March 2024

MATTERS THAT MATTER

Strengthening women’s financial fitness

As we celebrate Women’s History Month, improving women’s financial health continues to be a focus, as measures of their overall financial wellness continue to trail men’s. Understanding the gender-specific challenges women face can help in identifying ways to empower them to reach their full financial potential.

Women need to take several unique factors into account as they plot out their financial futures: the likelihood they won’t be paid as highly as their male counterparts, possible career breaks to take care of family, higher health care costs and a good chance of a longer retirement due to the greater life expectancy of women compared to men.” —  Lorna Sabbia, head of Retirement & Personal Wealth Solutions

Factors affecting women’s financial wellness

  • Nearly half of women say they feel confident about their finances, yet only 28% feel empowered to take action on them.1
  • More women who work would prefer getting a pay increase (61%) than additional time off (39%).1
  • The majority of women report they are doing well managing their day-to-day finances but are struggling with saving for emergencies, saving for retirement and building wealth. In fact, 1 in 5 women say it is time to make a change in their finances.1

55% of women feel they are somewhat or extremely confident that they are on track to meet their retirement goals, compared to 68% of men.2

a graph with a woman icon showing 55%
a graph with a man icon showing 68%
  • 49% of women are not actively saving for future health care needs.2
  • While women and men have nearly equal influence over day-to-day financial decisions, less than half of women feel they have influence over investment decisions. Moreover, 1 in 3 women don’t feel they have the knowledge required to be more involved in investing.1
  • Women are twice as likely as men to be out of the workforce for over 10 years—most often to focus on caregiving. Not working or collecting a regular paycheck for an extended period of time can put women at a financial and professional disadvantage.1
  • Improving women’s financial health is even more critical when you consider that they are typically paid 80 cents for every dollar men are paid—yet their typical life expectancy is longer. Given that, women’s retirement assets would have to last five years longer than men’s.3

Resources to help strengthen women’s financial fitness

Supporting women with educational guidance and resources can help close the gender gap and help women take charge of their financial futures. To help support the financial journey of women—and all your employees—we are offering a suite of educational events throughout April, aligned with Financial Literacy Month and America Saves Week. Check out what’s planned on our Events Center. You can help make your employees aware of these opportunities in advance of April’s sessions by leveraging the suite of communications on the Employee Communications Center.

1 Women, money, confidence: A lifelong relationship, Bank of America, June 2022.

2 Bank of America 2023 Workplace Benefits Report.

3 “Women are at greater risk in retirement,” CNBC.com, December 2023.