Men Found To Outsave Women

Now, we here at Synergy, are not the type to perpetuate stereotypes. We believe firmly in not judging books by their covers. However, when a light-hearted conversation in our offices earlier today turned into a major disagreement, it was important for us to take a more serious look into the question that was being debated.

Are women worse at saving money than men? Of course, most of the men taking part in the discussion insisted that they are. “As soon as a woman sees a percent sign in a store, they think ‘sale’,” said one male staff member, “She thinks she’s actually saving money because she is getting a discount. A guy ignores it knowing that spending no money at all means that he’s really saving his money.”

The women, naturally, took issue with this insisting that they are members of the more “responsible” gender. Being natural caregivers, they argued, women are more keen on taking care of financial matters than men were. In case you were wondering what sparked what is probably an age-old debate, a QMI Agency report was released yesterday attempting to determine a winner of this financial battle of the sexes.

A recent Scotiabank poll determined that “Canadian women say they would feel better if they saved more but can’t afford to do so.” In other words, Canadian men have a better ability to save cash than their female counterparts. Hey, don’t shoot the messenger! We only just discovered the following statistics ourselves.

According to the study, “About 69% of women said they don’t have enough funds to put aside more cash, compared with 57% of men.” The QMI report also notes that men are more likely to have a savings plan to help them in achieving specific goals. Women, on the other hand, generally do not have plans to save.

Other findings of the survey include that “about 70% of men save money at least once a month, compared with 64% of women.” As well, men were found to be more likely to have enough money saved to cover more than three months of household expenses. While this statistic did not sit well with most women in our offices, the following may be of some solace.

The survey did find that women are more likely than men to change their saving habits if necessary. So hope is not all lost, ladies. Gerry Pettipas, a Scotiabank branch manager in Halifax believes that everyone has the ability to save money regardless of their gender. It very simply requires planning and dedication.

Said Pettipas: “We realize that there are a lot of demands on Canadians’ wallets and we believe that everyone has money that can be saved – sometimes they just need help to find it. The key to saving success is saving automatically.”