Gender Differences in Self Investment

In honor of Women's History Month, I want to share some data points from the chapter, "Listen to Women", in "The Soul of Wealth." The long and short of it: Women are the ultimate behavioral investors, but no one (not even most women), believes it. The data shows that: - Women generate higher investment returns than men at both the retail and professional level. - Women trade less, take a more measured approach, and are more likely to stick to long-term plans. - During bear markets, women outperform men by 1.3 percentage points, according to Openfolio Yet, despite their superior track record: - Only 18% of CFA charterholders are women - 82% of married men report handling big investment decisions alone - 40% of female investors say advisors ignore their input Even women underestimate themselves. - Only 9% of women think they’re better investors than men—despite the overwhelming data proving otherwise - Women are twice as likely as men to describe themselves as “financially insecure” regardless of actual income Meanwhile, firms with more women in leadership outperform their peers: - Gender-diverse teams make better M&A decisions with lower failure rates - Companies with higher female representation see stronger financial performance over time Let's start to tell a new story about women and money that's based in fact and not old, biased thinking.

Turns out, men should invest like women. They’d be richer. And the world would be better off. Here’s some cool data from investors at Inyova (+ some general research). The common myth is that women are emotional while men are the champs of rational thinking. Well, the data shows different. But there are some things that women can learn from the men, too! Let’s take a look 💪 (Disclaimer: Our data at Inyova reflects the sustainability-minded investors most.) 🔹🔹 What men can learn from women: 🔹🔹 🔹𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐭. When the markets get crazy, it’s often best to do nothing (assuming you have a diversified portfolio). Women have the discipline it takes to do that. At Inyova, male investors are 44% more likely to withdraw investments when stocks were down. Outside Inyova, the difference is even larger: UBS reports that men are 87% more likely to sell in downturns. 🔹𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭. When you think you’re smarter than the market, you’re typically wrong. You sell winners too early, misjudge peaks and bottoms, etc). “Overconfidence” seems to be observed more commonly in men. 🔹𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬. Trading a lot costs net returns. Trading a lot means paying a lot of trading fees. (This is true for ‘zero commission’ platforms, too. Check your spreads!) Men tend to have 45% higher trading activity, which costs them up to 2.6 percentage points per year (percentage points, not percent!). 🔸🔸But women can learn from the men, too:🔸🔸 🔸 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞. At Inyova, women invest around 10% less assets on average. A study by University of Mannheim sounds much worse: Only 32% of Swiss women invest in shares or funds compared to 48% of men. (This gap is much much higher in crypto by the way.) 🔸 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤. When women do invest, they take a lot less risk even when (rationally) they could take more.  At Inyova, women hold 77% stocks while men hold 81%.  Outside Inyova, it’s 59% vs. 63%. Next time you talk to your brother, or sister or anyone else — talk about how you invest. And learn from each other 🚀 📊 Source:  Inyova: investor data University of Mannheim: Financial Socialization and the Gender Investment Gap (Niessen-Ruenzi, Mueden 2023) UBS: Are women the better investors? Lombard Odier: Do women investors really think differently to men? TrueWealth: Do women invest differently than men? N26: Women and investing: Closing the gender gap

Fresh data from Boring Money confirms the Gender Investment Gap has gone up for the second year in a row and is now the same size as the GDP of Switzerland. The 2025 Gap is £678 billion. THAT'S BIG!!! There are now 3.3 million more male investors in the UK and the gap widened by 200,000 people in the past 12 months. And here's what I think is the biggest indictor that efforts at change have not yet moved the dial. Young men are investing at double the rate of young women – 41% of men aged 18-34 invest vs 20% of women. We worked with eToro on the research which highlights that the explosion of retail investing among young people is helping millions build long-term wealth BUT the opportunity is being taken disproportionately by men. Part of the solution can come from normalising investing, and removing the image that this is for 'blokes in suits'. eToro have a 'Loud Investing' campaign to drive conversations - if every existing female investor had a conversation with a female non-investor, and 10% of these converted them to investing each year, it would take just 9 years to close the gap. And if every existing investor (male or female) did so, the gap would be closed by 2032. Recent, separate research from eToro also found a different in the assets bought and risk profiles adopted. Women are more likely to invest in UK bonds (44% vs 38%) and men are more likely to invest in equities- 41% of men’s portfolios are exposed to US equities, compared to 24% of women’s. Investors were asked the asset classes to which they would increase their allocation, should interest rates fall. Among women, cash was by far the most popular response (30% vs 22% among men). Conversely, the leading response for men was stocks in growth sectors (27% vs just 19% of women). Conversations. Normalising investing. Understanding that cash can be the wolf in sheep's clothing. And better articulation of risk. Which incidentally would make things better for everyone. #IWD25 #internationalwomensday #genderinvestmentgap #advicegap #loudinvesting Stephanie Wilks-Wiffen Lale Akoner

Young women have smaller pension pots on average because they have different working patterns. Right? Wrong. Well it's not the whole answer anyway. It's true that at retirement, the average man has a pension pot worth £145,000, while the average woman has £94,000. 60-year-old women are looking for their next job while their male counterparts retire. But the gender pay gap, amplified by different working patterns, isn't the only thing to blame. It's also massive differences in money confidence. When we're kids, our parents invest similarly: junior ISAs are pretty much evenly split by gender. But by the time we reach 35, 68% of investment ISAs are held by men 🤯 . Why? According to Hargreaves Lansdown: “When we asked men and women specific questions about investment, men were much more confident, although only slightly more knowledgeable”. Or, to take another angle, we've built an industry that is optimised for male preferences, not that of women. So women simply don't get a compounding of their money that matches their male peers. Given that changes in working patterns and caring responsibilities amplify this trend for many people, it's mission critical that we equip young women with the skills and confidence to invest early in their careers. A great piece in The Times from Jessica Sharkey this weekend that armed me with some stats I hadn't seen before. https://lnkd.in/eq6Wu8gF

66% of women are not confident about reaching their financial goals because of a lack of investment knowledge. But why do women lack investment planning when 45% of women are now independent to make their own financial decisions? When it comes to investing money, the challenges faced by women are unique. 📍 Women are scared to make losses. Money and investment are still taboo topics for them. 📍 Because of a lack of financial literacy, they leave the money management part to the male members of the family. 📍 They struggle to find the right advisor who can listen to them, understand their financial problems, and not make them feel illiterate. So, what can you and I do to solve this problem & empower women to make their investment decisions on their own? ✅ As an employee, share investment knowledge, resources, and the importance of investment with your female colleagues. ✅ As an individual, encourage the women in your family to take a step in their investment journey. As a male individual, don’t let them depend on you. Encourage them to move forward and make their own investment decisions. ✅ As a founder, talk to female team members of your team. Find out their struggles while investing and have investment sessions specifically addressing their unique investment problems. These small steps can bring a big change to make women confident about their investment decisions. Remember: The change starts with us! At Dhanvesttor, we aim to make women confident in all their financial decisions, from savings to investing. It’s time for women to take charge of their hard-earned money. #entrepreneurship #financialgoals #investing #women #savings