Younger women embrace financial risks

Younger women are developing greater confidence when it comes to taking financial risks. Northwestern Mutual's 2026 Planning & Progress Study finds that 45% of Gen Z women and 42% of Millennial women say they’ve become more comfortable taking financial risks over the past three years. For Gen X women, the percentage was 29%, and it was only 16% for Boomer women. Among all adults, 38% of men and 32% of women say they’ve become more comfortable with financial risk the past three years. "The next generation of women is challenging long-held assumptions about who takes financial risk,” says John Roberts, chief field officer at Northwestern Mutual. “Risk gets a bad reputation, but avoiding it can be risky, too.”