The gap that appears to be shrinking between men and women is their confidence in managing their finances. According to the latest findings by US Bank’s 2022 Women and Wealthy Insights Study, 55% of women and 60% of men feel confident in managing their finances.
This is a substantial change from the study two years ago when only48% of women and 61 % of men felt confident about managing their finances.
Percentage of women and men who have positive feelings about financial planning, by age
Percentage of women and men who have negative feelings about financial planning, by age
Chart: Gabriel Cortés/CNBC. Source: U.S. Bank’s 2022 Women & Wealth Insights Report
As president of private wealth management for U.S. Bank. Beth Lawlor said, “Women of all ages are more confident now.”
Maybe the financial industry is finally clueing in and speaking to women in a way that recognizes their challenges and differences from men.
Younger women are leading the way.
What’s particularly encouraging is that younger women appear to be leading the charge: 71% of Women under the age of 35 feel confident about managing their finances compared with 46% of those 55 or older.
The pandemic may have been a catalyst causing younger women to take charge of their finances. And a desire to increase their financial literacy through podcasts, online seminars, and courses.
But there’s still room for improvement.
But let’s not ignore that 45% of women still lack the confidence to manage their finances. It’s a lack of confidence that keeps women away from investing and growing their wealth.
The realities make it imperative that women build their confidence in managing their finances, investing, and planning their financial future.
Realities such as the gender wage gap persist. In the US, women earn 0.83 for every dollar a man earns. In general, women live longer than men; their retirement savings must go further.
And women take a substantial amount of time off from their careers to raise their children, reducing their contributions to various pension plans.
Bringing it all together
Women control a massive amount of wealth. This is expected to grow. Women must become more confident about managing their finances. It starts with education to increase their level of financial literacy and take control of their financial destiny. And according to the numbers we see in the charts above, this is already happening.
Photo by Gemma Chua-Tran on Unsplash