Women, Confidence & the Legacy of Wealth: Reclaiming the Returns of Unpaid Labor

Lessons from pioneering economist Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander

National Financial Literacy Month is often framed around budgeting, saving, and debt reduction. But this year calls for a more powerful conversation—one that moves beyond managing money to multiplying it.

Because the real wealth gap isn’t just about income. It’s about who is investing—and who isn’t.

And when we look closer, we find a familiar pattern—one that pioneering economist Dr. Sadie Alexander identified nearly a century ago.

In the early 1900s, Alexander studied the economic lives of Black women and documented a truth that still resonates today: Black women, regardless of marital status, were consistently engaged in labor—often at higher rates than their peers—yet saw disproportionately lower financial returns. Their work sustained families and communities but rarely translated into wealth.

That pattern did not disappear. It evolved.

Today, it shows up in a modern paradox: women are earning more, leading more, and saving more—yet still lag in wealth accumulation and investment participation.

Lost Fortunes, Lasting Lessons reframes Financial Literacy Month as not just a time of education, but a time of recovery—of economic power that was earned, but never fully realized.

In honoring Sadie Alexander, we revisit a foundational truth she spent her career documenting Black women have always worked, contributed, and sacrificed at levels that outpace their economic returns. These losses impact us all.

The Hidden Factor: Unpaid Labor

To understand the investment gap, we must look beyond financial literacy and examine how women spend their time and energy.

Dr. Alexander’s research highlighted a critical truth: a significant portion of women’s labor has always been unpaid.

Today, that still includes caregiving for children and elders, managing households, supporting extended family and community networks.

According to recent economic estimates, women perform trillions of dollars’ worth of unpaid labor globally each year—work that sustains economies but is rarely accounted for in wealth-building systems.

This creates a ripple effect:

• Less time to learn about investing

• Less disposable income to invest

• Greater financial caution due to responsibility for others

Consider the working mother who manages a full-time job, coordinates childcare, supports aging parents, and still finds herself making stress-informed financial decisions due to limited time, energy and exhaustion. The issue is not discipline—it is capacity.

In simple terms: The more you are responsible for, the less risk you feel you can afford to take.

This is how unpaid labor quietly reinforces the wealth gap.

The Confidence Gap Meets the Investment Gap

Although women are making measurable financial progress, a critical divide remains:

• Only 48% of women invest in the stock market, compared to 66% of men

This is not a capability issue. It is a gap in confidence, access, and time.

Research consistently shows that women tend to be more risk-aware—not risk-averse. But when combined with structural realities like unpaid labor and financial pressure, that awareness often translates into hesitation.

Many women are conditioned to prioritize security over growth:

• Save first

• Avoid risk

• Maintain stability

But saving alone does not build wealth.

Investing does.

From Saving to Investing: The Power of Compounding

Historically, the S&P 500 has delivered average annual returns of about 9–10% over time, including dividends.

The difference between saving and investing is not just incremental—it is exponential.

Compounding transforms small, consistent actions into significant outcomes:

• A one-time $10,000 investment at 9% can nearly quadruple in about 16 years

• Saving $5,000 annually for 30 years results in $150,000

• Investing that same $5,000 annually could grow to $600,000 or more

That difference—nearly half a million dollars—is not about income. It’s about participation in growth.

This is what lost fortunes look like today: Not just money lost—but money that was never positioned to multiply.

A Demographic and Generational Shift in Wealth

There is, however, a powerful shift underway.

Today, women are earning more while at the same time they are at the center of one of the largest wealth transfers in history:

• An estimated $40 trillion is expected to transfer to women Baby Boomers in inheritance gains over the coming decades

• Women already influence or control the majority of household financial decisions

• More than 60% of Millennial women are now the Chief Financial Officer of their household

At the same time, women are outpacing men in educational attainment and, if we isolate current workforce trends, have entered higher-paying industries at growing rates.

And yet—confidence still lags behind capability.

This moment represents more than progress. It represents potential—a window to close the gap between earning and wealth-building.

Reframing Risk

For many women, financial decisions are not made in isolation. They are shaped by responsibility—to children, to parents, to community.

But here is the critical reframe:

Not investing is often the greater risk.

Because without investing:

• Inflation erodes purchasing power

• Opportunities for growth are missed

• Wealth gaps compound over time

Choosing not to invest is still a decision—one with long-term consequences.

A New Financial Literacy Model

This Financial Literacy Month, the conversation must evolve:

From:

• Budgeting → Building

• Saving → Scaling

• Earning → Owning

And most importantly: From fear-based decisions → future-focused investment strategies

Financial literacy is no longer just about understanding money. It is about activating money.

What Women Can Do Now

1. Start before you feel ready. Confidence grows through action—not before it.

2. Invest consistently, not perfectly. Small, regular contributions matter more than timing the market.

3. Protect your time. Acknowledge the real impact and economic cost of unpaid labor. Your time has lifetime value—protect space and time for financial growth

4. Redefine risk. Long-term inaction can cost more than short-term market fluctuations.

5. Think beyond income. Focus on assets that generate returns—stocks, businesses, real estate, and funds.

Ownership Is the Strategy

Income alone does not create wealth. Ownership does.

Ownership requires:

• Capital

• Time

• Strategy

• Intentional action

This is where the conversation shifts—from participation to positioning.

Impact Investing: Aligning Profit and Purpose

Women are increasingly values-driven in financial decision-making—and that creates an opportunity to redefine how wealth is built.

Impact investing offers both financial returns and community impact.

This can look like:

• Investing in Black-owned businesses and funds

• Participating in real estate and community development

• Supporting entrepreneurial ecosystems that recycle capital locally

• Building portfolios that reflect both profit and purpose

Instead of investing into systems that extract, women can invest into systems that return and multiply.

The Lasting Lesson

If Dr. Sadie Alexander were writing today, she might remind us:

Labor without ownership and investment limits wealth—and often leads to exhaustion.

The future of financial empowerment is not just about working harder or saving more. It is about ensuring that every dollar, every hour, and every effort has the opportunity to grow, compound, and create legacy.

And today, something powerful is happening:

Women are asking better questions, making more strategic decisions, and refusing to let their effort go uncompounded.

A Call to Reclaim Wealth

Lost fortunes are not just what we didn’t earn—they are what we were never positioned to keep. Lasting lessons are how we change that.

This Financial Literacy Month is a call to reclaim capital. redirect financial behavior and build legacy-level wealth.

It’s time to broaden the conversation: not just about increasing  access and equity, but about the return on that investment—in wealth, in stability, and in opportunity.

 Because the true measure of financial empowerment is not access alone— It is return.