Sallie Krawcheck Shares Top Financial Habits For Women

Wall Street veteran and Ellevest CEO Sallie Krawcheck has nearly a decade of experience helping women build wealth for the long haul. Her brain is full of tips and insights for the picking -- but for women, her wisdom may come as an unpleasant shock.

Krawcheck pulled back the curtain on women's financial habits in a recent exclusive sit-down with TheStreet, getting right down to business. "What I'm not seeing enough of," she says, "are women [in heterosexual relationships] being in control of their own money."

She tells TheStreet that men often take the gendered role of household CFO when it comes to money while women are relegated to a "treasurer" position. And according to Krawcheck, that choice can have dire consequences. 

"When [a woman] outsources money to the man in her life[...] when that money comes back to her, (and it does because women live six to eight years longer than men, and half of marriages end in divorce)[...] she [ends up with] a negative surprise."

When it comes to urging women to move into the household CFO position, sometimes Krawcheck finds it helpful to defer to the advice of the women who came before her. "98% of widows say the number one piece of advice they give to other women would be to keep in control of their money," she tells TheStreet. 

"If [you're] not investing as much as men, that can cost [you] $100 a day. If I had $100 a day falling out of my pocketbook because I had a hole in it, I'd be fixing my pocketbook very quickly!"

Krawcheck says that she's like to see a much larger number of women embracing financial independence -- and she's a little surprised to be having this conversation today. "It's not changing as quickly as I would have thought," she says, a little disappointed. "And it's really dangerous and detrimental to one's financial health."

But as far as Krawcheck is concerned, the future is full of possibilities. The key to a woman's future financial success? "Education, education, education." That, and just a few short minutes every day. 

"15 minutes," she tells TheStreet. "In the time it takes to run an errand, go grab a coffee, put the laundry in[...] the time it takes to do that, an individual can be investing. 

"It doesn't have to be a big deal, it's a diversified investment portfolio with someone like an Elleinvest. And you know, I'm not saying it's definitely going to be the highest return-investment 15 minutes of this decade of your life. But historically[...] this would have been a really great use of 15 minutes."

Full Video Transcript Below:

SALLIE KRAWCHECK: What I'm not seeing enough of are women being in control of their own money that the gender expectations of yeah, well, the money thing you take control of is the budget at home. So you're the treasurer of the family and I the man will be the CFO of the family and I will do the investments and the big spending and the capital, you know, the capital expenditures. That's still is happening. It's not changing as quickly as I would have thought. And it's really dangerous and and detrimental to women's financial health. For example, when she outsources money to the men in her life, if she's in a heterosexual relationship, and when that money comes back to her, and it does because women live 6 to eight years longer than men, and half of marriages end in divorce, if she's been outsourcing the money to him, she has a negative surprise 70% of the time. 70% of the time, 70%.

SARA SILVERSTEIN: How do you address that when you're trying to reach women and you're trying to move them from personal finance to investing, you know, moving them into the CFO position? 

SALLIE KRAWCHECK: It's a lot. It's education, education and education. You have to, I think, startle and surprise them with the numbers that. What do you mean it's 70% And what do you mean 98% of widows say the number one piece of advice they give to other women would be to keep in control of their money. What do you mean? If I'm not investing as much as men are, that over time, that can cost me, did you say $100 a day? And if I had $100 a day falling out of my pocketbook because I had a hole in it, I would be fixing my pocketbook very quickly. And so, you know, the challenge with it is there's not like a clock on everybody's wall that says you did not take that literally just 15 minutes it takes to invest in, you know, any day. And over time, that could lose you $100 a day. And there's another 100 and there's another 100, that I wish we had that, you know, to really underscore the urgency of it. But we don't. But we can really underscore the importance of it. 

SARA SILVERSTEIN: And for people who are shocked by those numbers and want to take the first step, what is the first thing to do? 

SALLIE KRAWCHECK: 15 minutes. I mean, you know, in the time it takes to run an errand, go grab a coffee, you know, put it, put the laundry in and move the laundry to the dryer and fold a set of laundry. The time it takes to do that, an individual can be investing. I think we as women tend to believe that we need to know, if not every morning for we invest. We're used to being driven to getting those at school and that stays with us, you know, as we mature. And so for women, it's just 15 minutes. It doesn't have to be a big deal. It's a diversified investment portfolio with someone like an Ellevest. And, you know, I'm not saying it's definitely going to be the highest return 15 minutes of this decade for you or your life. But historically, and the past is not predictor of the future, you know, necessarily. But in the past, this would have been a really great use of 15 minutes