Women must be savvy when it comes to investing

PETALING JAYA: Saving up all your money will not give you the best returns, so women need to be savvy about investing in property and other financial tools, said panellists at the Women and Wealth panel discussion at The Star’s Women’s Fiesta yesterday.

“The interests from savings of about 4% will not be sufficient to beat the inflation rate,” said Propedia Consultancy principal Vicky How, who bought her first property when she was 23.

How was part of a lively sharing session between four prominent female Malaysian business leaders; the others were Hong Leong Invest­ment Bank Group managing director and chief executive officer Lee Jim Leng, Mah Sing Group Berhad director of group strategy and operations Jane Leong and ChristyNg.com CEO Christy Ng.

Among the issues discussed were the importance of property investment, diversifying one’s assets and how women could get ahead in business.

Leong’s advice to women was to start investing as soon as possible.

“It is always better to invest now rather than later, based on the concept of time value of money.

“For properties, it is always cheaper to buy 10 years ago and one should take a longer perspective when investing in properties.

“Location and pricing are the important criteria. Choosing a top developer would also be a bonus,” said Leong.

Lee, who recalled struggling to survive on her salary when she was just starting out in the working world, said there is no financial plan that fits all, but more money means more flexibility.

“In terms of property, go for a top developer because they will have done 50% of the homework for you as they will always choose good locations. However, the rest is up to you.

“Women have to know their sustainability and financial capacity,” she added.

According to Ng, the best financial strategy is to “earn more money”.

To do that, she said, women have to be thick-skinned, hungry for success, see the bigger picture and develop many skill sets.