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Lacking confidence sees young women hold back from investing
Jackie Leiper
Managing Director, Scottish Widows
6th March 2025
Only a third (34%) of young women (aged 18-24) are investing their money outside of pensions, compared to almost double the number of young men (64%), according to Scottish Widows’ recent Women and Retirement Report (PDF, 4MB)1.
As this International Women’s Day (March 8) encourages people to ‘Accelerate Action’2, these findings highlight the need to address the gender investment gap.
Excluding pensions and property, the average 18-24 year-old man holds savings and investments of around £3,000 – whereas the average young woman’s savings are only around £1,9003.
One reason for this gap is a lack of confidence - over half (53%) of women aged 18-24 admit they do not feel confident when it comes to managing their savings for retirement, compared to just a third (31%) of men who feel the same at that age.
This lack of confidence could leave young women with a much smaller savings pot at retirement if it deters them from investing early. This is already playing out in older generations with the average woman over the age of 55 having around £20,000 in savings and investments (excluding pensions and property) which is less than half of the around £50,000 average man has at that age.
After the age of 55, only two fifths (40%) of women invest outside their pension and half (50%) admit they have done little to no research on how much they might need for retirement compared to 40% of men the same age.
Last year Scottish Widows enabled workplace pension customers access to Ready-Made Investments via its app, to help make investing easier for savers and help those new to it to take their first step.
“While there is evidence out there to suggest that when women do invest, they often outperform male investors4, women are still less engaged with the world of investing. They could therefore miss out on the benefit of compound interest which could see their money work harder in the long run. We want younger women to feel confident and empowered to invest. It doesn’t matter if they don’t yet know exactly what their goals are, as making the most of their savings will put them in the best financial position in the future.
“To effectively tackle the gender investment gap, we need better education and more policy reform. A difference can be made by addressing the systemic factors which contribute to the gap, as well as the challenges women face throughout their working lives. This year’s #Accelerate Action2 theme is a good rallying cry for International Women’s Day – but there is far more work to be done to tackle the age-old gender barriers and close that gender investment gap.”
Jackie Leiper, Managing Director, Scottish Widows
Notes
- Scottish Widows’ Women and Retirement Report (PDF, 4MB) page 39
Research conducted online by YouGov across a total 3626 nationally representative adults aged 18+ in the UK between 23rd - 30th August 2024 - IWD 2025 campaign theme is 'Accelerate Action'
- Research conducted online by YouGov across 5,1022 nationally representative adults aged 18+ in the UK between 28/02/2024 - 11/03/2024
- vestpod.com
About Scottish Widows
Founded in 1815, Scottish Widows is part of Lloyds Banking Group, the UK’s largest digital bank and financial services group. With more than £226bn assets under administration and 10 million customers, Scottish Widows’ award‐winning product range includes workplace and individual pensions, annuities, life cover, critical illness and income protection, as well as savings and investment products.
More than 2 million customers access Scottish Widows products and services through the Lloyds Bank and Scottish Widows apps, in addition to accessing directly through independent financial advisers. The Scottish Widows Platform is trusted by more than 18,000 advisers and 5,400 advice firms, that manage the pensions and investments of almost 166,000 clients.