Different Planets
Most of you would have heard of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, the book by John Gray about relationships and the differences between men and women.
The theory is this: the two genders have diametrically different approaches in terms of communication, emotional needs and values, and understanding this may improve your relationship.
Recent research by CoreData, titled Women In Super, has confirmed that the differences between men and women are not only evident in the relationships they have with each other, but in the relationship they have with their super fund.
Not only do one quarter of women view their superannuation needs as different from men, they are also much more likely to rate their superannuation knowledge and experience as poor.
As shown in the graph below, more than one third of women rated their super knowledge and experience as poor or very poor, compared to only 14.6% of males.
Conversely, men were much more likely to classify their superannuation knowledge and experience as strong or very strong, 30%, compared to only 14.3% of women.
I would classify my superannuation knowledge and experience as generally…
The research surveyed more than 1000 Australians and examined household decision making, financial concerns and security, engagement with super, retirement attitudes and expectations, super experience and understanding, use of information sources, life insurance cover and sentiment towards super.
Looking at more general financial concerns, males have much greater confidence dealing with their greatest financial concerns than females. Nearly half of males felt confident or very confident dealing with their financial concerns compared to only 28.5% of females.
How confident do you feel in dealing with your greatest financial concerns?
Nearly 20 years have passed since mandatory superannuation was introduced, yet punctuated careers, family commitments and generally lower salaries mean that many women are still behind the eight ball when it comes to their superannuation.
Based on the findings from the study, the average superannuation balance for female respondents is just $128,598 – almost half the average balance for male respondents ($233,961).
The lower balance is concerning given women tend to live longer than men and may not have the required level of wealth to finance their retirement, particularly those without the support of a partner.
The concern is evident in the research with more than 36.2% of women believing it is unlikely they will be able to finance their retirement.
Men also shared this concern albeit at a lower level, 27.5%.
*CoreData’s Women in Super Report is available for purchase. For more information, please call 02 9376 9600
2 Comments on “Different Planets”
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burningpants says:
Thanks for that, it’s clear that industry needs to work harder to even the score for women when it comes to their super.
Charcoal says:
The Age posted an article on the same area issues today too:
http://www.theage.com.au/money/super-and-funds/unequal-opportunity-20110705-1gzif.html