How to support women's financial wellbeing at every life stage

The cost of living and key life events are having a disproportionate impact on women’s finances but employers can help change this.

For the fourth year in a row, women’s financial positivity is trailing behind men’s, according to insights from Standard Life’s Retirement Voice 2024 report.

Just 43% of women say they feel positive about their financial situation, compared to over half (52%) of men.

In addition, more women than men say that the cost of living has affected their mental health or made them stressed (47% vs. 41%), with Gen Z women the most affected group of all (67%).

Meanwhile, when looking ahead to their financial future, women are much less confident than men about their retirement income options (35% vs. 51%).

These findings highlight that financial uncertainty is reinforcing the barriers that many women already face when managing their money.

Indeed, research by Phoenix Insights shows that women’s finances are already disadvantaged by the gender pay gap.

It also found that life stages such as motherhood and menopause can disproportionately affect a woman’s earnings and ability to save.

It’s clear that more needs to be done to support women’s financial wellbeing.

As an employer, you can play a key part by providing targeted support at every life stage, helping your female employees build their financial confidence and resilience.

Here are some ideas to get started:

Money tips for women in their 20s

Set a budget

For women who are just starting out in their careers, it’s a great time to set a budget.

Doing so can help them see how much money they’ve got coming in and going out each month.

You could signpost employees to online resources like MoneyHelper, which has budgeting tools to help them categorise their spending.

If you’re with Standard Life for your workplace pension scheme, your employees can also use Money Mindset, Standard Life's financial wellbeing platform which is provided in partnership with Moneyhub Financial Technology Ltd.

This allows them to connect all their financial accounts – including bank accounts, mortgage, credit cards, and pension – to see what they’re saving and spending in real time.

Create sustainable savings habits

Building good savings habits early on could have a positive impact on women’s finances in the long run.

They could start by setting up an emergency fund to cover those unexpected costs, such as a broken boiler or car repairs.

Standard Life workplace pension scheme members can use Money Mindset to create an emergency cash pot, where they can set aside money for a rainy day.

Money tips for women in their 30s

Tackle any debt

For many women, their 30s can be a time of higher debt, particularly mortgages and credit cards.

Employees who are worried about dealing with debt may be unsure of what to do or where to turn to for support.

You can help signposting to resources such as MoneyHelper.

This offers free and easy-to-understand guidance that can help employees identify which debts to tackle first, explore repayment options, and connect with professional advisers.

Review pension contributions

Thanks to auto-enrolment, every eligible employee can join their employer’s workplace pension scheme and start saving for their future.

If they’re able to, your employees might want to consider increasing their contributions beyond the auto-enrolment minimum.

Some employers will match additional contributions too, which could give their pension pot an extra boost.

If you’re one of them, it’s worth spreading the word by sending out communications or promoting it on your intranet.

Money tips for women in their 40s

Reset the budget

A change in priorities – such as caring responsibilities or children going off to university – could put a strain on women’s finances.

Their 40s is a good time for them to review their budget and make sure they have a clear eye on what money is coming in and going out.

Chances are, their budget will need resetting to account for a shift in priorities.

Standard Life workplace pension scheme members can use Money Mindset to get a real-time view of their outgoings, and use the Budget Planner to categorise their spending and organise their finances.

Start pension planning

According to Standard Life's Retirement Voice 2024 report, those who do a great deal of planning are more than twice as likely to feel good about their money than those who do nothing (68% vs. 30%).

Furthermore, they’re less worried that their retirement finances won’t last their full retirement lifetime (37% vs. 51%).

By encouraging your female employees to get started on their pension planning sooner rather than later, this could help them feel more positive and confident about their financial future.

You could signpost to resources that allow them to understand how much they’ll need to fund their ideal retirement.

The PLSA’s Retirement Living Standards is a good starting point.

This outlines how much they’d need each year to fund a minimum, moderate, and comfortable lifestyle in retirement.

In addition, Standard Life workplace pension scheme members can use its Retirement Income Tool to get an idea of how their financial future is shaping up.

It incorporates Retirement Living Standards data, making it easier to see if they’re on track to meeting their retirement goals, or if they need to make any changes.

Money tips for women in their 50s

Look at state pension forecast

For many people, the state pension is the main building block of their retirement income.

This is particularly true for women.

Standard Life's Retirement Voice 2024 report reveals that women rely even more on the state pension than men as their primary source of income in retirement.

The amount of state pension people will get depends on the number of National Insurance qualifying years they have, so your employees may want to check their state pension forecast online.

Money tips for women in their 60s and over

Understand retirement income sources

Many people may be unaware that the full State Pension is actually below the PLSA’s ‘minimum’ Retirement Living Standard.

So it’s crucial for employees to find out how they can make up the shortfall, by looking at their different sources of retirement income.

The biggest source is likely to be their workplace pension.

To help employees understand how to bridge the income gap, encourage them to regularly check how much they’ve got in their workplace pension.

Other sources might include savings, property, or inheritance. Plus, some employees might want or need to continue working as well, to help top up their retirement income.

This article is based on Standard Life's upcoming ‘Invest in yourself’ Good Money Moods webinar.

Employees can sign up here to secure a place.

To find out more about Standard Life's webinars and how they help power-up your employees’ financial knowledge, visit Standard Life's Good Money Moods page.