Money can shape the choices people make throughout life. Tracey Sofra has spent more than three decades helping women understand their finances, build confidence, and make informed choices for their future. Through financial planning and WOW Women, she turns financial education into confidence and freedom. The Vision Magazine is honored to feature Tracey Sofra in Australia’s Most Trusted Financial Planners & Wealth Advisors to Watch in 2026, celebrating a career built around financial confidence, education, and women’s empowerment.

Why do so many capable women feel confident running businesses, raising families and managing careers, yet lose that confidence when the conversation turns to money? Tracey Sofra did not start her career thinking she would spend her life empowering women financially. It evolved over time. She started her career as an accountant and moved into financial planning, and over more than 30 years she began noticing the same thing again and again. She would meet incredibly capable women, women running businesses, raising families, managing careers and holding everything together, who would suddenly lose confidence when the conversation turned to money.

Retirement planning for women requires particular attention because women often face a combination of longer lives, lower lifetime earnings, career breaks and greater caregiving responsibilities. The goal is to build enough income and assets to maintain independence after work ends. The need is global. The International Labour Organization reports that 49.2% of women globally receive contributory pensions, compared with 63.2% of men. Across OECD countries, women’s average pension was 23% lower than men’s in 2024.

Financial independence gives women greater control over the choices they make throughout life. It can mean having enough money to handle an unexpected expense, change careers, take time away from work, support loved ones, start a business, or retire comfortably. Building that security does not require becoming an expert investor or earning an exceptionally high income. It comes from making deliberate financial decisions consistently. From understanding your cash flow to investing for retirement, these steps can help women build long-term wealth across different stages of life and different parts of the world.