Wall Street veteran and Ellevest CEO Sallie Krawcheck has nearly a decade of experience helping women build wealth for the long haul. Her brain is full of tips and insights for the picking -- but for women, her wisdom may come as an unpleasant shock.
Krawcheck pulled back the curtain on women's financial habits in a recent exclusive sit-down with TheStreet, getting right down to business. "What I'm not seeing enough of," she says, "are women [in heterosexual relationships] being in control of their own money."
She tells TheStreet that men often take the gendered role of household CFO when it comes to money while women are relegated to a "treasurer" position. And according to Krawcheck, that choice can have dire consequences.
"When [a woman] outsources money to the man in her life[...] when that money comes back to her, (and it does because women live six to eight years longer than men, and half of marriages end in divorce)[...] she [ends up with] a negative surprise."
When it comes to urging women to move into the household CFO position, sometimes Krawcheck finds it helpful to defer to the advice of the women who came before her. "98% of widows say the number one piece of advice they give to other women would be to keep in control of their money," she tells TheStreet.
"If [you're] not investing as much as men, that can cost [you] $100 a day. If I had $100 a day falling out of my pocketbook because I had a hole in it, I'd be fixing my pocketbook very quickly!"
Krawcheck says that she'd like to see a much larger number of women embracing financial independence -- and she's a little surprised to be having this conversation today. "It's not changing as quickly as I would have thought," she says, a little disappointed. "And it's really dangerous and detrimental to one's financial health."
But as far as Krawcheck is concerned, the future is full of possibilities. The key to a woman's future financial success? "Education, education, education." That, and just a few short minutes every day.
"15 minutes," she tells TheStreet. "In the time it takes to run an errand, go grab a coffee, put the laundry in[...] the time it takes to do that, an individual can be investing.
"It doesn't have to be a big deal, it's a diversified investment portfolio with someone like an Elleinvest. And you know, I'm not saying it's definitely going to be the highest return-investment 15 minutes of this decade of your life. But historically[...] this would have been a really great use of 15 minutes."
