Financial Finesse held a webinar on Friday previewing data that it will release later this week in a report on the gender gap in financial literacy.
“Over the last several years, the gap has been steadily increasing” although it’s beginning to level off, Diane Winland, the report’s primary author, said in the webinar.
“Women need to get ahead of men” in order to overcome barriers like longer lifespans and less time in the work force, Winland said. Women can live between five and 10 years longer than men, she said, and tend to make less over time. The National Commission on Pay Equity found women make about $11,000 less than men per year.
The gap is largest in debt and money management, Winland said. That’s surprising because women are frequently the money managers in their families, Winland said, referring to a Boston Consulting Group study that found in 73% of households, spending is controlled by women.
Financial Finesse found the smallest gap in long-term planning, and no gap in participation in employer-sponsored retirement plans. That parity in participation doesn’t translate to actual savings, though. Winland referred to data from the Employee Benefits Research Institute that found men have saved on average $114,000 in workplace retirement plans, compared with $56,000 for women.
“We need to do a better job of putting emphasis on women taking control of their finances,” Winland said in the webinar. Winland stressed that improving women’s financial habits isn’t the only goal; women need to have more confidence in their abilities and actions in order to see improvement.
Linda Robertson, a senior financial planner at Financial Finesse, pointed out that the gender gap narrowed with higher levels of income, especially between men and women in the $150,000-to-$200,000 income range. The reason why is a subject of further study, she said.
Winland referred to a study by Allianz that showed women have a “pervasive fear of being a bag lady. No matter what position we achieve, we still have that underlying fear.”
In some areas, Financial Finesse found, women are improving while men are actually pulling back. Women improved at fee analysis, rebalancing and allocating assets. “Women are better at following a plan,” Winland said, “while men tend to be more aggressive.”
The report found men are more likely to have an emergency cash fund, pay bills on time and manage their cash flow so they’re not spending more than they make. “In order to save for long-term [goals], we need to close the gap in money management,” Robertson said.
Men are also more likely to know whether they are on track for retirement, although less than a quarter of male respondents could answer positively. “The younger men and women are when they run estimates, the smaller steps they need to take to get on track,” Robertson added. Winland said that financial education should focus on empowering people. “The highly technical, narrowly focused lecture format of education may not be the best model,” Robertson agreed. The format suggested by Financial Finesse is life goal-based and holistic, and delivers information in a way that is engaging and encourages participation. The traditional model is “definitely not the best for women and maybe for all employees,” Winland said. “Women prefer a much more kinesthetic style.”
To design effective financial educational programs, Financial Finesse suggested using a holistic approach that ties together all the benefits an employer offers. They should also work to create “ah-ha” moments that women can relate to.
Another best practice is to “fold the financial piece into the wellness program so employees can see the connection between physical health and financial health,” Winland said.
Winland added that women respond well to coaching programs with multiple steps, like an online assessment followed by group workshops and a one-on-one coaching session or call.
“To close the gap, we have to make sure women are taking positive action,” Robertson concluded. She suggested making women active participants in their financial education and giving them concrete steps to take following educational sessions.
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At the annual International Consumer Electronics Show, it's traditional to hear announcements of the most amazing things, some of which are so amazing that it's hard to believe they might happen. For example, Windows tablets have yet to put the sales of iPads to shame. Past announcements of smartwatches never saw them become a must for the fashion conscious. This year, perhaps one of the most eyebrow-raising claims belonged to Comcast (CMCSA) (CMCSK). "We expect that customer service will soon be one of our best products," said CEO Neil Smit, according to tech blog BGR. That would be one astonishing turnaround. Although, as BGR put it, "Considering the quality of most of Comcast's products, this wouldn't be very difficult to achieve." In "The Prince," Machiavelli once debated whether it was better for a leader to be feared or loved. (He said both if possible, but if not, then feared.) What he didn't address so clearly was the utility of being hated. That's been Comcast's quandary, as the company has exceeded at being hated. It won -- if that's the right word -- Consumerist's audience poll of the most hated company in the country last year. That was the second time the largest cable television provider in the U.S. grabbed the crown, with 2010 being the first. Comcast beat out the likes of Monsanto (MON), Walmart (WMT) and Bank of America (BAC). It even bested SeaWorld (SEAS) after the scandalous Blackfish documentary. The reason? Bad customer service. No, make that service so terrible that it has gained national attention on more than one occasion in just the last year: A tech journalist recorded his attempt to cancel his Comcast service, as Time reported, while a "customer retention" specialist desperately tried to keep him from doing so. Another man had multiple problems with inaccurate billing and was only able to resolve it because he had recorded a Comcast customer service rep previously making a promise, according to Mashable. Comcast managed to get a customer fired over a billing dispute and eventually apologized, as AOL Jobs reported. BGR reported that Comcast closed out the year by making a customer spend four hours on the phone to cancel service. This is beyond bad service. It's the stuff of legend that makes attempts to merge with Time Warner Cable (TWC) a tad more difficult than might otherwise be the case. But all that is behind Comcast, according to Smit. "We do need to transform our customer experience, and I think we have a lot of work to do," Smit said, according to Consumerist. "It will take time, but we'll get it done," in what Consumerist said could be the "understatement of the century." Of course, it may take a phone call or two. Or three. More from Erik Sherman
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Home prices jumped nearly 11% in April , and are now up more than 22% from the bottom three years ago. 
