USA Today: Advisory firm empowers female investors with wealth-boosting knowledge

Let’s start with the facts: Women in the U.S. live on average five years longer than men, according to the World Bank. Moreover, according to the American Psychological Association, about 40% to 50% of married couples in the U.S. eventually divorce. And, according to a 2019 analysis by the Pew Research Center, U.S. has the world’s highest rate of children living in single parent households at 23%. All of this goes to show that personal financial planning and investing should be — and often already are — priorities for women and men alike.

According to a 2017 Merrill Lynch report, women feel roughly as confident as men do, if not more so, in performing financial tasks such as paying bills, budgeting, paying off debt and choosing insurance. However, the one area in which there is a notable gender difference is managing investments: Only 52% of women feel confident managing investments, versus 68% of men, the report said.

Betsy Cunagin, a senior financial advisor and the director of financial planning at Parsec Financial, said she sees varying degrees of financial proficiency when working with her clients.