Royal London has found “large numbers of women across the age spectrum would be at risk of ‘financial meltdown’ in the event of a relationship breakdown because of their lack of individual pension rights or even financial plans.

Significant numbers of younger women said that they had no long-term financial plans of their own.  But perhaps more surprisingly, older women were also relying heavily on the pension rights of a spouse or partner.

According to a YouGov survey specially commissioned for Royal London  approximately 45% of women living with a partner said they were either not confident or did not know if their long-term financial plans would be adequate if their current relationship failed. Just 34% of men felt the same way.

While initiatives such as auto-enrolment have boosted the number of women saving into a pension, the data shows little evidence that women are increasingly taking responsibility for their long-term planning. Only 38% of women living with a partner aged between the ages of 18 and 34 said they were either very or reasonably confident in their long-term planning compared to 58% of men living with a partner in the same age group. Worryingly, 30% of these women aged between 18 and 34 said they haven’t made any long-term plans. This compares to just 12% of men.

This lack of confidence was evident even at older age groups with just 56% of women aged 55 and over, living with a partner saying they were either very confident or reasonably confident that their plans would be adequate, if their current relationship failed. This compares to 68% of men in the same category.”   Read all

Back to List