High earning women are focused on growing their wealth – more so than men

New research from HSBC UK shows that high earning women have big ambitions for their wealth and plan to grow it by a further £91,520 by the end of this year based on our calculations – exceeding ambitions outlined by male counterparts.

High earning women aim to grow their wealth by an average of 22% this year, compared to 20% for men. Amongst the UK population average, women aimed to build savings and investments by £9,170 in 2026, compared to £13,650 for men, showing that affluent women are bridging the wealth gap with bold ambitions and financial goals.

Women who earn £100,000 a year or more are also more likely than men to consider pursuing wealth as a leading priority, with 74% deeming this important compared to 66% of men. In the nationally representative sample, only 43% of women prioritised this, compared to 45% of men.

Only 6% of high earning women admit they don’t invest or save regularly, compared to 8% of high earning men and 33% of women in the UK-wide sample. Two thirds (67%) of affluent women contribute to both cash savings and investments, whilst 23% save in cash products regularly and 4% prioritise investments.

Commenting on the trends, Rebecca Owers, Head of Wealth and Specialists at HSBC UK, said:

“It’s evident from the data that high earning women are empowered to take bold steps to build their own wealth. This indicates that when income disparity is removed as a barrier, women show incredible capabilities and discipline in setting goals and meeting them. Women are also regimented in terms of good financial habits, with 47% prioritising saving and investing on pay day, and 56% regularly reviewing and reducing unnecessary outgoings to prioritise longer-term goals.”

Women investing regularly and holding diverse portfolios

Mass affluent women report having a diverse portfolio, and although they are more likely than men to hold a cash ISA (62% vs 55% of men), they are broadly on par in terms of portfolio diversification.

More than three quarters (77%) held a stocks and shares ISA, 49% held traditional funds or company shares (vs 62% of men), 25% had stakes in real estate (vs 27%), 14% had invested in private equity (vs 14%), 11% in gold or raw materials (vs 19%), 18% in cryptocurrency (vs 22%) and 12% in art and collectibles (vs 13%).

Women were also more open minded to further diversifying their portfolio, with only 18% saying they weren’t open-minded to holding any more different types of assets, compared to 28% of men.

Perceptions of wealth evolve across income brackets

Nearly two thirds of higher earning women (64%) do consider themselves financially successful, compared to only 23% in the nationally representative sample.

Across the affluence spectrum, women name earning more money in their career as a leading goal. More than one in four affluent women (26%) name this as a leading priority, compared to 23% of UK women nationally.

However, amongst those women that do not report feeling financially successful, there is a large disparity in how much more they need to earn for this view to shift. High earning women want to earn at least £149,000 more a year on average in order to fulfil their vision of success, whereas women in the UK representative sample average at wanting an extra £61,000.

Rebecca Owers added: “Women are employing a range of different tools and techniques to meet their financial goals, including diversifying their portfolio and educating themselves on investing across various different types of asset classes.

“The vast majority of high earning women are already investing on a regular basis, but 70% of women across the UK are still yet to take that first step. As a bank, we have introduced a range of new features to our digital wealth offering to make investing as simple and intuitive as possible, including 250 new funds that are available through the app in just a few clicks.”

Media enquiries to:

Leila Taleb
Leila.Taleb@hsbc.com or UKpressoffice@hsbc.co.uk