Women now in charge of major financial management - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Women from Britain are now more likely to manage important issues like choosing a bank and making provisions for future savings and spending, a new study has suggested. This shift appears to be resulting in significantly higher rates of savings – 91 percent of households where women are in charge of long-term financial planning have some money put aside, but the figure is only 82 percent when men take on this responsibility. The trend is so far most evident among younger couples, with men over 45 still tending to hold sway in money matters. But the research suggests that a majority of women of all ages will be in charge of every household financial decision by 2020. The survey by Lloyds TSB found that among couples under 45, women were more likely to choose the family’s bank or building society, take control of making detailed future plans for savings and pay day-to-day bills and keep track of spending. The only area where younger men dominated was giving financial advice to friends and family. The new study also looked at other countries, finding similar trends in Germany , where it was the woman who managed long-term planning for savings in 53 percent of couples under 45 years of age. However, in China older women were more likely than their younger counterparts to be in charge of making future financial provisions and choosing a bank. Greg Coughlan, head of savings at Lloyds TSB, suggested that the rise of “money mummies” who are more likely to build up savings might benefit the British economy in the long term. “Younger women have definitely taken a firm grip on the purse strings, moving from the traditional role of managing the day-to-day spending, to planning and selecting where money is kept,” the Telegraph quoted Coughlan as saying. “This rise of a money matriarchy marks not just a shift in the balance of power in families but may have more positive impacts for the future economy. “Female control of the family purse strings is likely to give rise to an increase in households’ savings, as women tend to be more cautious savers in terms of the vehicles they save in, and have a longer-term orientation to saving. “This in turn means that mortgage repayments and consumer spending could become less vulnerable to turmoil in employment or financial markets in future,” he added.

More women now in charge of major financial decisions