For Women’s Eyes Only

Guys, forgive what I’m about to say.

The 2000s will be women’s century. The Atlantic recently ran a cover story called The End of Men. It outlined all the ways women are kicking men’s butts.

For instance:

• So many more young women apply to (and are qualified for) elite colleges, less-qualified young men are getting in simply because admissions committees want to maintain a “gender balance”. Still, women already outnumber men on campus.
• The recent recession has been called the “mancession” because two-thirds of the workers who lost jobs were men.
• Of couples that undergo genetic screening to choose the sex of their baby (yes, it’s possible), more couples choose to have girls, not boys.
• As if that’s not enough, women also make a majority of decisions at home.

What does this all have to do with personal finance? It means that all you educated, hard-working women cannot afford to ignore your money. After all, if someday you’re going to be running a boardroom and a household, I doubt very much you will want to rely on a man to manage your portfolio.

Unfortunately, just as the financial media has traditionally targeted high net worth investors 45 and up, they have also assumed these investors are men. Of course, it’s high time for that to change. Fortunately, that change has begun.

Suze Orman has been around for years trumpeting financial advice for women, but it’s going to take more than one pop culture guru to create a meaningful body of financial information tailored for women. Here are a few sites that are working on doing just that.

DailyWorth

DailyWorth is a free daily personal finance email for women. Every weekday, DailyWorth sends an email on a specific financial topic. They’re essentially blog posts in an email (in fact, you can get the content on their website, too), but the content is top-notch. DailyWorth provides financially valuable information in articles that are easy to understand and, often, fun to read. How often can you say that about personal finance writing?

LearnVest

LearnVest.com is a new personal finance “megasite” just for women. Founded by 26-year old Harvard Business student Alexa von Tobel, LearnVest has already raised over $5 million in venture capital. The site features content including a daily email, financial basics, and “bootcamps”—free email courses offering action items on specific financial topics like taxes. If you have questions about managing your finances, chances are good that LearnVest has an answer.

Wife.org

The Women’s Institute for Financial Education (Wife.org) predates, well, the Web. Wife.org has been providing financial education to women since 1988. Their Website, books, workshops, and newsletters feature abundant financial advice women can trust.

What do you think? Women, do you think the financial media does a good enough job providing content you enjoy and learn from? What do you think of these three resources? Are there others you enjoy? Let us know in a comment.