Scottish Friendly’s latest Investor Index shows that every year since 2019, women have opened new Junior ISAs (JISAs) for their children, outstripping new JISA openings by men by over 9%.
This is despite government gender pay gap data1 showing that women are still being paid just 91p for every £1 earned by their male counterparts.
The leading financial mutual’s quarterly study of its members’ investment trends shows that since the index was first launched five years ago, the total number of JISAs women have opened has increased by 128%, compared to a 101% increase for men.
This finding is exemplified by Scottish Friendly’s recent Family Finance Tracker research, which found that a fifth of women in the UK (20%) said their highest priority future financial goal was saving for their child or grandchild, compared to 15% of men who ranked this their highest priority.
The Investor Index, which focuses on JISA and ISA savings, shows new JISA sales were up in every region of the UK, since 2019. Scotland led the charge, up 225%, followed by the East Midlands, North West and North East, all up 153%, 117% and 112%, respectively.
Scottish Friendly’s savings specialist, Jill Mackay, commented on the data: “It’s positive to see that parents and guardians prioritise saving for children as part of their long-term financial goals, even when facing disparities in earnings as well as the ongoing cost-of-living pressures.
“Understandably being able to set aside a lot of money may not be an option with day-to-day financial demands as they are.
“But starting as soon as possible and just putting a little away into a stocks and shares JISA could build to be a substantial amount over time.
“More can, and should, be done here from a policy point of view to support those wanting to save for children.
“We believe that children’s savings would get a real boost if JISA rules were improved to allow other family members, such as grandparents, to be able to open up JISAs and not have to rely on the children’s parents to do it.
“Giving children a better financial foundation for when they enter adulthood can only be a good thing, and removing this barrier would make a tangible difference to a great many children.”
