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An increasing number of married women say they are interested in taking a bigger role in their families’ long-term financial planning, a welcome dynamic as the coronavirus pandemic underscores their particular vulnerabilities.
In a
UBS
survey of almost 3,000 women and men across the country who have substantial investment assets, 64% of married women say they have a greater interest in discussing financial planning with their spouse due to Covid-19. Similarly, 63% said the crisis has affected how they think about money, and 51% said they intend to discuss their inheritance plans with their children because of the virus.
To produce its “Own Your Worth 2020” report, UBS surveyed 906 women and 919 men from Jan. 8 to Feb. 28. The report also includes data from 50 women in same-sex marriages and from a March 2019 UBS survey of 883 single men and women who invest.
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UBS began researching U.S. women’s views on financial planning in 2018, citing research that shows that eight out of 10 women will end up solely responsible for their financial well-being late in life. The two main reasons are that women typically live longer than men and divorces among those ages 50 and older are becoming more common, UBS said in its report.
“The consistent message that we need to get across with couples is that long-term financial planning is just not something that can be delegated,” said Liz Sheehan, a financial advisor at UBS’s wealth-management arm. “You both have to be sitting at the same table for that conversation.”
When women don’t take part in financial planning and then lose a spouse, they often find out that they aren’t as prepared for retirement as they thought, or that their asset allocation is inappropriate for their level of risk tolerance, she said.
The survey shows there is still a way to go between women’s interest in being involved in financial planning and getting them more involved: 49% said they let their spouse take the lead in financial planning, while 35% said they participate equally.
The women who defer to their spouses cite a variety of reasons, with 67% saying their spouse knows more about investing, 60% saying they are too busy with other responsibilities, 59% saying they like not having to worry about financial decisions, and 36% saying the couple’s money feels more like their spouse’s money.
“A lot of that comes down to confidence, not competence,” said Carey Shuffman, head of women’s segment strategy for UBS. “This is not a capability issue between the genders. Many women are more than equipped to take an active role and make these decisions.”
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The consistent message that we need to get across with couples is that long-term financial planning is just not something that can be delegated.
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One surprising finding in the survey: Shuffman said that in each of the past three years, the survey has found that married millennial women are more likely than baby boomers to let their spouses take the lead in financial planning. In the 2020 survey, 54% of millennial women said they defer to their spouses, compared with 39% of baby boomers.
Those figures diverge from expectations before marriage, when most single millennial women say they expect to play an equal role in financial planning if they get married. The survey found that 88% want to participate equally or take the lead, and 67% believe that married women rely too much on spouses to make financial decisions.
“Our research again points to the fact that millennials are actually perpetuating the status quo rather than breaking it,” Shuffman said. “This is where the research really shows that intentions and actions are not aligned.…Something sort of happens between single millennial women’s intentions and then the actions that they actually take when they become part of a couple.”
Shuffman suggests couples have monthly meetings at home to discuss budgeting, cash flow, long-term planning, and strategies for dealing with potential adversity, such as one spouse losing a job, falling ill or dying.
“We found that when couples do share in the financial decisions equally, they report greater satisfaction and arguing less about money and feeling more confident in their financial future,” she said.
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