The conformist gender labels that women care for the household while men control the finances no longer hold. Findings from BlackRock suggest that Singaporean women are as financially-savvy as men, but are lacking confidence in investing.
In one of the largest global surveys ever conducted, the BlackRock Global Investor Pulse Survey surveyed almost 32k respondents. In Asia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore were covered. The Singapore sample included 1,000 respondents.
The asset manager found that Singaporean men and women share similar investment priorities but different attitudes and approaches towards investing. Women seek advice from family, friends and professionals while men rely on themselves.
Singles, especially women, feel more financially responsible for their parents despite being less comfortable in making financial decisions
Serious Long Term Planning
Both men and women have the same financial priorities, with saving money being the most important, followed by saving or investing to ensure a comfortable retirement and growing wealth. Both take financial planning seriously and believe that it is important to earn an income on investments.
Despite ranking as their third financial priority, Singaporean women may not be doing enough to justify their desire to ‘grow wealth’. According to the survey, 72 percent of women have investments compared to 80 percent of men. In fact, 25 percent of women have savings only and no investments whereas for men it is 18 percent.
Singaporean Women Favour Cash
Moreover, for women their approach to investing and the types of assets they tend to hold differ slightly. Women tend to hold more conservative asset classes, such as cash and insurance- linked investments.
Whereas more than half of the male respondents hold equities compared to less than two-fifths of women one in five men holds bonds and of men are more aggressively invested in foreign exchange versus women.
«Gender stereotypes are moving to be a thing of the past – today’s women can be as financially-savvy as men. They are aware of the need to save and invest proactively, and are taking meaningful steps towards securing their financial goals,» Kevin Hardy, Country Head of Singapore at BlackRock, said.