Working towards more inclusive financial literacy

Many parts of Asia still have very traditional societies
where financial literacy is low, and many women end up
not getting adequate financial protection or insurance
coverage. The Continental Group’s Ms Shilpa Shetty
talks about some of the challenges women face and
how to improve the situation.
By Amir Sadiq

supportive and encouraging
family has been the foundation
to letting Continental Group
senior vice president – private
client team Shilpa Shetty overcome
stereotypical expectations and
establish a successful career.
While this is a growing trend,
with more and more women taking
up career-oriented roles, in many
cultures women are still expected
to be the main caretaker of the
household – assuming cleaning,
cooking and child-raising duties
rather than being an income earner.
On top of that, she said that
financial literacy remains low among
these women, leading to many not
getting the insurance coverage they
need.
“They are not raised to talk about
finances for themselves, and that kind
of culture has existed for quite some
time … When it comes to financial
planning for themselves, they may
think it’s not necessary,” she said.
In addition, women who pursue a
career are also often required to take
on the dual role of homemaker and
income earner. “Women generally do
want to take control of their financial
decisions, but because they’re
juggling responsibilities at home and
at the office, they tend to forget to
cater to themselves,” she said.
Everyone needs to be insured
Ms Shetty brought up how most
of the time, these families have a
tendency only to insure the main
breadwinner of the family, which is
usually the man. Leaving a nonincome-
earner uninsured is a critical
oversight as the responsibilities of a
homemaker can be costly to replace.
“What if she falls ill? You need to
provide for the replacement of the
duties that she was performing. It
could be a tutor or cook or caretaker.
All these have to be replaced and that
comes with a cost. Plus, the husband
has to take some time off work to
take care of his spouse. That also
becomes a crucial part of financial
planning when you take this into
account,” she said.
The situation is also exacerbated
should the woman be a working
professional as well, owing to the
loss of one income stream.
Getting the right cover
Financial literacy also involves
planning for retirement and knowing
which risks need to be a priority for
insurance.
Ms Shetty highlighted the
importance of women getting covered
under critical illness plans, given the
prevalence of breast cancer. “Health
insurance pays only the actual
expense that we incur, whereas critical
illness will pay out a lump sum on
diagnosis. So that helps them to plan
for expenses other than the actual
medical costs incurred,” she said.
Annuities and investment-linked
plans are another aspect of insurance
that is critical to ensuring financial
independence in the later years of life,
both for career-oriented women who
are used to having their own income
and homemakers who may not have
had their own income to save up.
She also suggested that women
need to look towards insurance
plans with savings aspects that offer
guaranteed returns so they can have
financial independence during their
retirement.
Areas that can be improved
In recent years, insurers have done
a lot more to cater to the needs of
women, developing products such
as maternity insurance covering
everything from pregnancy to
childbirth and even insuring the
newborn child.
However, Ms Shetty believes that
the industry could do more in certain
areas. For instance, critical illness
plans that offer more cover for cancer.
She pointed out how paid claims
statistics from some insurance
providers showed that 84% of the
claims paid were for cancer while
only 7% were for heart attack.
Conversely, in males, the figures
were 29% for cancer and 62% for heart
attacks.
“The probability of a woman
having cancer is much, much higher.
So, there are plans which cater only
to women and insurance companies
should come up with [more of] that,”
she said.
Many parts of Asia still have very traditional societies
where financial literacy is low, and many women end up
not getting adequate financial protection or insurance
coverage. The Continental Group’s Ms Shilpa Shetty
talks about some of the challenges women face and
how to improve the situation.
By Amir Sadiq