The conversation that ended my Salesforce career
Ditch the earn-more, spend-more trap
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The reason I am writing to you today can be traced back to one conversation.
It was the conversation that ended my Salesforce career.
I had been running informal sessions with colleagues about money.
Pensions, investing, tax relief.
People were having real breakthroughs.
So I reached out to the Head of HR Ireland to see if we could do more of this across the company.
Her answer was no.
One of the reasons she gave has stuck with me ever since.
My language was not inclusive enough to women and minorities.
They might not feel like they have the same opportunities.
They could be offended by my "become a millionaire" message.
I wish I had been sharp enough in the moment to point out that was her problem to fix, not mine.
But I was too stunned to respond.
Instead, I signed up for a course to become a Qualified Financial Adviser that same day.
I should send her a thank you note!
But here is the thing she got completely backwards.
There is inequality when it comes to finance.
Things are not fair.
Women in particular are getting a raw deal.
But the answer is not to stop talking about building wealth.
The answer is to talk about it more.
Because right now, women in Ireland retire with up to 40 percent less pension income than men.
Not a small gap.
A canyon.
And most of them have no idea it is coming.
Why this happens
It is not because women are bad with money.
It is because the system punishes the choices they are often forced to make.
Three things compound over a lifetime.
First, time out of work.
When a woman takes a career break for children, two things stop instantly. Her salary and her pension contributions. Even one year out can reduce final pension wealth by 4 to 5 percent. Most women take more than one year.
Second, slower career progression.
Time off affects future earnings. Slower promotions. Smaller raises. Lower bonuses. Lower income means lower employer pension contributions. And over decades, that gap in compounding becomes enormous. We are talking six figures by age 65.
Third, part-time work.
Three out of four part-time workers in Ireland are women. Part-time usually means lower earnings, lower contributions, and sometimes no employer match at all.
You can catch up on sleep. You can catch up on fitness.
You cannot catch up on compounding.
What you can do about it
The good news is there are smart moves that protect your financial future. And they are simpler than most people think.
Invest as much as you can when you are earning.
Pension contributions in Ireland come with 20 or 40 percent tax relief, employer matching, and decades of growth. A woman who starts investing in her 20s can still retire with more than someone who starts in their 40s, even with career breaks. Time beats income.
Every €1,000 invested at 25 grows to €15,000 at age 65!
Pick a pension fund that actually grows.
If you are in your 20s or 30s, a 100 percent equity fund is usually the smartest choice. Not a cautious fund earning almost nothing.
Don't look at the risk/ reward rating, look at the underlying assets.
Over decades, stocks beat every other asset class.
Avoid expensive financial products (or free pension advice).
Many pension products in Ireland charge 1.5 to 2 percent per year.
That can shrink your final pot by 40 percent.
That is the real pension gap. High fees. Weak options. Slow growth.
Top up when you return to work.
Even small voluntary contributions plug the gap. €100 per month invested at age 40 can grow to around 45,000 euro by retirement.
Track your pension every month.
Most people cannot answer basic questions about their own pension.
Where is it? What fund am I in? What fees am I paying?
If you do not track it, you cannot fix it.
The simple truth
Women are not retiring with less money because they made bad decisions.
They are retiring with less because they cared for others.
Because they worked part-time.
Because they stepped back so someone else could step forward.
The gap is not about ability.
It is about structure.
But structure can be hacked with the right plan.
And I am watching it happen in real time.
A year ago, 90 percent of my coaching clients were men.
In the last six months, that has completely shifted.
Now 40 percent are women.
From the 24 year old tech employee who realised she could be a multi-millionaire just by making sensible decisions in her twenties.
To the 39 year old sales leader who is the breadwinner and is setting her family up for a lifetime of wealth.
Women are taking control and designing life on their terms.
That HR conversation still bothers me sometimes.
Not because she was wrong about inequality.
She was right about that.
But her solution was to stop the conversation.
Mine is to keep having it.
I am having these conversations every day with my clients.
If you would like my help in creating your financial plan, I am here to help.
We can start when you are ready, all you need to do, is to book your free 45-minute consultation to see if there is a fit:
Take Control Of Your Money Today
That is it for this weekend! I am hanging out with my mother who is visiting from the Netherlands. She has only retired this year and is loving it!
To your financial freedom,
Sjoerd
P.S. If this email made you think of someone, feel free to forward it. The more women having this conversation, the better.
Sjoerd Bak
Become a Millionaire Ltd
www.bamillionaire.com
