A new national survey commissioned by OppenheimerFunds illuminates the need to bolster young women's financial acumen. The study of single women between age 21 and age 34 found that 53 percent live paycheck to paycheck, compared with 41 percent of married women and 42 percent of single men. Bridget A. Macaskill, OppenheimerFunds chairman and chief executive officer, said that trend could put GenX women at financial risk, in part because they are likely to live longer than men, they may not work as continuously as men, their earnings may be lower than men's in general and therefore their Social Security payments are expected to be lower. Young women are not alone. Numerous studies show women of all ages lag behind their male counterparts in taking control of financial decision-making.
Many experts believe the key is in better educating women about money.
The director of Smith's new program, Mahnaz Mahdavi, said that courses offered will include personal finance, the principles of investing, risk tolerance and socially responsible investment strategies. New data show the number of affluent women in the United States is increasing rapidly, and in the next decade more women are expected to graduate from college, said Mahdavi, an economics professor. These circumstances mean that the new Smith College program is in the right place at the right time, she added. We are training women to be leaders in whatever they want to be. Kaplan, a partner at Goldman Sachs and Co., said numerous magazines, Web sites and books are devoted to helping people become financially literate.