Video Taking control of your wealth

UBS' Paula Polito shares her insights on women and wealth at the 2019 Women in the World Summit

Longer lifespans are bringing women’s long-term financial needs to the forefront. Yet, many women today focus disproportionately on short-term financial needs while deferring major decisions to their partners, according to global UBS research. How can women take control of their wealth to achieve financial well-being?

"It all starts with your empowerment," UBS Global Client Strategy Officer Paula Polito told thousands of women in the audience at Tina Brown’s 2019 Women in the World Summit in New York City. "If you want to change the world, honestly, it's about know-how, it's about time and it's about money."

Key Takeaways:

  • UBS Investor Watch research finds that younger women are more willing than older women to leave investing and financial planning decisions to their spouses.
  • Polito says women who approach long-term decisions with their spouses report soaring levels of satisfaction and confidence in the future.
  • How can women take control of their wealth? Polito says it's important to start with your "emotional connection with money" and build from there.

Perpetuating the status quo?

In a counterintuitive twist, UBS Investor Watch research finds that younger women are even more willing than older women to leave investing and financial planning decisions to their spouses.1 "Now it's happening with millennials, arguably the most educated, liberated generation of all time," Polito says in this video. "When you ask married millennials, they're more [likely to] abdicate to their husbands than anybody, which is shocking."2

Equality at the money table

Polito says women who approach long-term decisions in partnership with their spouses report soaring levels of satisfaction and confidence in the future. "When there is equality at the table, when men and women come together, we find that women are far more satisfied in terms of their financial well-being," she says in this video.

A framework for your financial life

How can women take control of their wealth? Polito says it's important to start with your "emotional connection with money" and build from there. "You have to understand your assets, your debts, what you have." Then you can organize your financial life around what's most important to you—for today, tomorrow and future generations. "Your spending, your longevity and your legacy."

1 "UBS Investor Watch: Own your worth," UBS, March 2019.

2 "UBS Investor Watch Pulse: Single point of view," UBS, April 2019.

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