48% of Women Are Confident About Their
Finances, Though Only 28% Feel Empowered to Act; Top
Financial Regret is Not Saving and Investing Sooner in Life
Younger Women Taking Greater Control of Their
Finances
CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 22,
2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bank of America today announced
findings from a new body of research on women and financial
wellness, which finds that 94% of women believe they will be
personally responsible for their finances at some point in their
adult life. Despite this, about half of women (48%) feel confident
about their finances and only 28% feel empowered to take
action.
The study, which has been published in a new report titled
Women, Money, Confidence: A Lifelong Relationship, gauged
how women rate their financial health, with a majority of women
reporting they are doing well managing their day-to-day finances,
like paying their bills every month (70%) and following a budget
(53%), however they are struggling with longer term actions like
paying down debt (44%), saving for emergencies (44%), saving for
retirement (36%) and building wealth (27%). One-in-five women (21%)
acknowledge that it is time to make a change to their finances.
"True financial freedom requires both short-term and long-term
planning, and the confidence to take action," said Lorna Sabbia, Head of Retirement & Personal
Wealth Solutions at Bank of America. "It is imperative that we give
women the tools and resources to take charge of their financial
futures, and to close the gaps between confidence, empowerment and
action."
This new study continues Bank of America and Merrill's extensive
research efforts exploring women's unique life journeys and how
various factors impact their financial well-being. The report is
based on a nationwide survey of more than 3,500 women and 1,200
men; and examines the progress women are making on their financial
journeys and where they might need additional guidance and
support.
Investing is a key barrier and top regret
Women are confident managing everyday financial tasks such as
paying bills (92%) and managing a budget (87%), yet only half are
confident managing investments (53%) and creating a diversified
portfolio (44%).
While women and men have nearly equal influence on day-to-day
financial decisions, such as paying bills (68% of women vs. 67% of
men) and determining the household budget (63% vs. 63%), less than
half of women feel they have influence when it comes to decisions
on investments (46% vs. 64%). The top obstacles women say are
holding them back from investing include not having savings to
invest (38%), lack of knowledge (32%) and believing investing is
too risky (22%).
When asked about their financial regrets, nearly half of women
(44%) pointed to not saving and investing sooner. Women also say
they would have invested more of their money (26%), educated
themselves more around money (23%), not taken on as much credit
card debt (21%), chosen a career with higher pay (19%), lived
within their means (18%) and taken better care of their health
(14%).
Other key findings include:
- Younger women paving the way for open financial
conversations. Younger women (ages 22-39) are more comfortable
having financial conversations than their older counterparts (ages
65+), including talking with financial advisors (73% vs. 64%),
applying for new or better positions at work (74% vs. 42%),
discussing new investment opportunities (65% vs. 44%) and asking
for a raise (59% vs. 38%).
- Being debt free seen as the top indicator of financial
independence. 47% of women listed being debt-free as the
hallmark of financial independence. Other top indicators included
being able to weather an unexpected expense (39%), being able to
support myself without financial help from my family (34%) and
being able to support my family (32%). Paying off debt also topped
the list of barriers to improving financial wellness (36%),
followed by high cost of living (34%) and not being paid enough
(31%).
- Women's confidence levels vary for financial events during
different life stages. A majority of women are confident about
paying for future healthcare costs (56%) and staying comfortable in
retirement (54%), but confidence levels drop as it pertains to
buying a home (40%), funding children's or grandkids' education
(38%) and taking care of aging parents (32%).
- Financial planning varies by groups. While 82% of
women have a financial plan, only 30% focused on plans of 10 years
or more. Caucasian and Asian-American women are more likely to have
long-term plans (35% and 37%, respectively) than Black (20%) or
Hispanic (20%) women. Women who identify as LGBTQ+ are also less
likely to have a long-term plan (21%).
- Saving for retirement is top of mind, yet many don't have an
actionable plan. Saving for retirement topped the list of
short-term (49%) and long-term (54%) goals, yet one-in-five women
approaching retirement do not have a financial plan. In addition,
57% have not figured out how much to save for a comfortable
retirement and 40% are not confident about staying comfortable in
retirement.
