While much of the financial focus on International Women’s Day is on closing the wage gap or pensions gap, it’s closing the wealth advice gap that could have an even bigger impact on financial outcomes for women
It’s International Women’s Day, and there’s often a lot of discussion this time of year on closing ‘the gap.’ Whether we’re talking about the pensions gap, the wage gap or the investment gap, there’s still work to be done to ensure gender equality when it comes to wealth in both the UK and globally.
However, there’s also cause to celebrate just how much this has improved in recent years. There’s a swathe of data showing that women are earning more, building more, inheriting more and leading more. According to the Centre for Economic and Business Research, women are expected to hold 60% of the UKs wealth in 20251. It could be argued that we’re coming into a generation of women-led wealth.
While far greater numbers of women are coming into wealth from a vast array of sources, the way that wealth is being managed still needs improvement. Women are statistically less likely to seek financial advice than men, and it’s therefore no surprise that data shows they are also more risk averse when it comes to investing. This leads many women to hold funds in a way that hampers long term growth potential.
It’s this gap — the wealth advice gap — that has the potential to change the financial future for a generation of women, or leave them on the back foot for years to come.
One of the most positive aspects to the increase in women’s wealth is the fact that it is coming from a variety of different sources. This suggests that it’s a trend which is likely to continue, reflecting a broad change rather than an improvement in one specific area. This further highlights the importance of closing the wealth advice gap.
We are not looking at a single source of increasing wealth that needs to be better managed, we’re looking at individuals with unique sets of circumstance that need personal, tailored advice.
Some key examples of these wealth drivers include:
As mentioned earlier, 60% of inherited wealth is expected to be passed on to women in 2025. This is likely to be a combination of many different factors, such as changes to estate splits to the next generation, demographic makeup (there are slightly more women than men in the UK), and longevity factors meaning many women will outlive their male partners.
This statistic coincides with what is being called the Great Wealth Transfer, where an estimated £7 trillion will pass from the Baby Boomers to their children over the next 30 years2.
That’s the potential for a huge amount of wealth to be transferred into the hands of women in the coming decades.
Women are also increasingly leading the charge in creating wealth themselves. In 2022, women in the UK established over 150,000 companies, which is more than twice as many as in 20183.
Data in areas such as venture capital funding shows that there is still a huge shortfall in the support for women in building these businesses, but this trend shows that more women than ever are prepared to take on the challenge of building a company.
While statistically many of these new companies won’t create significant wealth for the founders (regardless of their gender), it’s almost inevitable that these greater numbers will lead to more success stories.
Starting a business is not the only way to build wealth independently, and many women are looking to forge successful careers in established businesses. There are encouraging signs that women are taking up an increasing number of leadership positions at large companies.
For example, the 2025 FTSE Women Leaders Review report showed that 43% of FTSE 350 board members are female, compared to just 9.5% in 20114.
The UK’s voluntary approach to gender equality in boardrooms is setting an international precedent for inclusive business, coming second only to France in the G7, which has mandatory quotas in place.
At the heart of many of the wealth inequalities is the fact that for couples with children, women typically spend more time out of the workforce. This is not just down to pregnancy, but also because women collectively take on the bulk of the childcare responsibilities once the children are born.
It’s no secret that couples are having children later, and there’s also an increasing number of women and men making the choice to be child free. Historical data from the US Census Bureau and Morgan Stanley forecasts suggest that by 2030, 45% of prime working age women (ages 25-44) will be single — up from 41% in 2018.
All of that adds up to more women in the workforce and generating greater levels of income.
That all sounds like good news, but the question is, what’s next? If these trends continue, we are going to see higher levels of income and wealth in the hands of women, but there’s a widespread shortfall in the advice women are receiving in how best to manage this money.
The statistics are eyebrow raising:
This lack of engagement with financial advice could be one of the key reasons why women tend to be behind their male counterparts when growing wealth through investment.
One recent survey suggests that women typically keep over 70% of their savings and investments in cash7, while a study from Rice University confirmed what many in the industry have observed anecdotally– men tend to focus on the potential for high returns when investing, while women lean towards minimizing risk.8
Changing this situation and encouraging more women to seek financial advice offers a way to maximise the inroads that are being made when it comes to equality of income and opportunity.
Investing in growth assets like stocks and shares offers the potential for substantial wealth creation over the long term when compared to keeping funds in cash or low risk investments. While investments can go down as well as up and investors may not get back the amount invested, the chart below illustrates why many investors are prepared to take this risk (although you should always bear in mind that past performance is not a guide to future performance).
Investors who placed their assets into a broad selection of global shares would most likely have experienced significant wealth growth seven years.
Those who had kept their savings in cash may have experienced little or no risk in the form of fluctuation of their asset values and with cash there would be no capital loss, but they would have taken on a significant amount of underperformance risk, inflation risk and the risk of money running out too soon as a result.
As the study from Rice University concluded, men are more likely to gravitate towards the purple line, while women are more likely to gravitate towards the gold. This is a key issue when it comes to addressing true wealth inequality.
While income is a vital component to building wealth, the impact of investment returns and their compound effect has arguably far greater wealth creation potential over the long term. This is especially true when considering that women have a longer life expectancy than men, meaning the need for funds to last is even more important.
To maximise the impact of compound growth, you need to be able to keep as much of your investment money as you can, rather than sending off a large chunk to HMRC every year. The main lever for reducing this tax bill is the tax efficiency of your investment portfolio.
By utilising tax-free or tax advantaged accounts like ISAs and pensions, you can ensure that more of your hard-earned money stays in your pocket to grow for the long term. These areas, particularly pensions, can be complex, tax rates can change and often depend upon individual circumstances – another reason why taking the right financial advice is so important.
While there is still much to be done, women are increasingly in positions of greater income and wealth. But faced with a financial advice industry that is not currently designed to engage with women, there’s a risk that these hard-won improvements will be hamstrung by limiting financial strategies and investment decisions.
At Evelyn Partners, we’re deeply aware of this issue and are committed to helping address it. We have experts across financial planning and investment management who speak your language. We can help you work towards a future that is set up to make the most of your financial position and help you live life on your own terms.
To speak to an expert about your personal financial situation, book a free initial consultation.
1 CEBR, Neglected heirs: widows who take over the family finances, 22 April 2022
2 FTAdviser, Preparing for the great UK wealth transfer, 16 August 2024
3 Financial Times, UK women created record number of new companies in 2022, 22 February 2023
4 GOV.UK, UK businesses lead the way with record numbers of female leaders, 25 February 2025
5 Schroders, Financial advisers are struggling to meet the needs of female clients, 8 March 2024
6 Money Marketing, Focus more on female clients or fail, 8 March 2023
7 Bankrate, 26% Of Working Women Are Leaving Free Money On The Table That Could Set Back Their Retirement, 25 September 2024
8 Rice University, Male Investors Take More Risk
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