Girls Just Wanna Have Funds: Why Gendered Money Mindsets Need To Go

When Naina got her first salary at 23, her dad set up her SIPs. Her mom reminded her to keep an emergency fund. Her boss told her to 'think about retirement.' She nodded, saved a bit, and got back to figuring out her routine for the week. Four years later, she has two mutual funds she’s never checked, an insurance policy she doesn’t fully understand, and zero clue where her money actually goes. Sound familiar? Across urban India, millions of financially independent women are still financially dependent when it comes to long-term wealth decisions. Why? Because the money mindset we pass down to girls, even high-achieving, salaried, self-reliant women, is still rooted in passivity.

If you're a woman reading this, ask yourself: do you know exactly where your money is invested?

If you’re a man, ask: have you ever asked your partner what she wants her money to do?

Most of us grew up hearing money talk that wasn’t meant for us, or was wrapped in assumptions. That’s where the mindset gap began.

"Boys are raised to think about earning, about being providers," says Priti Rathi Gupta, founder of LXME, a women-focused financial platform. "Girls, on the other hand, are taught how to budget, how to run a household. But not how to grow wealth."

Even in homes where money is openly discussed, implicit biases seep in. "I come from a family that talked about money all the time. But even for me, the messaging was clear- manage your spending, be careful. For my brother, it was about running the entire household’s financial needs," she recalls.

This social conditioning shows up later in life. While men often experiment with trading in their early 20s, women tend to defer financial decisions to fathers, brothers, or spouses, even if they’re earning their own money.

Gupta recounts how, at Anand Rathi Wealth (before launching LXME), she would meet dozens of freshly minted chartered accountants each year. "In induction sessions, I’d ask who manages their own money. All the boys would shoot their hands up, talking about intraday trades and returns. The girls who were equally qualified would mostly say, 'My dad does it for me.'"

At first glance, the numbers look promising. According to AMFI data, as of March 2025, women account for 30% of mutual fund folios and about 27% of individual AUM. However, Gupta cautions against taking those stats at face value.

"We need to ask, how many of those women actually logged into the app, researched the fund, and made the call themselves? Often, these accounts are opened in their names, but someone else is investing on their behalf," she explains. In fact, the LXME Women & Money Power report, based on a survey of 4,000 urban working women across eight Indian cities, revealed some eye-opening facts:

• 96% of women said they don’t access any financial app or platform directly.

• 70% lacked health insurance, a basic financial tool.

• 60% had no idea where their savings were being invested.

• Only 1 in 10 women were making investment decisions themselves.

That means even though 30% of folios are held by women, only about 3% might actually be making the decisions.

One common misconception is that women shy away from financial risk. But Gupta reframes this.

"Women aren’t risk-averse. They’re risk-aware," she says. They don’t want to gamble with their money, they want to understand it. She emphasises that they want to know where it’s going, what it will achieve, and how it will help them meet a goal.

That approach may be more measured, but it’s also more sustainable. In fact, multiple studies, including a 2024 Zerodha-backed behavioural survey, show that women traders, on average, hold investments longer and outperform men in net returns by 1.3% annually.

Time and emotional labour are two big culprits.

Gupta says that women will always prioritise family needs, a child’s education, elder care, household expenses, before their own. "When we asked women if they were planning for retirement, only 2% said yes. That’s a huge red flag."

And the default assumption that the man will 'take care of it' persists. "Even today, many women feel awkward just asking their husbands, 'Where is our money invested?' We’ve had women in our community ask: How do I bring this up? Is it wrong to ask?"

That’s where financial communities for women come in. When a space like that is created, women ask everything from "Should I invest in a gold fund instead of jewellery?" to "What happens to my finances if I separate from my joint family?"

Gupta's advice is simple: start small. "You don’t have to defuse joint finances all at once. Start with Rs 100. Build trust with yourself. Once you invest, you’ll want to learn more. It’s like being thrown in the sea, you learn to swim."

And financial equality isn’t just a woman’s issue. "When we posted 'A man is not a finance plan,' it was men who shared it most. They’re saying, share the load. Many are happy to not be the sole financial planner of the household."

Ultimately, it comes down to representation and relevance. "When women see other women talk money, whether on a community, a podcast, or a dinner table, they realise they can do it too. The language needs to be relatable."

So the next time someone says, "She doesn’t like taking risks" or "He handles the finances for both of them," ask them, 'Whose money is it anyway?'

Because in 2025, financial ignorance isn’t cute. And being 'taken care of by a man' isn’t a financial plan. Slightly revising the immortal words of Cyndi Lauper, 'Girls just wanna have fun, and full access to their funds.'