Women are now more likely than their male counterparts to seek professional financial advice, according to new research from national financial advice firm Continuum.
One in five (20%) of women surveyed by Continuum said they are likely to seek advice from an independent financial adviser, in comparison to 19% of men.
This is a significant increase from the 14% of women who told us they were planning on taking financial advice in June 2024, in comparison to 15% of men.
Women were less likely to feel financially secure, with gender being one of the largest singular factors to how secure savers felt. Just 43% of women said they feel financially secure in comparison to 49% of men.
Erin Rigault, Independent Financial Adviser at Continuum, has seen an increasingly large number of women engaging with financial advice over the last few years.
She said: “It is encouraging to see that the gender advice gap is beginning to close. I have found that when women begin to take professional financial advice they really engage with it. I have found in my own experience that female clients enjoy the process of ‘working things out’ through conversation with a trusted financial adviser, and find it reassuring to collaborate rather than working alone without a sounding board.”
Our previous research has also found that women were more likely to have worries about their financial freedom in retirement, with just 40% of women confident in their retirement planning in comparison to 46% of men.
Despite feeling less financially secure than their male counterparts, women were no more likely to be planning to make changes to their savings, pension or seek independent financial advice following the measures announced by Rachel Reeves in her November Budget.
However, women were less likely to be looking to invest more following the Budget. Just 6% of women said they were more likely to invest money in stocks and shares than they were before the Budget, in comparison to 10% of men.
Previous research from Continuum also showed that women often look for different attributes when choosing a financial adviser.
Just 23% of women surveyed said they consider expertise and qualifications to be an important attribute for an adviser, in comparison to 30% of men. The most important attributes women were looking for from an adviser were trust and credibility (52%) and a personalised service (33%) .
YouGov surveyed 2,181 adults in the UK on behalf of Continuum between 1st and 2nd December 2025.
