Jill Mackay

The mutual’s latest Family Finance Tracker research shows that 71% of women are concerned about being able to afford all their regular outgoings over the coming year, compared with 60% of men.

The findings suggest many women feel under significant pressure from essential spending, and they are more likely to say they have already used short-term coping measures to cover essentials in the past 12 months.

Twenty-one per cent have borrowed money from friends or family to cover everyday essentials such as food or bills in the last year, compared with 16% of men. Almost a quarter (23%) have used Buy Now, Pay Later services, compared with 19% of men, while 27% have used a credit card for essentials, against 24% of men.

Women are also slightly more likely to have dipped into long-term savings, taken out a personal loan, or used an overdraft. Overall, two-thirds (67%) say they had taken at least one of those actions in the past year to cover outgoings, compared with 62% of men.

In addition, women were more likely to say they felt worse off than a year earlier – even before renewed Middle East tensions added to economic uncertainty – at 33%, compared with 25% of men. Women were also more likely to say they felt less financially secure than before 2020, at 37% compared with 28% of men.

The pressure appears to be weighing on longer-term saving and investment behaviour. Six in 10 women (60%) say they have not opened or started using any savings or investment products in the past three months, compared with 53% of men, while women are also less likely to hold a cash or stocks and shares ISA, at 41% compared with 51% of men.

Jill Mackay, a savings expert at Scottish Friendly, commented: “While our previous research has pointed to a wider trend of ‘hesi-saving’ – when people build cash savings while hesitating over a move into investments – these latest findings suggest that for many women, the immediate challenge may be even more fundamental than that.

“When regular costs are already leading some to borrow, use credit, or dip into long-term savings, investing can understandably feel further down the list of priorities. Cash may feel safer, simpler and more accessible.”

She added: “But the longer women remain under financial pressure, the harder it could be to build the kind of long-term resilience that saving and investing can help support. With more women saying they feel less financially secure than they did before 2020, improving understanding of the role long-term saving and investing can play is potentially more important than ever.

“For those who do have the financial headroom - depending on individual circumstances and goals -investing gradually can be one way to potentially grow money over time. It does not necessarily mean taking higher levels of risk than you are comfortable with or putting large sums into the market all at once. Steady, regular investments held for the long term could play an important role in building towards financial resilience.”