The Business & Professional Women CR (BPWCR) organization celebrated the 94th anniversary of the founding of its parent international network BPW International with the FINdependence Day event, which took place yesterday in Prague in cooperation with the investment company ATRIS. BPWCR’s main mission is to support women’s economic independence, and it is through educational activities such as this conference that the organization tries to fulfill one of its goals.
Business & Professional Women International, founded in 1930 in Switzerland, aims to improve the position of women in the labor market and in their personal lives. A significant part of this mission is the promotion of financial literacy, which is key to achieving true economic independence. BPWCR has long been focused on educating women in this field.
According to AKAT information, 46% of women do not invest at all, while only 27% of men. At the same time, active financial management enables women to better plan their future, and obtain financial security and security for old age. This disproportion continues to contribute to the fact that women are much more at risk of poverty than men, especially in old age.
“It’s still surprising to me how few women care about managing their finances and leave it to men. But I see that in recent years the interest is increased and we try to talk to women about this topic, and share experiences and advice. That’s why we started organizing conferences in cooperation with Marika Čupa from fin4elle FINdependence to contribute to education and awareness,” said Lenka Šťastná, president of BPWCR during the opening.
The theme of Women’s FINdependence Day was real estate investment. The participants had the opportunity to learn how to correctly evaluate investment opportunities in the real estate sector, what are the pros and cons of investing in individual real estate versus real estate investment funds, how to choose a suitable fund and what are the pluses and minuses of investing in real estate as a long-term tool for securing financial stability.
Among the key speakers was Romana Hárovníková, director of corporate business at the ATRIS investment company, who advised what criteria to follow when choosing investment real estate funds, of which there are 143 on the market, and what to watch out for. Roman Kolev, member of the board and strategy director of the ATRIS investment company, explained the company’s strategy, discussed current trends in real estate investing, and also offered his view on bonds. Ivana Birtová, a real estate and investment specialist from Realitní Shaker, in turn talked about the benefits of investing in real estate and shared practical tips for beginning investors.
The conference also sent a clear message about the importance of investing as a means of providing for old age. The financial disadvantage of women during their working age is negatively prescribed even in the level of their pension security. “Investing is a key tool for future-proofing, whether it’s creating passive income or a financial cushion for retirement. The pension deficit in the budget reaches 30 billion crowns and the state cannot be relied on. Low-income households will not feel it so much, but for middle-income households it will be a huge leap and we need to start preparing for retirement,” emphasized Romana Hárovníková.
Part of the discussion was also the presentation of the Long-Term Investment Product (DIP), a tool that is still not widely used in the Czech Republic (according to AKAT, only 53,000 people have opened a DIP account since the beginning of the year), but offers great potential for diversifying investments and optimizing returns. The panelists agreed on the advantages of this instrument compared to supplementary pension insurance, which, even due to the strict regulation of the market, is not able to generate such returns as other investment instruments, and provided the participants with valuable advice on how to work with it. “DIP is not a product, but a tax instrument. It requires us to think about where we want to put our money. It is necessary to take into account the limited liquidity and thus plan well which investments will be part of the DIP. It goes without saying that you should not put all your funds into one investment product,” reminded Ivana Birtová.
Women’s FINdependence Day proved once again that there is interest and need for educational events of this type. BPWCR will continue to support women in the area of financial education and investing, as these skills are essential for the overall empowerment of women in society. You can find more about Women’s FINdependence on our website https://bpwcr.cz/investovani/.