FLIT.ie Empowering Women to Financial Security

Observations from primary research (stakeholder interviews):

• Gender pensions gap see women with on average 120K less in their pension pot than men at retirement
• Women face barriers to remaining at work, and to equality of pay and treatment at work
• Women don't usually talk about finances with friends
• Government sites are useful, but can be text-heavy and hard to process
• Women: strong at managing day-to-day finances and family budgets..
• .. but disadvantaged by time away from workforce:
• .. lifetime loss of earnings & pension contributions,
• .. limited access to employer-sponsored education
• Long-term finance/investment decisions often still led by male partner
• .. although women becoming more visible at discussions with partner's financial advisor!
• Unexpected incapacity or death of partner can disrupt access to money and assets
• Financial product costs in ireland not transparent
• Financial advisors in Ireland not viewed as accessible, affordable, trustworthy
• Women lead busy lives, juggle at-work and caring responsilities and risk de-prioritising own needs
• Current 'lifestage' frames women's circumstances, priorities and opportunities
• There's often a time gap between making a decision and taking action..
• .. possibly due to the emotional processing needed

We believe a market gap exists, in Ireland, for a female-dedicated financial education and action-tracking platform

FLIT.ie representatives have been busy during 2024 engaging with the Tech, Fintech, and female business worlds. Good old fashioned networking and relationship-building, scanning the environment for trends, influences and changes that impact women engaging with financial services - while raising awareness by wearing the team Tshirt!

in recent months, more than 70 stakeholders from the finance, fintech, and female worlds shared personal and professional observations with FLIT. We are immensely grateful to all the people we have met who shared personal or family experience. These stories often acknowledge vulnerability, a recognition of financial shocks affecting those closest to us. And a feeling there might better ways of preparing ourselves - to arrive armed with knowledge.

Events included:

• FinTech Summit, May 24
• TechFoundHER, April 24
• Dublin Tech Summit, June 24
• Karren Brady Women in Tech Summit - Manchester, May 24
• TechStars networking, June 24
• London Tech Week, June 24
• ESG in Finance Summit - London, June 24
• InvestHER summit, June 24
• Rethink Ireland Social Entrepreneur meetup, June 24
• Dept of Finance Financial Literacy Stakeholder event, July 24
• AI Governance, Kildare Merits, July 24
• AI Enterprise Barriers, NCI, July 24