Learning to become financially independent is an essential skill for women to obtain.

One key reason is that women live longer. Some 90% of women will be solely responsible for their finances at some point in their life. To that point, 75% of women in a male-female relationship will be widowed by an average age of 56.

To be clear, financial independence is not about how much money someone has. It's about making good decisions with the money they do have.

There's a big push in the financial planning industry to market toward women, and with good reason. With more women in the workforce, soaring careers and inheritance, women are in control of a growing amount of the wealth globally.

By 2020, women are expected to control $72 trillion, or 32% of all wealth globally, up from $51 trillion in 2015.

What's disheartening about this marketing, however, is that it tends to focus on what the female investor does wrong.

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We see all these studies that conclude: Women invest too conservatively, don't save enough, lack confidence, are less knowledgeable than men — then, a product or service is offered to "fix" the issues.

Women don't need to be fixed, but (like men) they may need guidance. That's where a financial planner comes in, and the key to success is finding a planner who respects where they are and where they want to go and who will take into considerations the unique needs of a woman.

Women are different than men, and how they choose to manage their financial lives is going to be different. That isn't to say that all women are the same, but there are some general trends.