- Older women turn to Social Security to fund retirement,
younger women plan to lean on savings. 90% of women 65+
plan to rely on Social Security in retirement (vs. 49% of women
ages 22-39). Younger women ages 22-39 are more likely to plan on
using personal savings (63%, vs. 53% of women 65+).
- Women in the workforce face unique concerns, prioritizing
salary increases over time off. About half (49%) of women left
the workforce at some point, with the primary reason being
caregiving (58%). While 36% returned to a lower-paying job, a
majority of women (77%) do not regret their decision to spend time
away from their career, and 71% say returning to their job was
rewarding. In addition, when asked if they would prefer higher pay
or additional time off, 61% said they would prefer a pay
increase.
- Women continue to look for reliable sources of advice to
help them on their financial journeys. Though 35% say "a go-to
trustworthy source for advice" would help make managing their
finances easier and 44% see a financial advisor as a key financial
resource, 55% have never worked with one. In addition, though
reliance on financial advisors increased only slightly with age
(41% of women ages 22-39 vs. 47% of women ages 65+), it increased
significantly by income level (35% of women with less than
$50k in income vs. 61% of women with
more than $250k in income).
"At Bank of America, we're committed to helping all women
navigate the nuances of their financial journeys by providing the
foundational education, professional advice and resources needed to
build their confidence and take action to achieve financial
security," said Sabbia.
Bank of America's Retirement & Personal Wealth
Solutions organization serves more than 25,000 companies of all
sizes and more than 5.8 million employees as of December 31, 20211. Bank of America
offers institutional client employees a range of financial benefit
programs to help them pursue their financial future, including
our Financial Life Benefits® program. Financial Life
Benefits offers a suite of workplace benefits and solutions
designed to help meet the near- and long-term financial needs of
employees. This complete offering brings together traditional
financial benefits – including retirement plans2, health
savings2, equity compensation2 and
non-qualified deferred compensation plans2 – with a
range of banking and lending capabilities from Bank of America and
investing capabilities from Merrill to help address employees'
financial needs more comprehensively.
Women, Money, Confidence: A Lifelong Relationship
Methodology
Ipsos conducted a 21-minute online survey among a representative
sample of more than 3,500 women and more than 1,200 men age 22+ in
February 2022. Quotas were enforced
to ensure results were representative within gender by age, race,
income and assets, marital status, employment status, and
education. Survey content was developed by Ipsos in consultation
with the Bank of America team.
Bank of America
Bank of America is one of the world's leading financial
institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market
businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking,
investing, asset management and other financial and risk management
products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience
in the United States, serving
approximately 67 million consumer and small business clients with
approximately 4,100 retail financial centers, approximately
16,000 ATMs, and award-winning digital banking with
approximately 54 million verified digital users. Bank of America is
a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment
banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving
corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the
world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to
approximately 3 million small business households through a suite
of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The
company serves clients through operations across the United States, its territories and
approximately 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation
stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock
Exchange.
For more Bank of America news, including dividend announcements
and other important information, visit the Bank of America
newsroom and register for news email alerts.
www.bankofamerica.com
Retirement and Personal Wealth Solutions is the institutional
retirement business of Bank of America Corporation ("BofA Corp.")
operating under the name "Bank of America." Investment advisory and
brokerage services are provided by wholly owned non-bank affiliates
of BofA Corp., including Merrill Lynch,
Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated (also referred to
as "MLPF&S" or "Merrill"), a dually registered broker-dealer
and investment adviser and member SIPC.
Investment products:
Are Not FDIC
Insured
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Are Not Bank
Guaranteed
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May Lose
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© 2022 Bank of America Corporation. All rights
reserved.
Reporters may contact:
Don Vecchiarello, Bank of
America
Phone: 1.980.387.4899
don.vecchiarello@bofa.com
1Source: Global Wealth and Investment Management
Finance.
2Investment products are available from Merrill
Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated.
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