Beyoncé has said that she truly believes that women should be financially independent from their men. Beyoncé must have her finger on the pulse of gender financial decision making, because it looks like women are starting to take big steps in that area. We all know men and women have the inclination to think differently about lots of things in life. That proves true in recent studies, not only showing differences, but also an inclination of women taking the lead in financial decisions.
Difference in Budgeting: Historically, men tend to be in charge of financial decisions. Recent studies show 46 percent of men over 50 like to share financial decisions with their wife, while 67 percent of women of the same age said that they share the decision with their spouse. As far as retirement goes, 30 percent of women said they like to share in that process.
Who manages money better? It looks like women are taking the helm with this one.
Designate health care once retirement nears: 44 percent of women, vs 37 percent of men
Determination of years the funds will last: 41 percent of women vs 38 percent of men
Designate savings allocation: 41 percent of women to 34 percent of men.
What did the men surpass? Men completed two types of financial retirement planning more often than women.
- Men could better define what their retirement income will be (55 percent of men vs. 53 percent of women).
- Men could also better estimate the amount of investment income they would be able to spend once they retire (60 percent of men to 44 percent of women).
Biggest financial regret for men is not investing more. For women, they regret not saving more.
How about avoiding regrets altogether and being proactive? Does that mean invest more and save more? Possibly. One reason people are hesitant to invest is that they don’t know what they’re doing and are afraid of picking the wrong investments, or they do not having enough money to invest. It also means the first step is becoming informed before making these critical decisions. Become informed by taking a class, talking to a financial counselor, gathering books, and searching the internet. The scraps of financial knowledge come from many cupboards.
In addition to these resources, there are also apps available to help us manage our decisions. Rubicoin is an investing app that takes many of the bad options off the table and leaves you to choose from 90 of the best performing stocks (as picked by investment pros) that you can choose to buy fractionally.
If you want to start off on the right foot with saving, consider a saving app like Stash’s Smart Save. This app studies earning patterns and spending habits, and then determines when a user has extra funds and moves the funds into a savings account if they do.
If you find yourself being inconsistent or waffling on savings, an automated app like this may be just what you need. While other automated or round-up apps move money into an investment account, this option puts your money into a savings account.
The average Smart Save user is 27 years old, with an average household income of less than $50,000. One of the goals is to make this platform easy to save, no matter your age or income.
Finally, studies have concluded that men tend to concentrate on revenue, while women tend to concentrate on expenses. The best solution is to complement each other’s skill sets and make a formal retirement plan together, along with a monthly budget examining revenue and expenses. Take control of your finances and avoid regrets.
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Sources:
https://personalmoneyservice.com/men-vs-women-finance/
https://money.cnn.com/2018/01/12/pf/money-regrets/index.html