B.C. women more stressed about money than men, study finds

B.C. women are more likely to be stressed about money than men, and even women in other parts of Canada.

That's one of the conclusions of a national study developed for Vancity Credit Union.

The Financial Health Index Survey indicates that 56 per cent of women in B.C. between the ages of 18 and 34 are extremely stressed about their financial obligations, compared to36 per cent of men.

Sophie Salcito, a wealth advisor at Vancity, says this is partially because the study shows B.C. women earn about 35 per cent less than men annually.

"Earning less income obviously means you'regoing to be worrying a little bit more about how to stretch those dollars," she said.

B.C. women aren't doing as well as they could on a national level either, the study found. They earn about $3,000 less annually than the average Canadian woman.

Salcito says what really surprised her is how wide the gender gap is.

"The stat we have in this report is that for 40 counties, Canada had the eighth-widest gender gap," she said. "That was worse than the U.S., the U.K. and Mexico."

Salcito says education needs to be part of the solution, andthat women receive less financial education than men.

With files from Natasha Frakes