Close to two-thirds of women believe the United States is in a financial crisis or approaching one, according to a new Nationwide survey.
Nationwide’s eighth annual Advisor Authority survey found that 40% of women think we are in a financial crisis and 24% think we are approaching one. Interestingly, more women (36%) compared with men (27%) expect a short, shallow recession that eases gradually vs. a prolonged, severe downturn followed by stagflation and instability.
Among non-retired women, it is inflation that they see as the biggest challenge to their retirement portfolios. When asked about top immediate challenges, 54% cited inflation, 38% picked economic recession and 21% said market volatility.
Meanwhile, less than half (45%) of women say they have a strategy in place to protect their assets against market risk in 2023, down from 51% of women respondents who answered similarly in 2022.
Another interesting finding of the survey was that more women and fewer men are working with financial professionals than they did last year. More than half of women (52%) are working with an advisor or financial professional in 2023, compared with 45% in 2022. In contrast, the percentage of men working with a financial advisor fell by almost 30% — to 45% this year compared with 64% in 2022, the study found.
Nearly all women with an advisor (97%) said working with one helps them feel more confident in their ability to make good decisions, up from 88% in 2022.
The Harris Poll conducted the online study on behalf of Nationwide from January 4-13, 2023, among 511 advisors and financial professionals and 789 investors ages 18+ with investable assets of $10,000 or more. The study included 274 RIAs, 175 broker-dealer professionals, 128 at wirehouses, and 55 other financial professionals. Among investors, there were 209 with $10,000 to less than $100,000 of investable assets, 203 with investable assets of $100,000-$499,000, 167 with $500,000-$999,000, 106 with $1 million-$4.99 million, and 104 with $5 million or more.