New research from the United States finds that women particularly benefit from increased financial literacy.
A new study from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation found that women are more likely to engage in costly credit card behaviors (such as carrying balances, making minimum payments, and being hit with late fees), but that financial literacy can also play a key role in helping women avoid that costly behavior.
The study found that among those with low levels of financial literacy, 29% of men and 32% of women are likely to engage in problematic credit card behaviors (even after accounting for age, education and income); but that gap disappears among those with high financial literacy.
“For women, having a high level of financial literacy appears to pay off,” said FINRA Foundation president, Gerri Walsh. “The gender gap for costly credit card behaviors disappears for women with high levels of financial literacy, and after controlling for demographic characteristics like age and income. Becoming more financially literate is a great step that any woman can take to keep more of her hard-earned money in her pocket.”
Additionally, the survey found that women pay about half a percentage point more in credit card interest rates than men, regardless of financial literacy level and after accounting for other demographic characteristics like income and education.
The research is based on an online survey of more than 28,000 respondents, weighted to match the adult U.S. population on age by gender, ethnicity, education and census division.