"Woman is the keeper of her home" appears to have gained a new meaning. A survey conducted by The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation reveals that it is the women who are disciplined about household budgets, while uncontrolled spending is mostly the domain of men. Moreover, the findings break more gender stereotypes as a twice as many men as women admitted to not controlling their budgets.
Results of the survey Attitudes to Saving among Poles, conducted annually by The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation, show clearly that in Polish households it is usually the women who are in charge of the budget. As much as 40 percent of them claimed to keep track of even the smallest expenses and only one in ten admitted to not controlling them at all. What do men say? The study revealed that, in their case, the share of individuals failing to keep track of their expenses is twice higher (22 percent).
The study also shows Polish women to be more rational about saving and trust banks more than men. They are more likely to chose term deposits (16 percent) and savings accounts (13 percent) while among men, cash at home is the most popular (19 percent) followed by investment in real estate (17 percent).
Moreover, women are more constructive about saving, they are more likely to set a time by which they want to save a specific amount, the most often the term is one year (33 percent). Men are more likely to decide to save without determining a time limit (39 percent). The next step should be choosing a goal towards which to save. This turns out to be difficult for both Polish women and men.
One in four of us does not save for any specific goal, said Krzysztof Kaczmar, President of The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation. This is why saving is not our strong suit. Setting a goal or purpose for saving gives us more motivation to be systematic and helps us to choose the best financial tools to meet our needs. The goal and consequently the term and plan should be the main selection criteria for choosing saving products.
What may come as a surprise is the fact that, with 19 percent of men versus 16 percent of women, it is the men who are slightly more likely to save towards "small treats".
More facts from The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation's survey Attitudes to Saving among Poles:
- 45% of interviewed women regularly plans their spending for the coming month,
- 31% of men admitted to not planning any regular monthly spending,
- 13% of the women admitted to not being in control of their spending. The same was said by 22% of men,
- 40% of women keep track of even the smallest, daily expenses,
- 33% of women declared one year as their saving perspective while 39% of men fail to determine any term for saving,
- 19% of men and 16% of women save towards "little treats",
- 19% of men believe that the best way to manage financial surpluses is to keep cash at home. The same is said by 12% of women,
- 16% of women pointed to term deposits as the safest saving tool and 13% chose savings account as the safest option.
