- Women answer "Don't know" more often when surveyed. This could result from women being more open to assistance or less confident than men, or it could reflect men being overconfident in their self-reporting.
- After removing respondents who answer "Don't know" from the analysis, the gender gap in financial literacy narrows for boomers and Gen Xers and nearly disappears for millennials.
- The percentage of married women who report that they are the most financially knowledgeable person in the household has increased since 2009, and it is highest for millennial women—it was 53 percent for married millennial women in 2015 compared with 48 percent for married Gen X women and 40 percent for married boomer women.
When asked to identify the most financially knowledgeable person at home, married women were less likely than married men to identify themselves, although there is variation across generations. Between 36 and 53 percent of married millennial women think they are the most financially knowledgeable person in their households. Among women, the percentages are lowest for Gen Xers and boomers. In fact, only 36 to 40 percent of married boomer women think they are the most financially knowledgeable person in the household. Comparatively, about 61 to 72 percent of married men believe they are the most financially knowledgeable person in the household, a figure that does not vary much by generation.
The data for the survey is from the Finra Foundation's “National Financial Capability Study,” which surveyed more than 80,000 American adults in 2009, 2012 and 2015 on four key components of financial capability, including financial knowledge and decision-making. Researchers analyzed gender data across three generations of respondents—millennials, born between 1980 and 1991; Gen Xers, born between 1965 and 1979; and boomers, born between 1950 and 1964.
The Finra Foundation plans to update its study this year, and it will be interesting to see if this upward trend for women continues when the 2018 wave of data is released.