Women may gain from wealth transfer, but it won’t solve the big issues

Women remain anxious about their long term financial security despite supposedly gaining from the Great Wealth Transfer.

A report from Penny Finance reveals findings from its survey of almost 6,000 women aged 18-74 and highlights that projections that women will benefit from the transfer of wealth from older generations may be wide of the mark, given that only a small percentage of women are likely to receive an inheritance and may have already done so. What about the majority?

Two thirds of the survey’s respondents said they have anxiety about money and two thirds have debt including student loans. The average age of poll participants is 34, almost half are moms and the average amount of savings they have is $89,000.

The next generation of women are employed, motivated, and accomplished, but across all age groups women are burdened by greater debt than previous generations, anxious about their finances, underutilizing retirement resources, and hesitant to invest.

Looking to retirement, 59% said they do not invest (although 53% want to). Looking deeper into the stats, 25% of Millennials and 33% of Gen Zs do not have anything saved for retirement, compared to 21% for Gen X and Boomers.

But a significant amount of Millennials (22%) and Gen Z (22%) say they are NOT investing their retirement accounts, which means that they are not generating wealth at the same rate as their parents and grandparents.  

The report also looks at debt vs. savings. For example, 25% of Gen X women have debt that they say they will never pay off, although they are saving an average of $725 each month. Across all age groups respondents said they want to be debt free in just over 4 years, but the reality is decades longer.

A recent report found that most advisors overestimate their ability to serve the retirement needs of female clients.