Steven Senne/AP NEW YORK -- Walmart's first-quarter net income fell 5 percent as the world's largest retailer was hurt by bad winter weather and continues to see its low-income customers struggle in the U.S. and around the globe. The company's performance missed Wall Street's expectations, and it gave a weak second-quarter earnings forecast. Walmart's (WMT) stock fell nearly 3 percent in premarket trading Thursday. The results underscore the big challenges facing Walmart's new CEO, Doug McMillon, who took over the top role on Feb. 1. The retailer is considered an economic bellwether, with the company accounting for nearly 10 percent of nonautomotive retail spending in the U.S. Walmart's latest performance appears to show that many people are having a hard time stretching their money between paychecks. For the period ended April 30, the Bentonville, Arkansas, company earned $3.59 billion, or $1.11 a share. That compares with $3.78 billion, or $1.14 a share, a year ago. Walmart Stores said that bad weather hurt earnings by about 3 cents a share. Its performance was also dinged by a higher-than-expected tax rate. Income from continuing operations was $1.10 a share. Analysts, on average, expected earnings of $1.15 a share, according to a FactSet survey. "Like other retailers in the United States, the unseasonably cold and disruptive weather negatively impacted U.S. sales and drove operating expenses higher than expected," President and CEO Doug McMillon said in a statement. But Walmart has been suffering from weak sales in the U.S. for some time. Sales at U.S. stores open at least a year slipped 0.2 percent in the quarter, the fifth consecutive quarter of decline the metric, considered a key gauge of a retailer's financial performance. Analysts had been expecting the measure to be flat. In the U.S., while jobs are easier to get and the housing market is gaining momentum, these improvements haven't been enough to get Americans to spend. On top of that, the Nov. 1 expiration of a temporary boost in food stamps is hurting its shoppers' ability to spend. Total revenue rose 1 percent to $114.96 billion. Wall Street was calling for higher revenue of $116.43 billion. Revenues Rise McMillon said in a prerecorded call that U.S. sales rose during the second half of the quarter, but that Sam's Club had lower-than-expected sales. While membership income climbed, McMillon said it was mostly because of a fee increase started last year. Total U.S. revenue rose 2 percent to $67.85 billion. Walmart International's sales rose 3.4 percent in the quarter, on a constant currency basis. Walmart, which has 10,994 stores in 27 countries, is facing stiff completion from dollar chains and online king Amazon.com (AMZN). Walmart has been sharpening its focus on everyday low prices at U.S. stores and further pushing that strategy abroad. Walmart also said earlier in the year that it will speed up growth plans for its smaller Neighborhood Markets and Walmart Express stores that cater to shoppers looking for more convenience with fresh produce and meat and household and beauty products. In a call with the media, Walmart executives said super centers are getting bigger purchases on each trip from people stocking up on bulk items, but traffic has been weaker, particularly in the bottom performing 10 percent of its stores. At Neighborhood Markets, on the other hand, traffic is up 4 percent as people buy fill-in items at the smaller stores. For the second quarter, Walmart anticipates earnings from continuing operations in a range of $1.15 to $1.25 a share. Analysts predict earnings of $1.28 a share. The company's shares fell $2.41, or 3.1 percent, to $76.33 in premarket trading just before the market opened.
Eva-Lotta Jansson/Bloomberg/Getty Images 
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