Female financial freedom is on the rise with more and more women asking pointed questions and seeking viable financial solutions to make sure their futures are secure. Our founder, Jennifer Margolin, was invited to be one of the guest speakers at the The New Savvy’s The Future is Female Conference in Hong Kong.

What is The New Savvy all about?

The New Savvy is Asia’s leading financials, investments and career platform for women. Their mission is to empower 100 million women to achieve financial happiness. The conference aimed to break down barriers, have open conversations and make the overall event fun – unlike traditional financial conferences which tend to be male attendance heavy and ultimately dry and boring.

With presentations covering various financial topics such as: Investing in Equities, Real Estate: Diversifying Long Term Investment Strategies, How Women Thrive in Investing and A Look at How Millennials View Investing, Marriage + Housing there was a wealth of information to take away from this event.

Conference Highlights:

Real Estate + Long-term Investing – If you are going in on a joint venture with friends/family always consider the outcome if the investment doesn’t go as planned. The importance was stressed of hiring a lawyer from the beginning, which could ultimately save you money down the road. Buying property in other countries is enticing but make sure you know who really owns the land and other legalities before signing any paperwork. 

Millennials Looking to the Future – Millennials have shown in studies to be more prone to have a “FOMO” attitude to having and obtaining luxury items in the moment. Though older millennials are starting to think about investing and planning for their futures. Our founder, Jennifer Margolin, offered her insights on millennial purchasing trends. Millennials want experiences and will favor brands which offer them - many times willing to pay more. Jessica Liu founding member of Planto, a personal finance app built to empower millennials with their personal finances, has interviewed hundreds of millennials and found out they will save a set amount every month from their paychecks but then not fully understand how much they really need to save to get to their end goals.

Millennials are not interested in reading 40-page white papers to know if something makes sense to invest in like their parents would, but want the information in digital form and the key information easy to access. Mikaal Abdulla, founder of 8 Securities a mobile investing platform with a mission to use technology to make growing ones money simpler, smarter and more affordable, discussed the need to change and provide investing information in a quick, yet informative so one can quickly decide on the right investment(s) for their portfolio. 

Diane Younes, founder of Sponge

Women + careers - Women are more and more embracing entrepreneurship. “When starting a business, you’ll pivot a few times, the key is to identify the pivot when needed and do it quickly.” – David Rosa, founder of Neat. One of our favorite women entrepreneurs- Diane Younes, founder of Sponge – offered some of her advice of using all the free tools available when starting a business. One of her favorite tools is Google Analytics, which she looks at each morning to make sure she is up to date with her online users. Social media (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) is basically free marketing, as you don’t need to pay for ads especially when you are first starting out. Create relationships and conversations both online and offline which will ultimately send people to your business.

Angie Lau 

The Future For Women – The future really is women - as we are not satisfied with the current environment and taking initiatives to create a better world and life for our families and ourselves. Angie Lau, award-winning global journalist and founder of Narramur, spoke about an empowering future that women are creating together and also with the mindset of enabling men to be a part of the conversation and creation as well.

The conference was a great event with so much helpful information shared, new relationships established and a future of empowered women.