More than a third (35 percent) of women report they have $50,000 or more sitting in savings, according to a new Fidelity study, a stark illustration of the misunderstandings that exist between the differences in saving and investing.
The loss of appreciation over time can be staggering, the Boston investment behemoth notes, but thankfully, more women are “putting their money to work,” or plan to do soon.
“Today, nearly half (44 percent) of women are already taking action by investing savings they have outside of retirement accounts and emergency funds in stocks and bonds, but compared to 59 percent of men who invest, there’s still opportunity for more women to grow their wealth,” Fidelity says.
Millennial women are leaning in most, with nearly half already investing, followed by approximately 40 percent of their Gen X and baby boomer counterparts.
“Women need to demand more from their money, so they can control their financial futures,” Kathleen Murphy, president of Fidelity Investments’ personal investing business, said in a statement. “Women deserve to have their hard-earned savings work just hard as they do every day. Fidelity is challenging the traditional financial services industry approach to how to best serve women, to help them grow their wealth and achieve their goals.”
To get off the sidelines and become more hands-on in growing their money, women will need additional support and education to help reframe how they think about investing, and ultimately take that next step.
Still today, only one-in-four say they are comfortable with their knowledge about investing. In fact, if given $25,000 to invest today, less than half say they would know what steps to take to do so.
Two-thirds believe they need to learn more about picking individual stocks before they can get started.
Forty percent of women admit that worry about their finances keeps them up at night at least once a month.
However, women seem to be ready to put those sleepless nights to bed with so many intending to take steps in the next six months to get more hands-on with their finances and ensure their money is working harder to grow.
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
