household in order to become better investors. The discussion was organised on Friday, in Hyderabad, by the FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO).
Amit Trivedi, an expert in capital markets, busted the two common myths that women were not good with numbers and that they were not comfortable with money by pointing out that there were many successful women in the field of banking. He said that banks such as SBI, ICICI, and Axis were all headed by women.
Panellists said that it was better to invest in property rather than in gold. They said that while an investment in gold had the capacity to produce 30 times the returns, an investment in property could produce 300 times the returns.
They also suggested that women should rent diamonds for important occasions instead of investing in them. They said that such facilities were already available in Delhi and that they could be launched in Hyderabad as well.
Rajiv Bajaj, the CMD of Bajaj Capital Ltd, said, “Women and finance is an important topic, but it is rarely discussed. There is very little literature available on the subject. Women are 50 percent partners in our lives, why not in our wealth as well? Financial literacy among women is the need of the hour. We should involve women in financial decisions.”
Mr Hemant Rastogi, a columnist and the CEO Wiseinvest Advisor, said, “According to many surveys, women are better savers and investors. Patience, perseverance and planning are the three most important traits for investment, and women possess all of them.” He added that it was a myth that only men were good investors. “How come Goddess Lakshmi is a woman? The way women nurture families, they also nurture wealth. As per scriptures, women are partners in the wealth of the family,” he said.
