Demographic and socio-economic factors influencing financial preparedness and the level of preparedness of salaried women in India

Abstract People spend more than what they have and when it comes to saving money, most of the people save whatever is left over after consumption, without a proper budget for household, a proper goal, proper allocation of income, and proper understanding of investment avenues. Saving for retirement is harder for the present generation as the financial sector is overwhelmed with choices and specifically, women have little or no understanding about these investment avenues. As circumstances differ, women are experiencing dearth of financial wellbeing. The covid-19 crisis has increased the uncertainties and triggered the financial stress. This study brings insight into the financial preparedness level of women especially salaried and the influence of various demographic factors on financial preparedness. The questionnaire used for the study was developed through a series of steps and was further tested for reliability and validity. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 20.0 version was used for preliminary analysis of data and Analysis of Moment Structures Software-18 graphics (AMOS) were used for Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equational Modelling along with Microsoft excel 2016 for data entry of 600 respondents and analyzed using Mean, Standard deviation, Mean score analysis one-way Analysis of Variance, Post hoc test. As this research’s main contribution, findings on the level of financial preparedness of salaried women can be of help to those seeking to improve the lives of women. It will provide a foundation for policy formulation, training programmes, pension schemes development for empowering women.