Hargreaves Lansdown has launched a dedicated service to empower women through their financial journeys.
The D2C platform provider said the service, named Financially Fearless, is “designed for women by women” to remove the barriers around finances and to help women become more confident with their money.
‘Breaking down barriers’
Hargreaves Lansdown said: “We’re committed to breaking down the barriers that women face when it comes to money and financial advice – without the jargon, the pressure or the problems without solutions.”
The service will provide emails, articles and webinars covering topics such as money fundamentals, pensions and future proofing, overcoming financial hurdles, divorce, grief and loss redundancy and the unexpected and financial advice.
Fundscape chief executive Bella Caridade-Ferreira (pictured) said women need to be “empowered and financially fearless” as often “women are too careful with their money and that caution costs them”.
The services addresses three levels of female investor with specific advice for those just starting out, those looking to fill in the gaps and more experienced women looking to optimise their finances.
Gender investment gap is persistent
Boring Money CEO and founder Holly Mackay welcomed the initiative, saying “one thing has remained consistent throughout all the fintech disruption and global pandemic – and that is the persistent gender investment gap”.
She added: “Despite a lot of lip service, I don’t think many groups have genuinely set aside the time and money to really try and help. Women want more information but they don’t want to risk asking for help from someone they don’t trust or who makes them feel stupid.”
A study by investment app, Freetrade found that if men and women were to invest the recommended 10% of their average salaries every year based on 2020’s averages and an expected return of 4.9% per annum, female investors would be £15,336 worse off than men.
CWC Research managing director Clive Waller said the initiative is good because it increases the focus on financial planning for women.
He noted this was particularly important because “women have been discriminated in jobs, promotions and salaries for decades and in many instances they still are” and “as such, their pensions are typically lower than men’s.”
However, Waller warned that “some outfits see commercial opportunity in diversity and abuse it”.
