Women seek advice, but ASIC wants more

Women are more inclined to seek professional advice than men when making investment decisions, while the latter rely more than females on newspapers and magazines according to findings in a new survey released yesterday.

A report released by BT Financial Group found 41 per cent of women use financial advisers and accountants for sourcing investment information compared to 35 per cent of men, with the survey also suggesting 18 per cent of males rely on the media compared to only 8 per cent of women for their investment knowledge.

The findings, which stemmed from a poll of 1,200 individuals nationwide, coincides with today being International Women’s Day.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has marked the occasion by reinforcing its call for women to understand the importance of having sufficient superannuation for retirement.

“Women tend to be less involved in their super, even though they probably have a greater need to ensure that their super will help them be financially secure,” ASIC commissioner Berna Collier said.

Collier said this was because females tended to live longer, and in general spent a more time outside the workforce (usually the result of taking on caring responsibilities) and on average earned 13 per cent less than men.

According to the BT findings 80 per cent of women believed they played some role in the running of household day to day finances and 77 per cent believed they influenced investment decisions.

This is somewhat out with the perception of males, however, with only 70 per cent of the men surveyed believing their partners influenced day to day finance decisions and only 60 per cent stating their better halves had a say in making investment decisions.