Kathleen Edwards guest posts today on a very interesting topic: Women and investing. What does research tell us about female investors? Are women winning the investment game? Find out here.
The National Partnership for Women & Families report revealed that women make just 80 cents for every dollar that men make. The good news is that there are multiple arguments and movements being put forward to beat the gender pay gap, but, whilst women are being paid less, they have to be more careful with their cash. As a new study reveals when it comes to women and investing, females are usually more sensible and are making more cash than male counterparts, it begs the following question. What are women doing right that men aren’t?
Investing wisely
A new study from Warwick Business School looked at the performance of 3,000 stock broking investors over a three year period. At the end of the study it was revealed that female investors beat the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 by 1.94% a year, whereas, the male participants achieved just 0.14%. Another study found that women know when to cut their losses sooner than men. The Merrill Lynch study revealed that 35% of women kept an investment for longer than they should have, compared to 47% of men.
Spending when the time is right
Studies on women and investing have shown that females trade less often than males. According to the JM Coates 2012 study, just 5% of traders are female, but this 5% know exactly what they’re doing.
Typically, female traders will only trade when they know that the investment is worthwhile and will make them cash, meaning they hold back until a sound investment comes along. On the flip side, men trade more often and are more likely to splash their cash on risky and exciting investments which too often don’t pay off.
Risk averse females
Being risk averse isn’t a bad trait. In fact avoiding risks is helping women to rake in more cash in investment opportunities each year. The Barclays Wealth and Ledbury Research study reveals that because females are less confident than men, they take fewer risks and make more money as a result.
Women don’t like taking financial risks as they know that it can impact their savings and long-term financial health, including their rainy day savings. That’s okay though as the last thing you want is to have to navigate the complicated waters of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy as an independent business owner who has taken on overwhelming debt.
Having emergency savings to fall back on is important and has been widely encouraged since it was revealed in the Credit Union National Association’s Women’s Financial Survey that just 43% of women have an emergency fund, compared to 63% of men.
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On women and investing
The personal finances of the nation’s female investors are far healthier than males due to the savvy ways women work the market. Numerous studies have found that women make wiser financial decisions when investing and that their risk-averse nature helps to secure them a good deal.
About today’s writer
Kathleen Edwards is a freelance writer and editor. She specializes in health and finance topics and loves the research process involved in her job. When not working she loves to travel with her son, music and hiking.
Do these findings on women and investing surprise you? Let us know in the comments section below.
This post was originally published at When Women Inspire as Women and Investing: What the Research Says
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