Women are finally being recognized for both their financial contributions as workers, and decision making in the family. You may have heard that women are now making 85% of all healthcare decisions. In addition, they also control 27% of the world’s wealth, which is over $20 trillion. In this country, women control 39% of the decision making power for investable income, or $11.2 trillion. While women are increasing their wealth, they may be relatively new to investing in the market.
There is a gap in financial management for women and close to 53% don’t have a financial advisor. In a recent report, 75% of women under 40 don’t have an investment advisor. When women do look for investment opportunities, 77% look for companies with diversity in senior management according to “Harnessing the Power of the Purse” by the Center for Talent and Innovation. Companies who embrace and recognize this new “power of the purse” will realize great opportunities to capture investment from this growing and important demographic.
Leaders like Carolyn Buck Luce have initiated the conversation about the SHEconomy and are making a huge impact. In her recent article “How the ‘SHEconomy’ Will Reshape the Private Sector”, Buck Luce outlined the impact women have financially on the economy and provided these statistics:
“Working women in the United States generate $4.3 trillion in earned income annually and now represent 50 percent of all workers in this country”
“Women contributed nearly 100 percent of the change in family income in the past decade in the U.S.”
“They represent the fastest cohort of wealth accumulators — owning 75 percent of the nation’s wealth in the U.S. — and are estimated to inherit anywhere from $12-$40 trillion over the next 20 years.”
The signs all point to a new “SHEconomy where women represent the biggest “untapped natural resource for the private sector”.
The SHEconomy is the opportunity for women to move the needle forward not just for their generation, but it is also paving the way for the next generation: daughters. Using economic power gives a new voice to buying decisions, creating a world where women’s influence is finally being recognized. Companies like Dove, Pantene, and Always recognize the importance of speaking directly to what matters to women and their daughters and are creating loyal customers as a result.
How do you define the power of the purse? Do you see women as being able to control more of the economy or is there still a long way to go? We love hearing from you, leave a comment below.
