How do men and women, or boys and girls, compare in terms of financial literacy? It may be easy to think that they’re roughly equal, but female financial literacy levels are often lower than their male counterparts — as is their confidence surrounding matters concerning money.
There are larger gender-related issues at play that take a role in how or why women may be less confident when handling money. But what we do know shows that financial literacy rates for females could use a boost.
Consider this: ‘
- 62% of women are behind on retirement savings, while 48% of men are.
- When it comes to women in finance, women comprise 52% of entry-level workers but only 27% of executive roles.
- Less than half of women are confident about their finances.
Further data shows that women trail men in a number of areas of financial literacy, including borrowing, saving, insuring, investing, and comprehending risk. Overall, the data paints a picture: Women aren’t as confident, and are often behind when it comes to handling their finances. The good news is that there are ways to course-correct. Increasing financial literacy and financial fluency is the key.
Implementing some relatively straightforward financial strategies can also help instill and generate confidence, too. That includes creating and sticking to a budget, thinking about ways to further your career or increase your income, or even starting a simple investment portfolio with broad-based assets like index funds.
Those are small steps, but they can get the ball rolling, and help build momentum. Finance is like any other topic in life: You can learn more about it, and become more confident as you go. We’ll all make mistakes — no matter our gender — but it’s all part of the process. With that in mind, Money Vehicle does offer a path to financial literacy for those looking for it.
The Path to Financial Literacy for Women (and Others)
As a quick reminder, Money Vehicle’s core tenets are as follows — and these can be used as a path to financial literacy for women, or others.
- Setting monthly and yearly Personal Finance Goals
- Quantifying how much their individual plan can put toward the future
- Setting up a Cash Management system
- Opening foundational bank accounts
- Starting credit history with a credit card
- Identifying a first investment through Index Funds
- Diagnosing ways to confirm coverage and lower your insurance costs
- Implement proactive ways to prevent cyber-attacks
- Synthesize the transaction from Gross to Net income and quantify Federal Income Tax liability
- Open a Roth IRA
Whether you’re a man, woman, or identify otherwise, we believe that financial literacy is paramount to a happy and healthy life. Using the tenets listed above as a guide, Money Vehicle hopes to close the financial literacy gap, and help everyone, of all stripes, reach their financial goals.
Be sure to grab a copy of “Your Money Vehicle: Financial Literacy for Beginners,” written by Money Vehicle’s Founder and CEO, Jedidiah Collins! And if youlike what you see, you can get more content sent directly to your inbox! Sign up for the Money Vehicle Movement Newsletter!
And check out our white paper: “Strategies for Increasing Financial Literacy Rates Among High School and College Students”
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