Data & Research March 14, 2025

Finances a Top Source of Stress for Most Women

With uncertainty and financial anxiety on the rise, there is much opportunity for advisers to help women reach financial goals.

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With nearly two-thirds of women (65%) ranking personal finances as a top source of stress and anxiety in their lives, fewer than one in five women surveyed in the eighth annual Laurel Road study reported seeking professional financial counsel through an adviser.

Instead, according to the survey about exploring financial security and money management trends conducted by the KeyBank N.A. brand, women lean on personal relationships and read social media tips.

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In fact, 44% of women are looking to their personal networks to discuss finances, with Generation Z (50%) and Millennial (47%) respondents in particular leaning on people close to them.

When it comes to reaching their financial goals, women continue to say they are most behind on retirement savings (36%), followed by credit card debt repayment (30%) and salary (22%). Millennials, uniquely, also feel behind on homeownership (31%).

Leaning on Friends and Family

Friends and family are the top source relied on by women for learning about financial trends (44%). Two-thirds of women say they discuss financial advice they have received with their significant other, while 76% of Gen Z women and 58% of Millennial women look to their parents as a trusted source for financial guidance.

Social media is a growing influence, with 30% of women using it to explore financial trends, rising to 48% among Gen Z. In contrast, 24% rely on traditional media.

Millennials are the top users of budgeting and investing apps (23%), though adoption is low across generations. Despite high usage, only 11% of women trust social media influencers for financial advice.

The survey found widespread apprehension about the current economic environment, with 78% of women agreeing that the economy makes them uneasy about staying on track with their financial goals, an increase over the 75% who felt this way last year.

“We’re happy to see more women feeling empowered to talk about their finances, with our study showing nearly half of women turning to their friends and family to learn more about financial trends and best practices. This comfortability and willingness to discuss topics that have been traditionally considered taboo—especially for women—is crucial when navigating financial success,” said Alyssa Schaefer, general manager and chief experience officer at Laurel Road, in a statement. “While this is a great first step, with continued uncertainty and financial anxiety on the rise, it’s important for women to also extend these conversations beyond inner circles and speak to a professional.” 

The survey was conducted online within the U.S. from February 13 through February 18 among 4,326 adults, including 2,301 women, by HarrisX.

In Practice March 14, 2025

FinTech, AI Tools to Ease Administration and Expand Financial Planning Access

At a recent conference, fintech leaders discussed how artificial intelligence and technology can both improve retirement plan administration and provide investors with increased access to financial planning and personalized advice.

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Developments in fintech and artificial intelligence continue to provide opportunities to ease the administrative burdens of plan sponsors, plan advisers and recordkeepers, as well as provide participants with more access to personalized investments and advice, according to fintech leaders speaking at Tuesday’s Employee Benefit Research Institute-Milken Institute 2025 Retirement Symposium.

Dan Beck, CEO and co-founder of 401Go, told attendees that one of the most exciting outcomes of using AI is helping retirement plans move past paper-based administration and leveraging technology to access plan data.

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“As I’ve talked with partners and potential clients, we go to some of these offices that have rooms of filing cabinets and paper-based systems,” Beck said. “I think a lot of the capabilities that we’re seeing with AI and personalized finance [is that] none of that works if we don’t have good data. … But I think there’s still a fairly big hurdle that we are currently in the state of trying to move everything to digital.”

401Go is a provider of 401(k) plans tailored for small enterprises and individuals. In September 2024, 401Go announced a partnership with Pontera to provide participants the ability to get personalized 401(k) account management from their financial adviser of choice.

Improving Financial Education

Sunil Gangwani, co-founder of Plootus, said many workers lack access to financial planning and advice, and their lack of investing knowledge is a major barrier to improvement. He argued that financial planning information needs to be readily available to employees on their mobile devices or computers, especially because people’s attention spans are so short.

Plootus is a platform that integrates an individual’s expenses, income and retirement plan investments all in one place. Plootus then provides personalized recommendations that aim to optimize investment performance, minimize fees and align with the employee’s retirement goals.

“You need to see the overall picture of the user, not necessarily just [their] 401(k) plan [savings],” Gangwani said.

With the stock market in turmoil, Gangwani said platform users have been asking for investment advice. While the platform encourages staying the course for long-term investing, Gangwani said Plootus is able to provide advice on how individuals should minimize their risk and make adjustments.

Increasing Personalization

Ana Mahony, founder and CEO of financial wellness platform Addition Wealth, argued that the technology and data available today enable a level of personalization that previously was unavailable. Such personalization can be used to provide certain types of workers, such as gig workers or medical practitioners, access to financial planning and retirement savings.

Mahony said gig workers often do not have access to a workplace retirement plan, but fintech companies can provide products suited to their specific needs. As an example, Mahony said providers could create a debit card that offers rewards for expenses that gig workers often incur, such as gas, car maintenance or different types of insurance. She said providers should be thinking about the type of support from which gig workers could benefit, as they often have inconsistent earnings and do not have the safety net of benefits that other workers have.

“You can actually build an entire ecosystem that helps educate people in [a] mobile app … and then also pull in different partners that have a vested interest in engaging with that group—and hopefully even have purchasing power—so that you can bring best-in-price models to that group of workers,” Mahony said.

Expanding Alts Options

Cash Lafferty, founder and CEO of PandoAlts, explained that technology and AI can also help investors gain more access to alternative investments. He said high-net-worth individuals and those who invest for pensions and endowments are probably about 50% allocated toward alternative investments and private markets, whereas the average investor is in a 60/40 stocks-and-bonds portfolio.

Lafferty argued that private-market access has been limited by legacy technology infrastructure, a limit he said needs to change.

“With AI, it really is just a tool to be able to extract information and put it into a place where we can start to consume these [alternative investments] into portfolios in a way that meets the needs of the investor,” Lafferty said.

He added that AI can also be trained to adhere to the guidelines of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which is important when plans are considering adding alternative investment options to their plan menu.

Lafferty’s PandoAlts connects wealth managers, general partners and broker/dealers on one platform to simplify alternative investing.

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