In 2015, the Australian Institute of Family Studies released a report called the “Demographics of Living Alone”. This report outlined, amongst other statistics, that one in four Australian households is a lone-person household, that living alone is more common with women than men and that women who live alone are, on average, older than men who live alone1.
At Freya Financial, what really caught our eye was the fact that, of women over the age of 60 living alone, more than 80% do so due to the death or divorce of a spouse.1
The reason this rang alarm bells for us was that we also know that only 38% of women contribute to decisions about how their money is invested2.
That leaves 62% of women who potentially have no say in how, or where, money that they are earning and contributing to joint savings is being used for their future. If these women are one of those 80% who find themselves without a spouse, through either death or divorce, what will their future look like? Where do they turn for help and advice?
At Freya Financial, we believe it is important for every woman to be involved and get the right advice to improve your financial stability later in life.
It’s not all doom and gloom. The good news is, you’ve made the first step just by reading this and Freya Financial can provide you with the tools and advice you need to plan for the future.
To find out more on these topics, please click on the links below:
1. Australian Institute of Family Studies (2015). Demographics of living alone. Available at: www.aifs.gov.au
2. Commonwealth Bank (2017). Enabling Change: A Fresh Perspective on Women’s Financial Security. P. 1-62.