While the investment objectives of men and women coincide, there are more men in Lithuania who invest than there are women. On the other hand, women more often save, more closely track family expenditures for key needs, and make financial plans for a longer period than men do. These investment and saving differences between the sexes were revealed by a representative survey of Lithuanian residents which was conducted on behalf of INVL Asset Management, one of Lithuania’s leading asset management companies, in February this year by Spinter Tyrimai.
Interestingly, compared with an analogous survey two years ago, the share of women who save was little changed, but the share of men who do so decreased. The share of people who invest, meanwhile, increased similarly over the same period among the representatives of both sexes.
Women tend to save and plan more
Asked whether they personally save, this year 66.3% of women and 57.6% of men responded affirmatively. Although there are more women who save, they save somewhat smaller amounts than men. Among women, 31.4% said that they save 21-50 euros a month, and another 30% manage to save 51-100 euros. The share of men who save 21-50 euros a month, meanwhile, was 26.1%, while the share of men who save 51-100 euros was 38.6%.
Women are not only more inclined to save, but also plan their finances more attentively and for a longer period. They know better than men do how much they spend per month on their own and their family’s most important necessities: 82.8% of women answered that question affirmatively versus 78.4% of men. In addition, somewhat more women than men indicated that they have a financial plan for themselves and their family: 23.8% compared with 21.4%.
Almost twice as many women (21.3%, versus 10.9% of men) have a financial plan for more than 10 years. The largest share of surveyed men with a financial plan (30.7%) said their plan was for 2 years (30% of women said that), while nearly 29% have a financial plan for up to 5 years (as do 27.6% of women) and 16.8% have a plan for up to 10 years (versus 13.4% of women).
“The survey shows that women in Lithuania save more and plan their own and their families’ finances somewhat more than men do. For our part, we’d like to point out that it’s worth planning finances for a longer period – that lets you effectively pursue financial goals and be better prepared for both expected and unexpected life events,” notes Dr Dalia Kolmatsui, Head of Pension Funds & Retail at INVL Asset Management.
For comparison, in the 2016 survey the share of women who save was 65.7% while the share of men was 65.9%.
Most common is investment in pension funds
If women save more, men are more active in investing: according to this year’s survey data, 19.3% of men in Lithuania and 15.9% of women invest their money. Asked what it would take to get them to start investing, both men and women first of all said they would need bigger income (71.1% and 70.4%, respectively).
Among other things that would spur them to invest, women more often mentioned a better grasp of financial markets (almost 32%), while 29% of women said they would like a guaranteed investment return. Among men, the need for a better understanding of the markets was relevant to 24% and a guaranteed investment return would motivate 23.4%.
Men, meanwhile, more often said that to invest you have to have a clear objective. That is important for 21.5% of men and just less than 19% of women. As the main objective which they do or would hope to achieve by investing, nearly half of respondents (49.2% of men and 47.6% of women) named getting extra income besides their salary, and slightly fewer said having money for retirement (about 47.5% of both men and women). The next objective in importance was saving to pay for one’s children’s education (about a quarter of men and women), and fourth place went to buying a home (mentioned by 23% of men and 21% of women).
People’s main investment objectives also determine the most commonly chosen investment instruments. People are currently most actively investing in pension funds, a choice of 56% of men and almost 52% of women. In second place is permanent life insurance (44% and 45.9%), followed by deposits – in which about a third of respondents invest, and real estate – an investment form chosen by 24.2% of men and 22.4% of women.
In the 2016 survey, the share of men who invest was 15.5% and the share of women who do so was 10.5%.
“It’s good to see that in recent years more and more people are investing. Although most are choosing an investment product like pension funds, there still aren’t many people who know about third pillar pension funds, even though accumulating in them along with second pillar pension funds is recommended in order to approach 80% of one’s previous income in retirement. Third pillar pension funds also let you save very flexibly, choosing contribution size and frequency yourself, and provide tax benefits,” Dr Kolmatsui says.
INVL Asset Management had the representative survey of investment and saving habits of people in the country conducted in February this year by Spinter Tyrimai. For the survey, 1006 Lithuanian residents aged 18 to 75 were interviewed.
INVL Asset Management, which is part of the Invalda INVL group, manages second and third pillar pension funds, mutual funds, alternative investments, private equity assets, and individual portfolios. Over 190 000 clients in Lithuania and Latvia and international investors have entrusted the Invalda INVL group’s companies with more than 600 million euros of assets.
INVL and Šiaulių bankas merged their retail services as of 1 December 2023.
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INVL and Šiaulių bankas merged their retail services as of 1 December 2023.