Most Canadians are comfortable talking about money with their close friends and family, but according to a recent survey, some find it uncomfortable to talk about finances outside their inner circle and the topic is more prominent among women.
Intuit’s 2024 Financial Literacy Survey suggests that 27 percent of women and 17 percent of men are uncomfortable talking about money in social situations, and 22 percent of all women say they would prefer to share details of your sex life than your financial circumstances.
The survey suggests there remains a gender gap in financial confidence, with almost a third of women (31 per cent) concerned that talking about finances will result in a negative judgment about their intelligence.
A disparity was also found in exposure to finances during primary and post-secondary school, with fewer women (68 percent) reporting receiving financial education in school compared to men (73 percent).
According to Intuit, open conversations about money are crucial to ending the stigma. The survey found that 55 percent of women want to improve their financial literacy and only 38 percent of women have savings for three months of salary.
Methodology
Intuit commissioned an online survey, completed in November 2024, of 2,600 consumers (adults 18+) across Canada. Three in 10 respondents (31 percent) work full time for a company with more than 100 employees, while 13 percent work full time for a company with between 10 and 99 employees. Less than five percent work full time in a company with between 1 and 9 employees. The rest of the respondents are self-employed or volunteer, studying as students or interns, or retired. The survey sample is made up of nearly two-thirds women (65 percent) and one-third men (35 percent), with Generation Z (ages 18 to 27) making up 14 percent of participants. To ensure that the survey results are as representative as possible, they have been reweighted using post-stratification based on local census data. For clarity, percentages have been rounded to the nearest decimal, so values shown in tables and graphs may not add up to 100 percent. Answers to multiple-choice survey questions are shown as a percentage of the number of respondents, not the total number of responses, so they always add up to more than 100 percent. Respondents received remuneration.
