New research suggests has revealed that - for the first time - women are more likely to seek professional financial advice than men.
One in five (20%) of women surveyed by M&G-owned national IFA Continuum said they were likely in the future to seek advice from an independent financial adviser, compared to 19% of men.
The 20% figure is a significant rise on the 14% of women who said they were planning to take financial advice in June 2024 when the last survey was carried out.
In the 2024 survey, 15% of men said they were planning to take financial advice, exceeding the number of women planning to take financial advice.
Continuum surveyed 2,000 adults at the end of December to find out whether they were planning to take financial advice.
According to the survey, women said they were less likely to feel financially secure. Just 43% of women said they felt financially secure in comparison to 49% of men.
Erin Rigault, an IFA at Continuum, said she had seen more 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.”
Previous Continuum research found that women were more likely to have worries about their financial freedom in retirement, with just 40% of women confident about their retirement planning compared 46% of men.
While women feel less financially secure than men they 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.
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 showed that women often look for different attributes when choosing a financial adviser. Just 23% of women surveyed said they rated expertise and qualifications as 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%).
Continuum is based in Plymouth and was stablished in 2014 by founding partner, Martin Brown, as a national IFA brand. Continuum has assets under influence of over £2.89 billion.
• YouGov surveyed 2,181 adults in the UK on behalf of Continuum between 1 and 2 December 2025.