Women & Money

Since it began, our Women and Money study has been exploring the many challenges women face when it comes to saving for the future. Some of these challenges include the gender pay gap, the impact of career breaks to care for children and family members and the recent significant increases in State Pension Age for women.

Our latest Women and Money study in 2024 highlights the following key themes, with further insights to follow:

• Gender Pensions Gap
• Financial Independence

Fidelity International’s annual Women and Money study reveals more than half of women feel financially independent - the highest level in three years.

39% of women feel more confident about their financial situation compared to a year ago. Our Workplace Workout programme delivers educational and engaging campaigns throughout the year to encourage your employees to pay their pension some attention and to promote financial wellbeing.

The Fidelity Global Women and Money Study, 2024. Research was conducted by Opinium Research commissioned by Fidelity International. The survey is based on a nationally representative sample of 2,000 UK adults. Fieldwork ran from 14 - 27 May 2024.

Click here to see how Fidelity can help you to support women in your workplace.

Our 2024 report findings:

Women’s confidence in their finances remains some way behind men across the board.

Financial confidence has risen for both and women and men from a year ago, 39% and 56% respectively.

1. Long-term planning and retirement age: The State Pension Age is set to rise, increasing to age 67 by 2028 but many people look to retire earlier. From our research, women expect to retire at age 65, while men expect to retire at age 66. However, there is concern that people may underestimate how long they will need to work.

2. Retirement income and financial concerns: Women expect a retirement income that is roughly 80% of men's income (£30,300 vs £38,130).

Men, on the other hand, are less pessimistic. A significant portion of workers with a high income also do not believe they will have enough funds to support their desired income in retirement.

Women feel more negative about their physical health in retirement than men, and across the board, women feel less positively about all aspects of retirement than men. Women are also far less confident about all aspects of their finances in retirement, including income for day-to-day expenses (women 16% vs men 32%).

3. Barriers to saving: The main barriers for everyone to saving more into their pension is the lack of available funds after expenses, affecting more women (51%) than men (46%). Other barriers include competing priorities, lack of time, and lack of knowledge, particularly among young people.

4. Gender disparities in financial position: Although half (52%) of women in work hold employer pensions, this falls some way short of men (66%). This may reflect that more women tend to work part time or be below the earning thresholds for auto-enrolment. Women (22%) are also less likely than men (37%) to hold personal pensions. Women hold far less on average in their pension pot than men do (£51,780 vs £82,760). This is also reflected in savings and investments, with women on average holding £33,810 and £54,040 respectively compared with men £50,500 and £72,070 respectively.

Women (27%) are far less likely than men (45%) to agree that investing is for them. Women (59%) are less likely than men (67%) to agree that they are interested in managing their finances, and women (22%) are also less likely to agree that they actively make decisions about how their pension should be invested than men (34%).

5. Managing career breaks: Women are less likely than men to have put in place steps to help build up their savings and investments following career breaks. Women are more likely to have received a decrease in personal income due to caring for children or elderly family members, affecting their ability to save, contribute to pensions, and invest. Women are more than twice as likely as men to say that taking time out to look after children has impacted their personal earning potential (23% vs 9%). Women (17%) are also far more likely to take time as a homemaker than men (5%), and to take time out of work as an unpaid carer (10% vs 6% respectively).

6. Cost of living: Both men and women have had to make sacrifices or put life events on hold due to decreased income, such as cutting back on expenses, delaying moving house, working longer hours, and arranging help for elderly relatives. The majority of men and women have not made any changes to their retirement plans as a result of cost-of-living challenges, although almost one in five women and men have put important decisions on hold.

7. Perception of financial independence: 64% of men feel financially independent compared to 53% of women are more likely to believe that having a personal income where they do not have to rely on financial support from others is a sign of financial independence. Factors that align with individuals' definitions of financial independence include having a personal income that covers everyday expenses, having savings for unforeseen expenses, and being able to make one's own life choices.

The Fidelity Women and Money Study, 2024. Research was conducted by Opinium Research commissioned by Fidelity International. The survey is based on a nationally representative sample of 2,000 UK adults. Fieldwork ran from 14 - 27 May 2024.