Women are taking the lead when it comes to household savings and budgeting, but are still less confident about generating wealth than men, a survey has revealed.
While more than a fifth of women (21 per cent) have a savings plan, compared to 16 per cent of men, far fewer women than men are confident of reaching their savings goal within the next year, ME Bank research shows.
More than half of surveyed male investors (51 per cent) expected to reach their goal in the next 12 months, compared to 36 per cent of women.
Meanwhile, 26 per cent of women said they did not know when they would reach their goal, but just 11 per cent of men said the same thing.
"Women face particular challenges in planning for their future and need to take the reins of their finances as early as possible," said Elaine Henry, MoneySmart Week ambassador and member of the Australian Government Financial Literacy Board.
"Women live longer, generally earn less, have lower super balances and are more likely to take time off for child-rearing and caring responsibilities, so they need to extend their focus from day-to-day money management to planning for the future."
The survey of 1500 Australians was released to mark the launch of Money Smart Week, a financial literacy awareness campaign.
