Why Women Must Invest More Aggressively

Women have made a lot of strides in this country, but they face significant inequalities when it comes to finances: they usually earn less, have shorter careers, and live longer than men.

But these difficulties don't affect just women. It should matter to anyone whose personal finances are at all intertwined with a wife, girlfriend, daughter, mother, sister, grandmother, granddaughter, etc. And it's a safe bet this excludes few investors.

Women are forced to play catch-up from the moment their working lives begin. Just one year out of college, the average female graduate working full time will earn only 80% as much as their male counterparts, according to the April 2007 study Behind the Pay Gap, released by the American Association of University Women. And the gap only widens from there as women who are 10 years out of college earn an average of 69% of what men earn.

Over time this adds up to a lot of lost money. In fact, a 25-year-old woman with a college degree will earn at least $500,000 less than a college educated man over a lifetime, according to the National Endowment for Financial Education

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