According to the latest results of the “Financial Experience & Behaviors Among Women 2010−2011 Prudential Research Study” 95 percent of women are involved in financial decision-making and 25 percent are the sole financial decision-makers in their households. Prudential surveyed 1,250 women in the U.S. who are between the ages of 25-64 who are sole and co-heads of households with household incomes of $50,000 or more. Among married women, 84 percent are involved in financial decisions and 15 percent have sole responsibility.
While women were mostly optimistic about their future they want help with financial planning. More than half (55 percent) of those surveyed expect to work longer than they originally planned but 75 percent believe they are either still on track to meet their long-term goals or will at least be able to catch up to where they had hoped to be. However, they lack confidence in their decision making and knowledge.
Half of the women surveyed said they want “some help” making financial decisions and thirty-three percent want “a lot of help.” Nine out of ten women seek help choosing financial products and an even larger group lack a detailed, long-term financial plan. They cite lack of time, knowledge and trust as obstacles to creating plans. More than half of the women say they are willing to have their retirement-related decisions made by others however only 19 percent are comfortable letting a financial planning professional do the planning. More than sixty percent rely on family and friends for help.
Wall Street should take heed. Gaining women’s trust is critical to any financial firms’ long term growth, women’s financial security and, as a result, our overall economic health. But merely marketing to women won’t be enough. People do business with those to whom they can relate. Hence the reason women are turning to friends and family instead of professionals to help with important decisions. Wall Street should make the support and promotion of women employees a priority. According to Catalyst, fewer than 18 percent of corporate officers and boards of directors at Fortune 500 financial services firms are female. Perhaps the most effective thing the financial sector can do to attract a woman’s business is implement mentoring, professional development and work/life programs that attract and retain female employees. Oh, and appointing Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wouldn’t hurt either.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by MA Conf. for Women and Megan Kearns, Hello_Ladies. Hello_Ladies said: How Wall Street Can (and Why it Should) Earn Women’s Trust http://goo.gl/fb/R3mZ8 [...]