Emma Ann Hughes explains how a Talk Money Week challenge aims to help women take charge of their financial futures
The CII set a challenge to the Insuring Women's Futures (IWF) ambassadors to 'Talk to 10,000' during Talk Money Week, which kicks off on Monday 18 November.
The 'Talk 2 10K' challenge requires each ambassador to meet and talk through the Moments that Matter in women's lives with at least 10 women, men, girls or boys, in a bid to improve women's financial resilience.
But how do you host a financial wellbeing session, get women talking and then taking action to make sure they are not worse off than their male counterparts or past generations?
A recent CII and IWF training event at St Mary's Axe in London, and a subsequent webinar, detailed how you can hold a female financial wellbeing session to flag steps to become more financially resilient and independent.
Having attended the training event and signed up as an ambassador, here are three top tips on how you can talk about key moments in every girl and woman's life to inspire them to take action that will make a real difference to their financial security.
KICK OFF WITH A GOAL
Make sure you start your session by explaining what the aim of the financial wellbeing session is: to educate and inform your friends, family, colleagues or group about the perils and pitfalls they may encounter throughout life that could cause them to be less well off than men, or their mother's and grandmother's generations.
A picture paints a thousand words and provokes many more thoughts, so you could use a short video produced by IWF and the CII -- which can be found at vimeo.com/295824488 -- that talks about the impact of events in the lives of women on how much cash they have in their pockets, to get the group talking.
SPARK A DEBATE
Ask your group if they recognise themselves, a friend or family member in the stories the video featured.
Sometimes, people can be shy about talking about their own circumstances, so why not share an anecdote about how your finances were affected by a life event and ask the group what they think about what happened to you.
What different decisions could have been made to achieve a better outcome? The vital part of a wellbeing session is to get people thinking: what are your group's concerns about money?
NEXT STEPS
IWF and the CII have produced a webpage detailing where women can receive financial guidance, find a financial adviser, learn more about their pay rights, benefit entitlements and produce agreements to make sure no-one is worse off simply because they were born a woman.
The aim of each session is that women should leave knowing there are many organisations and resources that can help them take charge of their finances.
The aim of a session is not to leave women with a recommendation -- which is why you do not have to be a financial adviser to be an IWF ambassador.
For example, for financial guidance on any life event, your group could visit citizensadvice.org.uk and moneyandpensionsservice.org.uk
For help managing their debts, there is the Debt Support Trust at debtsupporttrust.org.uk and the Debt Advice Foundation at debtadvicefoundation.org
If any member of your group suspects they are not being paid as much as male colleagues or less is being put into their pension, then Acas gives details on how they can challenge their employer: acas.org.uk/pay
If an individual is subject to relationship abuse, going through a divorce and needs to think about child costs, visit the Child Maintenance Service at www.gov.uk/manage-child-maintenance-case or Relate at www.relate.org.uk
If they don't want to put a ring on it but don't want to end up worse off, Advice Now offers assistance with putting arrangements in place if couples are cohabiting: www.advicenow.org.uk/tags/marriage-civil-partnership-and-cohabitation
Additionally, everyone should visit the government's website, which explains what benefits you are entitled to and what you need to do to make sure you get your full state pension: www.gov.uk
But if anyone seeks guidance and still needs help, or knows their needs are complex, then seek financial advice. Websites such as our own Personal Finance Society's Find an Adviser search engine at thepfs.org/yourmoney/find-an-adviser can help your group.
Also, make sure the group members are aware that we want as many women talking about money as possible, and a great way to do that is to get vocal on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Ambassadors should make sure they share photos of their sessions plus their thoughts and the group should be encouraged to reveal what they learnt during your session on social media.
Show your support for improving women's financial futures by sharing your female financial wellbeing sessions using the hashtags #femalemoney #InsuringFutures #MomentsThatMatter. Our Twitter handle is @CIIGroup and you can find us on LinkedIn @Chartered Insurance Institute.
SHARE YOUR SESSION
You can use the hashtags #femalemoney #InsuringFutures #MomentsThatMatter. Our Twitter handle is @CIIGroup and you can find us on LinkedIn @Chartered Insurance Institute.
Emma Ann Hughes is communications director of the CII