Women to be main financial decision-makers by 2020

LONDON, Aug 3 (Reuters) More women than men will make financial decisions in the home in just over a decade, according to a report published today.

The fairer sex will have the final say in the majority of financial decisions in Britain's homes by 2020, if current trends continue, according to National Savings&Investments.

The government-backed savings provider said that men currently make key financial decisions in 20 per cent of households, a decline of 2 per cent in the past five years.

Over the same period, the proportion of women having the final say has risen from 10 per cent to more than 12 per cent.

Based on these trends, the Future Foundation, a think-tank commissioned to undertaken the research, forecast that a shift in power will happen by 2020.

Women are also predicted to be the main earners in one in four households by 2030, up from 14 per cent today.

Although women continue to earn less than men -- an average of 1,080 pounds per month, compared to 1,486 pounds among men -- they are catching up fast, particularly at younger ages.

Women in their 20s earned a wage equivalent to 93 per cent of their male counterparts' wages in 2000, a figure that has risen to 96 per cent today.

Women in this age group will overtake men in the earning stakes by 2015, if the trend continues, the report says.

The changing demographics will also boost the nation's savings habits, it adds.

Around 50 per cent of households are expected to be saving regularly by 2057, up from 43 per cent today.

That will bring the total volume of savings, excluding pensions, to 150 billion pounds compared to 43 billion pound today and less than one billion pounds 50 years ago, based on 2003 prices.

William Nelson, deputy head of consultancy services at the Future Foundation, said: ''We are seeing the emergence of a generation of women who are better educated, more ambitious, and more financially confident than any before them.

''This generation is already more likely to handle day-to-day financial matters than their male partners, and demands to have at least an equal say in the big decisions.'' The analysis is based on a range of sources, including the Expenditure and Food Survey, British Household Panel Study, Family Resources Survey and Future Foundation data.

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