At Liquid, we're all about equality, but we're also about reality. When I saw this study, I was actually kind of shocked and I'd love to discuss it with you in the comments.
The study by Financial Finesse clearly shows that women lag behind men in financial knowledge. Due to this, women lack the confidence in their finances as well as their ability to meet their long-term income goals. The report said that women lag men in their knowledge "in virtually all areas of finance."
Key Findings Of Financial Literacy Study
- Confidence in investment allocation: 42% men, 25% women
- Handle on their cash flow: 80% men, 63% women
- Confidence in replacing 80% of their income in retirement: 19% men, 12% women
- Participation in employer's 401(k): 91% men, 92% women
What's Really Wrong With This Picture About Women and Money?
While the study emphasizes "in virtually all areas of finance," the area of debt management wasn't mentioned and cash flow was only one of the areas that were mentioned. The reader is lead to believe the purpose of the study was to see if women were equal to men in terms of all financial literacy, but in reality it was skewed towards investments and retirement.
The fact is:
You cannot retire unless you have something invested, you cannot invest unless you've paid off your debt, you cannot pay off your debe unless you save your money, and you cannot save your money unless you track your spending.
This is where the emphasis should be on financial planning, for both women and men. If the stats above are correct and that many people are confident about their cash flow, the other statistics wouldn't be as horrendous.
Scary Financial Literacy Stats That Don't Relate To Retirement, Investments Or Gender
The following statistics were compiled in 2009:
- 61% of workers (three out of every five) live paycheck to paycheck (per CareerBuilder.com)
- 26% admit to not paying their bills on time (National Foundation for Credit Counseling)
- The average household with a least one credit card carries a balance of over $10,000 (National Foundation for Credit Couseling)
It is depressing that women lag behind men in certain areas of financial planning. However, the real travesty is that most people cannot get off first base.
Are you confident that you can manage your cash flow to stay out of debt and invest for retirement?