MONEY COMMENT
Women Take Financial Control

By Cliff D'Arcy
June 25, 2003

As we mentioned in this recent article, our two recent women's workshops on Taking Control of Your Money have proved enormously popular, with about 180 women attending in total. Given the pent-up demand for impartial financial help, we may organise some more in the not-too-distant future. Watch this space!

A recent report from market researcher Mintel backs up our belief that women desire greater control over their financial lives. Mintel interviewed almost 2,000 women, with over three-quarters saying they were confident about their finances. This is good news, because women make up more than half of the UK adult population, especially in the upper age bands.

What's more, an increasing number of men are entrusting everyday financial tasks to more financially aware female partners, including paying bills and managing debt. Women are also making more decisions on major long-term issues, such as investing, buying a home and saving for retirement. However, one problem is that only a third of women are interested in financial matters: many women find personal finance boring. (Not here at the Fool, we promise!)

Given their vital role at the heart of family life, it's disturbing that only a small minority of women have a pension, invest in shares or have proper life assurance cover. On the other hand, women face a different set of financial challenges than men, as they:

• do better in school, right up to A-level standard
• typically earn 20% less than men (and are more likely to earn the minimum wage)
• are more likely to work part-time (or not work because they are raising children)
• are less likely to marry (and are marrying later in life)
• are more likely to divorce than their mothers' generation
• live longer, which means they need to save harder for retirement.

One problem highlighted in Mintel's report was the fact that women tend to be more loyal than men, especially to the high street banks: women are far more likely to seek financial advice from their current account providers. This is a bad move that costs them dearly, as we show in this article.

By the way, it's a myth that women "can't get their pretty little heads around money". Don't believe it for a second: women are better investors, are more likely to save their spare cash and are better at paying their bills on time, so there!

Finally, if you aspire to financial independence but can't wait for our next workshop, why not invest in a copy of our guide to female financial fitness, A Girl's Best Friend Is Her Money, priced at just £9.74 (including a discount of £3.25 and free P&P)?

More: Why Women Lose Out Financially | Why Women Need To Save More