This just in: In the 21st century, plenty of women are still leaving the long-term financial planning decisions to their husbands.
According to a study from UBS Global Wealth Management, 58 percent of women let their spouses handle the big-picture finances.
Here’s what really startled me, though: In the United States, 56 percent of millennial women (ages 20 to 34) were okay with letting their husbands handle the big money choices.
Have we learned nothing from the past few decades?
As a very young woman experiencing poverty, sexism, harassment and exploitation, I used to think, “Things will be better for our daughters.” Surely they would have more. More education. More redress. More lifelong options. More financial security.
Yet we’re still raising our girls to think they’re not good with money, or maybe that men are somehow better at it.
More than 3,600 women in nine countries were interviewed for the study. The results aren’t exactly universal because it focused on women with high net worth ($250,000 to upwards of $1 million in investable assets) rather than a mix of financial demographics. Still, the results are interesting, and troubling.
Apparently we know that long-range financial planning is important; study participants identified retirement,long-term care and insurance as the top issues. Yet only 23 percent of the women interviewed manage – or even help manage – these things.
One reason women might not focus on the future is that they’re too busy with the quotidian crap. Eighty-five percent of those interviewed are either “highly involved” or entirely in charge of short-term money needs, i.e., the daily expenses.
Full disclosure: I was guilty of that myself, being so busy putting out financial fires that I didn’t think much beyond the latest conflagration. Well, that plus growing up in an era (and a region) that deferred to men, and the fact that the man I married was controlling and abusive. I knew that we weren’t saving enough for retirement, but when I tried to say so I got quite literally shouted down – and I didn’t have the ability to stand up for myself.
At least we both maxed out our 401(k) plans, and saved some ready cash. But it makes me sad to think about how much farther ahead I’d be right now if I’d been able to insist on smarter money choices.
Not that I knew many of them: I was raised to work hard, pay my bills and save anything left over. Save, not invest. Heck, I didn’t even use certificates of deposit back then, when they were delivering not-bad interest rates.
You don’t know what you don’t know. That’s why I wish that financial literacy classes were required in high school. Even though the general consensus is that overall they don’t work, I still think I’d have had a better chance if I’d known a few basic principles other than hard work and thrift.
Saving your money is not enough. You have to make your funds grow. That is, you need to think long-term – and not enough women are doing this.
“When 58 percent of women around the world – including the next generation of Millennials – defer to men on important financial decisions, we need to ask why,” says Paula Polito, Global Client Strategy Officer at UBS.
“This dynamic could go on for generations to come, unless both men and women make a commitment to engage in financial decisions together.”
Well said, Ms. Polito.
Ignore this at your peril, ladies, because divorce or the death of your husband might lead to some seriously rude awakenings. According to the UBS study, about three-quarters of divorcees and widows “discovered negative financial surprises” when they finally took a closer look at the household finances.
That’s the stick. Here’s the carrot: Women who take part in long-term financial planning are overwhelmingly more confident in their financial future (94 percent) and are less stressed about money (91 percent).
Suppose your husband really is “better” at money. Doesn’t matter. Women need to be read in about long-term finances. Even if it bores you spitless, be present for the planning and aware of how the plans will play out during your lifetime. (This is where a monthly money date comes in handy.)
Above all, let your daughters see you being part of this. We need to raise our girls to know that handling money responsibly is part of adulthood. Ceding control of the long-term financial planning isn’t just lazy. It’s potentially life-changing – and not in a good way. Take it from someone who’s still playing catch-up.
Please follow and like us:
