Women may be taking the lead in their household finances, but they’re still behind the pack in financial literacy, according to a new survey.
More than nine in 10 women with partners or spouses say they lead or equally share in financial and investment decision-making, but reported lower financial knowledge than men across a variety of topics, according to the Women In Retirement Literacy Survey published by The American College For Financial Services earlier this month.
Perhaps that’s why women were more likely than men (61% to 54%) to report having an ongoing relationship with a financial advisor in the survey of more than 1,500 Americans with at least $100,000 in investible assets.
In a score of overall literacy determined by a quiz on basic financial concepts, women lagged men 38% to 47%.
Broken down by topic, men were more literate than women in topics like retirement basics, 52% to 43%; company retirement plans and IRAs, 55% to 42%; life insurance, 52% to 38%; investment basics, 51% to 34%; and strategies and products to help maintain assets, 38% to 25%.
Women bested men in only one topic area, health and long-term care, by a margin of 46% to 45%.
Drilling down in the area of retirement planning, women were less likely to have conducted a calculation or estimate of their retirement savings needs and were less likely to understand the tax treatment of various investment and savings accounts than men. This lack of knowledge was particularly pronounced in younger women and those with net worth under $500,000.
The study also found that Black and Hispanic women were less likely than women in general to use a financial advisor, with approximately 40% reporting an ongoing relationship with an advisor.
The survey of 1,509 Americans was conducted online between April 29 and May 18, 2020.