Stressed and blessed: Women want to talk finances with other women

Girl code now includes talking about money.

A new report from Fidelity Investments parses the emerging dynamic of women preferring to hash through their financial and career dilemmas and goals first with other women.

Two-thirds of millennial and Gen Z women want to learn about finances from other women, according to the report. The preference holds across generations, with 53% of all women preferring peers as companions in their financial progress.

“Women want to support and be supported by other women when it comes to their finances,” Lorna Kapusta, head of women and engagement for Fidelity Investments, said in an emailed response to questions from InvestmentNews. Women’s shared experiences, including parenting, caregiving-related career interruptions and the pay gap, all explain why they “prefer to learn about money from other women,” she explained.

At the moment, women are divided about their financial status, with 46% responding that they feel stressed and 38% hopeful.

Women are taking action, too, as they are 47% more likely than men to use Fidelity’s Goal Booster tool, which is offered through company plans and enables employees to rapidly build emergency and other short-term savings funds. Women’s intentions are strong, with 81% expecting to “take action” on their financial goals within the next six months.

Fidelity’s own data indicates that women opened individual retirement accounts at a 60% annual growth rate since 2019 and contributions to those accounts grew 91% annually. Correspondingly, 10% more women initiated financial planning conversations last year, over 2021, according to Fidelity data. between 2019 and While most women (81%) plan to take action with their money over the next six months, 19% still report feeling intimidated by the process of getting help with their financial decisions.

Black women were especially enthusiastic about learning about money with other women, with 68% preferring a community approach.

Fidelity’s Women Talk Money program has created an on-ramp for women to structure their thoughts about their finances, in the context of other women’s experiences. The firm tracks the conversion of women who open the conversation through Women Talk Money and subsequently open accounts. Fidelity communicates with 17.5 million women through both individual and employer-sponsored accounts.

The implications for advisors are clear, Kapusta said. First, understand how women perceive that the current economy affects their financial plans. Women are focused on inflation and inadequate emergency funds — two priorities that can guide advisors’ financial literacy and outreach efforts. In addition, advisors can always bear in mind the factors that shape women’s long-term financial outlooks and blend those issues with individual clients’ own priorities to “forge a connection with their clients, to understand their goals and lifestyles … to rethink and increase the value they are providing to their clients beyond money management,” she said.