Warning issued over ‘hidden’ boundaries stopping girls from saving for later in life

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Your assist makes all of the distinction. Learn extra The monetary companies business should deal with the "hidden" components that impede girls's potential to avoid wasting and plan for later life, a brand new report has urged.

The examine, supported by wealth supervisor Evelyn Companions, highlighted how girls are disproportionately impacted by inadequate retirement financial savings.

This shouldn’t be blamed on a supposed lack of monetary confidence, the examine added.

Authorities knowledge reveals a stark disparity: males aged 59 maintain a median common of £75,000 in outlined contribution (DC) pension wealth – the prevalent type of personal office pension – whereas girls of the identical age possess simply £19,000.

This vital gender pension hole is attributed to a number of components, together with the persistent gender pay hole, profession breaks for child-rearing, elevated part-time employment, and the heavier burden of unpaid care duties for members of the family, the report concluded.

It added that as folks dwell and work for longer, typically in a number of careers, the monetary system should evolve to accommodate these adjustments and forestall a “pensions timebomb”.

The report mentioned: “Monetary companies typically interpret girls’s behaviour as warning, threat aversion or low confidence. Once we place these behaviours in context, a brand new image emerges that extra meaningfully guides supportive actions.”

<img src="https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/12/19/16/44/old-person-pensioner-and-baby-toddler.jpeg" srcset="https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/12/19/16/44/old-person-pensioner-and-baby-toddler.jpeg?quality=75&width=320&auto=webp 320w, https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/12/19/16/44/old-person-pensioner-and-baby-toddler.jpeg?quality=75&width=640&auto=webp 640w" loading="lazy" alt="The financial system must evolve to prevent a “pensions timebomb”" class="sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn"/> open picture in gallery

The monetary system should evolve to stop a “pensions timebomb” (Getty Pictures) The report mentioned that “girls have fewer alternatives to practise long-term monetary decision-making due to gender inequalities in earnings, time, and uninterrupted work years”.

It argued that “the idea that males are extra financially competent continues to affect girls’s monetary behaviour. ‘Confidence gaps’ mirror stereotypes, not functionality”.

It additionally mentioned that the continuing work of anticipating, planning and caring for others “consumes the identical psychological assets wanted for future planning. This displays overload, slightly than lack of engagement”.

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Report writer Emily Shipp, a psychologist and affiliate of the Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI), mentioned {that a} “confidence hole” narrative “has masked the true systemic, situational and social components that consequence within the pensions gulf”.

“Psychological load and time shortage function collectively. Ladies usually tend to carry the continuing cognitive labour of anticipating and co-ordinating care, whereas additionally spending considerably extra time on unpaid work. These pressures scale back each the psychological bandwidth and the out there time wanted for sustained engagement with long-term monetary planning,” she mentioned.

“Traditionally, monetary recommendation and pensions coverage have centred on sometimes male, linear profession trajectories and monetary targets, slightly than the multi-phase, care-interrupted lives many ladies navigate.

<img src="https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/12/24/12/19151450-e0992d83-e131-4f24-8827-2f73b77f1d2e.jpg" srcset="https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/12/24/12/19151450-e0992d83-e131-4f24-8827-2f73b77f1d2e.jpg?quality=75&width=320&auto=webp 320w, https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/12/24/12/19151450-e0992d83-e131-4f24-8827-2f73b77f1d2e.jpg?quality=75&width=640&auto=webp 640w" loading="lazy" alt="The report said that “women have fewer opportunities to practise long-term financial decision-making because of gender inequalities in income, time, and uninterrupted work years”" class="sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn"/> open picture in gallery

The report mentioned that “girls have fewer alternatives to practise long-term monetary decision-making due to gender inequalities in earnings, time, and uninterrupted work years” (Alamy/PA) “Redesigning pensions coverage and monetary environments to raised serve extra different priorities and life programs would higher serve all genders as we transfer in direction of longer, multi-phase lives.”

With DC pensions, savers bear the chance of how a lot cash they are going to find yourself with in retirement, relying on components similar to contributions and funding selections.

These behind the examine argued that this calls for savers’ energetic engagement past a “set and overlook” method, which is usually little understood and contributes to decrease general pensions wealth.

Emma Sterland, chief monetary planning officer at Evelyn Companions, mentioned: “We welcome this necessary new report from the College of Edinburgh’s Futures Institute. Its thought-provoking insights problem entrenched narratives round girls and wealth, shining a lightweight on the complicated structural boundaries that girls face as they construct their monetary safety over a lifetime.”

The report was produced by the Compassion in Monetary Companies Hub (CFSH) on the Edinburgh Futures Institute.

Tobi Schneider, CFSH co-director, mentioned: “This is a vital report, recognising that society is altering, and that monetary planning is turning into increasingly more mandatory.

“With an ageing inhabitants, with out motion, we're sleepwalking into monetary catastrophe for a big proportion of individuals.”

Helen Morrissey, head of retirement evaluation, Hargreaves Lansdown, mentioned strikes to assist girls stay within the workforce are wanted with a view to see “significant change”.

She mentioned: “This contains the availability of extra versatile working practices similar to working from residence and the power to suit work round caring duties extra simply.”