Women and money in 2010: girls want to dominate while men want to get ahead

There is nothing like a recession to highlight where we have gone wrong with our money management. But do recent events mean that people will be more financially prudent this year?

Given all the horror stories about the collapse of banks, the devaluation of assets and the difficulty of getting credit, I wondered how this would affect people’s money management and future planning, so I made my own. Research through an online survey.

As the new year approached, I asked 200 men and women about their past and predicted their financial management. I was fascinated by the subtle but important differences in the financial resolutions of men and women. Women were keen to better control their finances in 2010, while men were determined to earn as much money as they could.

Most of the men said they would focus on maximizing income, and nearly three-quarters of them would focus on making more money in 2010. Although about half of the women surveyed said making money mattered too, many more said getting paid. Charging his finances was his main goal for the coming year. Here are the top resolutions revealed by the survey:

Top 5 Women’s Money Resolutions for 2010:

  1. Take more charge of my finances (66%)
  2. Get better value for money (63%)
  3. My future financial plan (62%)
  4. Be more responsible with money (59%)
  5. Plan how to earn more money (56%)

Top 5 Men’s Money Resolutions for 2010:

  1. Plan how to earn more money (73%)
  2. My future financial plan (70%)
  3. Get better value for money (70%)
  4. Take more charge of my finances (56%)
  5. Reduce my personal expenses (52%)

When we think about how good we are with money, our past mistakes with money often come to mind. The time we spend a windfall on a fancy car, instead of paying off debt. We leave money for a long time in a bad investment fund. The years that we delayed the creation of a pension fund. When the economic climate is reasonably healthy, our finances can withstand such shocks a little better. It’s when times get tough that the insanity of our past behavior hits us. And, of course, the money that we thoughtlessly squander during prosperous times becomes a drain during lean periods.

Not changing a mortgage to a lower interest rate, for example, could cost thousands of pounds over the term of the mortgage. Even that cappuccino and that daily newspaper add up to hundreds a year. I also found that one person in three will have a direct debit coming out of their bank account that they should cancel, a magazine subscription they forgot about, a gym membership they never use, or a charitable donation they thought was one. . – which has been taken every year since 1989!

When I asked men and women in my survey about their past money mistakes, it was clear that the biggest mistake women made was not being as outspoken as men when asking for money. Whether it was pressuring the boss to raise the salary or negotiating better freelance rates, many women had less for fear of asking for money or undervaluing what they had to offer.

By looking at the differences between men’s and women’s spending behavior, I’ve found that women engage in more emotional spending. For many women, that usually means shopping when they’re feeling depressed, unhappy, or stressed. Women were also more likely to name children’s treats as one of their financial weaknesses. Here’s another example of how, when it comes to money, women aren’t that good at putting themselves first. After all, women are socialized to care for others and pressure is not a quality that is fostered in girls, but it is clear that later in life this can leave them poorer. This is something that I try to address at Sheconomics and it stands out in the following survey statistics:

The most common past money mistakes made by women (and men):

  1. Emotional expenditure 70% (men 61%)
  2. Reckless spending 64% (men 39%)
  3. Reluctance to ask for money 62% (men 47%)
  4. Spending on children / dependents 46% (men 30%)
  5. Fear of money 44% (men 48%)

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