By Smita Krishnaswamy

THREE out of four women here feel they are not equipped to make sound investment decisions and only half feel financially secure, a new survey has found.

The online survey was conducted by local women's rights group Aware in collaboration with financial advisory services group ipac financial planning Singapore. The 400 participants were selected from Aware's and ipac's databases.

The women appeared to be in good financial health, the survey found.

Almost 90 per cent reported having had no financial difficulties in the past year and paying their credit card bills in full each month. About 80 per cent had their own life and health insurance policies.

Two thirds of those married or in long-term relationships said household financial decisions were decided jointly.

Despite this, two thirds had no idea about their partner's will, and half knew nothing about the family's investment portfolios.

Over half of the women said they believed that men are more responsible and better with money than women.

Aware plans to use these survey results to determine the topics for financial seminars it is holding with ipac. It plans to offer three seminars, starting next month, on financial management for women in the middle income bracket.

Aware and ipac will also hold pilot financial clinics for women from lower income households. The programme will provide 45 minutes of one-on-one financial advice from ipac professionals.

The clinics aim to advise 30 to 40 women with family incomes under $3,000 a month on how to achieve their personal goals despite their income bracket.

Ms Corinna Lim, head of Aware's training institute, said that about 200 calls a month to the organisation's helpline indicate that women seldom plan for contingencies such as divorce or the sudden death of their spouses.

'When these things happen, they may not even know where to begin to assess what assets the family has and what they can do,' she said.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.