November 4, 2021

Women and Investing: Bridging the Gap

by Victoria Bulgin

in Financial Planning Insights Lifestyle

Numerous studies over the last 20 years have shown that women are far less likely to invest, when compared to men.

A recent HSBC investigation into why this is, shed some interesting facts.

Clearly all women do not think and act the same – but as a general rule, there are differences in the way that women and men think about and react to their financial worlds. This in turn leads them to make different investment decisions.

The study revealed:

• Women are more likely to worry about their finances
• Women are more likely to be concerned about the future
• Women are less likely to consider themselves financially knowledgeable
• Women are less likely to take responsibility for household financial decisions

So what does this mean regarding investment decisions?

• Less women have investments – 12% compared to 19% of men
• More women have cash ISAs – 72% compared to 66% of men
• But less women have stocks and shares ISAs – 28% compared to 42% of men

The above supports the evidence from the study which shows women are typically more concerned with preserving the value of their savings, rather than growing their money. They are generally more risk averse.

Women also typically take longer to make an investment decision, feel more confident when they can talk financial matters over with an expert and are more likely to be put off by financial jargon.

As a female adviser, my passion and focus has always been on lifestyle financial planning and hearing my clients’ stories. Over recent years I have certainly witnessed a growth in female wealth but have also recognised a number of gaps, which may hamper women financially. My goal is to educate, advise and inspire women to take action and ultimately improve their financial position and overall quality of life.