Australian women’s financial literacy among world’s best

Australian women are front-runners when it comes to financial literacy, Visa's international barometer of women's financial literacy has found.

Visa surveyed 25,000 people in 27 countries to assess the strength and weaknesses of financial education around the world.

Financial literacy was highlighted as a significant factor relating to the gender gap in retirement savings.

Women in Brazil fared best in terms of financial literacy, followed closely by Australia, Mexico, the US and New Zealand.

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Participants were assessed on budgeting, emergency savings, frequency in talking to children about finances, perception of young people's financial literacy and desired age to begin formal personal finance lessons.

Visa found that women's financial literacy in Brazil was slightly lower than men's, slightly higher than men's in Mexico and New Zealand, and virtually the same for both genders in the US.

In Australia, however, women's financial literacy was found to be significantly higher than men, it said.

Australia was the only country where women saved more money for emergencies than men — but only by a fraction.

Emergency reserves were slim around the world, with only women in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong reportedly saving more than an average of three months worth of savings. Visa said emergency savings were a key indicator of an individual's financial stability.

In 22 countries, Visa found the majority of women had less than three months savings or none at all.

Australia ranked poorly in terms of perception of young people's money skills, coming last among the 22. Visa found that in 17 of 27 countries a majority of women believed young people did not understand finances.

Just over half (51 per cent) of Australian women talked to their children about money on a weekly basis, compared to 31 per cent of Australian fathers.