Women are more likely to be worried about affording everyday expenses over the next 12 months than their male counterparts, new research from Scottish Friendly has found.
The mutual’s latest Family Finance Tracker shows that 71% of women are concerned about being able to afford all their regular outgoings over the coming year, compared with 60% of men.
As a result, women are more likely to have already used short-term coping measures to cover essentials in the past 12 months, with a fifth (21%) borrowing money from friends or family, compared with 16% of men. Almost a quarter (23%) of women have used Buy Now, Pay Later services, while 27% have used a credit card for essentials.
Women are also slightly more likely to have dipped into long-term savings, taken out a personal loan or used an overdraft, with 67% of women taking at least one of these actions in the past year compared with 62% of men.
In addition, Scottish Friendly said women are more likely than men to say they felt worse off than a year earlier and less financially secure than before 2020, and this pressure is having a knock-on effect on longer-term saving and investment behaviour.
Six in 10 women (60%) have not opened or started using any savings or investment products in the past three months, compared with 53% of men and women are also less likely to hold a cash or stocks and shares ISA (41% versus 51% of men).
Among women who did open or start using a savings or investment product, 34% said they were motivated by becoming more aware of the importance of saving.
Jill Mackay, savings expert at Scottish Friendly, said: “While our previous research has pointed to a wider trend of ‘hesi-saving’ – when people build cash savings while hesitating over a move into investments – these latest findings suggest that for many women, the immediate challenge may be even more fundamental than that.
“When regular costs are already leading some to borrow, use credit, or dip into long-term savings, investing can understandably feel further down the list of priorities. Cash may feel safer, simpler and more accessible.
“For many, the priority may be covering essential costs but the longer women remain under financial pressure, the harder it could be to build the kind of long-term resilience that saving and investing can help support.
“For those who do have the financial headroom, investing gradually can be one way to potentially grow money over time. It does not necessarily mean taking higher levels of risk than you are comfortable with or putting large sums into the market all at once. Steady, regular investments held for the long term could play an important role in building towards financial resilience.”
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