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Vitality research reveals women find it harder to save than men 

12 April 2022
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  • More women can’t afford to save for retirement than men 
  • Women are less likely to have savings outside of a workplace pension with the majority (60%) saying it’s because they can’t afford it   
  • On average, a woman’s pension pot is 30% less than a man’s 
  • Over a quarter of women don’t have a pension pot (28%)   

    Tuesday 12 April 2022 – At the same time as the cost of living and inflation is rising, new research by investments provider, Vitality, today reveals that on average, women are finding it harder to save for later life. Almost a third (30%) of unretired women have not thought about saving for later life compared to 22% of men, with over half (51%) stating this is because they cannot afford to*. 

    The data shows that unretired women are less likely to have savings outside of a workplace pension, with only (23%) investing their savings elsewhere, compared to over a third (35%) of men. When looking at why this might be the case, most women (60%) cited lack of money as a barrier to investing outside of the workplace pension, followed by lack of knowledge (17%). Over one in 10 (12%) do not have savings elsewhere because they do not have the confidence to invest. 

    When looking more closely at pensions, the data continues to support the narrative that unretired women find it harder to save with over a quarter (28%) not having a pension at all, compared to (19%) of men. The average woman has £20,364 in their pension pot, which is 30% less than the average man (£29,061). 

    Prema Sohun, Technical Expert at VitalityInvest, said: “Women are struggling to prioritise and save for later life. While it is positive to see that many women do have a workplace pension, our data shows that they will not have enough to see them through retirement or to support them to have the kind of retirement they envisioned.  

    “We also know that women have longer life expectancies than men, which means they need more savings to begin with. For this reason, the earlier that women can start to save, the better - even if it’s little and often.  

    “As providers, there’s a lot we can do to support women in recognition of the challenges they face when it comes to saving. For example, by offering low product charges, we can help free up funds that otherwise could not be invested. This benefits women as it maximises their returns, while helping their investments to grow in a cost-efficient manner.” 

    VitalityInvest is the only investment provider that gives members a discount for being healthy, offering a suite of investment options including a Stocks and Shares ISA, Junior ISA and Retirement Plan (available through financial advisers). 

    Ends

    Notes to editors
    *Research conducted with a nationally representative sample of 2,001 UK Adults, of which 1,537 were not retired, by Opinium on behalf of Vitality (March 2022) 

    For further information, please contact:  
    [email protected]