Understanding the asset gap: how the asset divide between men and women evolves over the decades
New Unbiased research dives into the asset gap between UK men and women and reveals the gap favours men throughout their working lives, before flipping in favour of women once they reach their 70s.
For those seeking financial advice for themselves only, the average assets for women are £160,030 compared to £220,425 for men.
For the majority of their working lives, men hold more assets than women, with the gap before retirement at its highest during their 50s.
Above the age of 70, the asset gap widens significantly to £217,000 in favour of women.
Unbiased is the UK’s leading assets under management (AUM) platform and the biggest source of clients new to financial advice.
What is the average asset gap between men and women?
As the Great Wealth Transfer takes hold, Unbiased has conducted extensive research into the relationship between women and financial advice, including the amount of assets they have and how this compares to men.
The research shows that, of women who sought advice for themselves only through Unbiased’s platform, the average amount of assets was approximately £160,000.
The same cohort of men had an average of £220,425 in assets.
This represents a difference of around £60,000 between men and women in the UK.
How does the asset gap change over time?
As part of the research, Unbiased also examined how the asset gap evolves over the decades, looking at the average asset amount for people ranging from those in their 40s to those in their 70s.
This made for interesting reading.
For the majority of their working lives, men hold more assets than women.
The asset gap initially stands at £50,000 between men and women in their 40s, before rising to £116,000 in their 50s, and then falling to £35,000.
However, from the age of 70 onwards, the asset gap shifts in favour of women, widening to £217,000.
The full breakdown of how the asset gap evolves over the decades is provided below. It is in favour of men, unless stated otherwise:
| Decade | Asset gap between men and women | |
|---|---|---|
| 40s | £50,000 | |
| 50s | £116,000 | |
| 60s | £35,000 | |
| 70+ | £217,000 (in favour of women) |
What are the reasons for the changing asset gap?
There are several reasons why men tend to have more assets during their 40s, 50s, and 60s.
The asset gap may initially be wider when men and women are in their 40s, due to the cost of childcare and caring responsibilities, which traditionally fall to women.
Years spent out of the workforce, having reduced time to accumulate assets and contribute to a pension, and even low financial confidence, can all factor in.
While the wealth gap narrows during their 40s and 60s, women remain on the back foot in their 50s, with reduced asset accumulation earlier in their lives, likely having a knock-on effect.
Unbiased research revealed women are also less engaged with financial advice, with only 31% of those surveyed saying they’ve had advice before, compared to 36% of men.
The shift towards women accumulating wealth later in life can be attributed to several overlapping factors, including divorce, increased life expectancy, and the inheritance economy.
In the context of the inheritance economy, women are more likely to receive an inheritance later in life than men.
In fact, according to the same Unbiased research, female financial advice seekers are 45% more likely than men to have an inheritance as part of their overall asset wealth.
What does this mean for financial advisers?
For financial advisers, this research offers a unique insight into the unequal distribution of assets between men and women in the UK, particularly as women are expected to become the majority wealth holders by the end of this year.
Equipped with this insight, advisers are better positioned to engage meaningfully with female wealth holders and help close the financial advice gap.
According to Karen Barrett, founder of Unbiased, advisers should help women build long-term security.
“The financial advice industry is vital to helping women build long-term security by supporting them as they navigate their finances throughout their working lives and into retirement.”
Want to work with Unbiased?
Unbiased is an AI-enabled financial advice platform, empowering people to make confident financial decisions and delivering unrivalled growth for advice firms.
With the greatest wealth transfer in history now underway, Unbiased connects people to trusted advice across pensions and retirement, inheritance planning, mortgages, accountancy, and more.
Since 2010, Unbiased has generated over $100 billion in AUM opportunities for financial advisers, with 65% of prospects new to advice. Reaching more than 10 million consumers annually, it is the leading source of client demand in the industry.
Unbiased Pro will help you grow your firm by matching you with suitable clients, delivering them directly to your inbox, and providing you with all the tools you need to convert leads into loyal customers.
:quality(20))