Almost two-thirds of all women in a relationship do not hold any assets separately from their partner in their own name, indicating the role financial advisers have in helping women educate themselves around their financial situation.
CoreData’s ‘Female Financial Abuse’ research revealed three in five Australian women in a relationship were vulnerable to financial abuse by not ensuring their own financial independence.
CoreData defined financial abuse as the financial risk women faced if their relationship broke down, if they were in a manipulative relationship, or if they had an irresponsible partner (e.g. gambling habits, credit card debts), leaving women financial vulnerable.
More than half of women said they had no financial plan while only 10.5 per cent said they had very strong financial knowledge.
The survey of 801 women showed 70.3 per cent of women in a relationship felt somewhat reliant on their partner for financial support, with women in NSW most likely to feel this way (75.8 per cent).
Head of WA at CoreData, Kristen Turnbull, said many women’s financial stability were still dependent on their partner despite increasing independence of females.
“A lot of women are leaving themselves vulnerable — no matter how much they trust and love their partners — by not taking the steps to financially educate themselves and attain a level of financial independence from their partner. Importantly, it’s often the most vulnerable that appear to be the least aware of their vulnerability,” she said.
Only two in five women had assets that were completely in their name, and only 39 per cent had a savings account, 33.5 per cent had a transaction account, 36.3 per cent had a credit card, and 17.5 per cent had shares or other investments. Only 8.8 per cent had residential property and only 4.6 per cent had an investment property in their own name.
