Profile: Ashima Aggarwal

According to Fidelity’s 2021 Women and Investing Study, the number of women who are investing outside of retirement jumped from 44% to 67% between 2018 and 2022. What happened? In part, the answer is the pandemic, which left women with more time to think about their money and the implications of not taking action. One of those women is Ashima Aggarwal, an IFB member and Circle Leader.

Although Ashima claims that she grew up with parents who had a pretty typical approach to money, we believe it was anything but that. Her father was so interested in financial matters, that he said he would be a financial advisor if he could do another job. So, it is not surprising that Ashima turned her portfolio over to her dad and let him manage it – on and off – for decades. After all, she was busy attending law school, growing into her current role as the Associate General Counsel and Vice President of Legal for John Wiley & Sons, and raising a family. When did she have time to focus on making investment decisions?

During COVID, Ashima began thinking about her child, intergenerational wealth, and money. As she started doing research, Ashima decided it was time to take control of her assets. Around that time, she attended a webinar where Janine spoke about her book, Activate Your Money, and about Invest for Better. Both felt so accessible and meaningful that Ashima wanted to share them with others. So, she decided to lead an IFB Circle. Ashima brought 19 women in, all of whom were very excited and enthusiastic. As they worked through the curriculum together, Ashima began to realize that there is such a thing as having a relationship with your money. That awareness had a profound impact on her. As she said, “Discovering Janine’s book and working through the Invest for Better curriculum and Activate Your Money are among my greatest joys and proudest accomplishments of 2022.”

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