Why Is It Important For Women To Close The Financial Literacy Gap Today?

Financial literacy is the key to good money decisions. 

And good decisions are needed for financial stability and independence which are crucial in Singapore. We are, after all, not a welfare state and we are encouraged to secure our own resources for our later years.

Therefore, financial literacy is a must.

I would like to highlight 3 reasons why it is important for women to close the gap today. 

Reason #1:
The primary reason to close the financial literacy gap between men and women is that women live longer.

The average life expectancy of Singaporeans in 2019, according to the Department of Statistics Singapore, is 83.66 years. The life expectancy for women is 85.7 years while men stands at 81.4 years. So, we see that women live around 4 years longer than men.

Reason #2:
We do not live any more in large family units where there is always a person taking care of specific initiatives.
Many women, due to a variety of reasons, either have to live alone or are single mothers. They are “the head of the family”, in other words, the matriarch and making decisions fall on them alone.

Reason #3:
Even in traditionally ‘complete’ families, it is a good idea for women to understand what her spouse or father is doing with their money so that she can play a good helpful role in the decision making process.

Often, two brains can be better than one. And I’m sure many husbands out there would appreciate their spouse’s interest to participate in important money decisions.

That is why women should take short personal finance courses (online courses) and talk to certified financial planners who are willing to educate them about the financial planning process.