Battle of the Sexes asks the age-old question Who’s better with Money?

Who are better when it comes to investing and finances, men or women? The Gender of Money.

A:   Depends on the man, depends on the woman . . . and depends what you mean by ‘better’.

Financial Battle of the Sexes

We’re always on shaky ground when we make broad general statements based on sex (or sexuality, for that matter) since individuals vary so much, exceptions abound and so many of those statements smack of sexism. That’s certainly not what I’m up to here.

Rather, I’m interested in gendered trends, even if these do tend to paint a generalized picture. When it comes to handling money, several interesting demographic behavioral statistics that show men and women are coming from very different perspectives indeed.

Here are few statements from the  May 2015 Wall Street Journal article  on this very topic:

Women are more likely to participate in employer-sponsored retirement plans.

The old saying goes, “If you don’t play you can’t win.” More retirement planning = good, Point Women. But participation is only the beginning, you need to save enough, and invest appropriately for your specific situation.

Women are more likely to save a greater percentage of their incomes.

More savings are good, Point Women.  With their respective rates in the 6-7% range, It’s my professional option that neither sex appears to be saving nearly enough on average to fully fund their retirements.  Point neutral.

Men earned a greater average total return per year on their investments over the past five years than women.

Big shocker here, Men seem to take more risk than their female counterparts. But five years is way too short a time to determine if someone is a great investor or they just got lucky with their choices. Long term investment savvy, Point Both.

The Income Gap is Real Men earn more:

The wage gap is real and not going away any time soon. This puts women at a disadvantage when it comes to saving or investing for their long term financial goals. Those who earn less end up with less Social Security benefits too. And because men earn more, they tend to have more. A 2014 Transamerica survey, for example, showed that on average men had $30,000 more in investments than women. Big paychecks and dividends good, Point Men. However, when there’s this much income disparity (in America today, a woman earns 79 cents for every male-earned dollar*) because of gender, everyone loses because it arbitrarily devalues and disrespects the females’ portion of the population and all that entails. This is no way to run a culture

Women are more likely to seek professional financial planning advice: 

Financial literacy is a challenge for many Americans.  I’ve personally found that usually with straight couples, it is often the woman who takes the lead in seeking out professional advice. Guidance from a pro good, Point Women. Working with a trusted fiduciary financial planner can take much of the stress and guesswork out of working towards your various financial goals, whether you are coupled or a singleton. And if you want it to be, going after professional advice can also be a great way to get some beneficial financial education too.

So who wins the financial battle of the sexes? I’m going to strike the Solomon solution here and say there isn’t a winner or loser because we’re all in this together. Statistically, women excel in some areas and men in others. (Note that on a professional level, even though only 23% of Certified Financial Planners are women.**  As a group they are as successful as their male counterparts.)

So whether you are male, female or somewhere in between – or more accurately whether your financial behavior is male, female or somewhere in between – your best bet is to capitalize on your strengths and shore up your weaknesses. And one way to do that engages a Fiduciary Certified Financial Planner who will get your money working and on track for your financial independence. That’s what I call a win-win.

You may also like this video from KTLA News with David Rae discussing Power Sharing for Men and Women.

Until next time, as always Be Fiscally Fabulous, and remember Your Money Matters!

DAVID RAE, CFP®, AIF® is a Los Angeles-based retirement planner with DRM Wealth Management. He has been helping friends of the LGBT community reach their financial goals for over a decade. He is a regular contributor to the Advocate Magazine, Forbes.com  and Huffington Post. Follow him on Facebook, or via his website www.davidraefp.com.

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