Men and women take different approaches to investing, experts say. Photo / Getty Images
More women are investing as they break old-school stereotypes and take control of their financial future.
However, experts say more work is needed to empower women to become confident investors.
In a recent column, the head of private wealth research at Craigs Investment Partners said more women were taking an interest in investing and research showed they seemed to be better at it than men.
Mark Lister quoted from a study in the United States which found the number of women investing outside of retirement schemes rose to 67 per, up from 44 per cent just three years ago.
However, only a third of women saw themselves as investors.
Lister said women were on average better than men at investing.
"They are a bit more sensible and they don't let their egos get in the way as much.
"Women are more likely to take advice, stick to the tried and tested rules of investing and they more likely to do their research before jumping straight in."
In contrast, men took on a bit more risk, Lister said.
"They believe they know better than the market. Men overtrade and do lots of buying and selling.
"Men tend to trade a bit more emotionally and will have a more concentrated portfolio. There are lessons in there for both."
There were five surveys in the past 25 years that say the same, he said.
"Women just don't feel as confident and they should have the confidence to take control of their money and finances. They are much better at it than they realise. That's the missing link."
The co-founder and general manager of Kiwi Wealth's digital investment platform, Hatch, Kristen Lunman said women investors did their research, were more risk-aware and had self-control.
"Women take a cautious approach and want to feel like they are in control whereas men will take a punt.
"Women don't often adopt investing as a hobby. And when the sharemarket moves up and down women have the self-control not to react when research has shown men tend to react and try to beat the market."
Lunman said women were also more inclined to spread their money over more investments.
"Women tend to back what they believe. They want to invest in companies that they love ... women also like sustainable investing."
Hatch has launched a coaching programme and also hosts a 'Wine and Wealth' webinar every few months to encourage more women into investing.
"We find with women that it's not a lack of knowledge or desire, it is just confidence.
"We have been socialised that men are the breadwinners and Wall Street is just for the men. Mums generally do the budgeting for groceries etc and men do the investing but we have to break that."
Sharesies and Kantar 2021 survey of 1001 New Zealanders and 685 investors showed only 23 per cent of females rated themselves as knowledgeable about the sharemarket compared to 55 per cent for males.
Co-founder and director of Sharesies Brooke Roberts said women had been left out and underrepresented in the sharemarket but that was changing.
Roberts said women tended to live longer, were more likely to take a career break and earn less, which was why it was important to support more women to feel confident and motivated to invest.
"I am really excited about a world where more people get access to these opportunities that ultimately generate wealth and ultimately we can have a fairer distribution of wealth over time too as more people are able to participate."
Tauranga-based Enterprise Angels chief executive Nina Le Lievre said about 10 per cent of their investors were female and that number had increased slightly.
"Plenty of females love the excitement of investing in startups and have the business acumen to get involved."
Le Lievre said women tended to prefer investing in female founders and businesses with a positive impact socially or environmentally.
The company also planned to try different formats for pitch events to make it easier for women to get involved, she said.
Investing is more about interacting with the world than growing money fast.
That's according to Tauranga's Jenny Rudd who owns and invests in business through her company Aim Sure Group.
"It's a whole new world."
Rudd, 46, has been investing for about three years mostly in early-stage businesses.
Rudd described herself as a "gender-lens investor". A lot of her investments were made with gender equality in mind.
It was important people invested in something that aligned with where they want the world to head, she said.
It was not about men and women and who was better at investing, she said.
"I just think we invest differently."
Rudd did not think women took a cautious approach to investing at all but said women asked different questions.
"I think women are super intelligent but everybody has amazing skills to bring to the table when it comes to investing."
NFTs - or non-fungible tokens - were something Rudd was becoming more interested in.
NFTs are units of data stored on a blockchain digital ledger and act like a certificate of authenticity for something unique, like digital art for example.
"It's part of the crypto world," she said. "Which is a massive opportunity for women to become more involved in business and finance.
"I'm always looking at how my investment choices create equality for women; that might be through traditional means like angel investing, or it could be through new ways like decentralised autonomous organisations (DAO's).
"Either way, I get a real kick out of seeing people use business to solve problems. I like being part of the solution."
Pāpāmoa mum Kim Fifield's advice to women thinking of investing is to "just do it".
The 45-year-old single mum started investing in January and has since made a return of about 12.3 per cent.
"Being a student and a solo mum investing was the best option for me. I can't afford to buy a house so in the interim the best thing for me to do was to invest."
Fifield signed up to Hatch Investments and found getting involved was relatively easy.
"It was about taking control of my finances and doing something proactive with my money."
After making some initial mistakes and reacting too quickly when the market fell, Fifield said she had learned to leave her shares alone.
"There are going to be ups and downs in the market. It's about trusting the process.
Fifield said there was a community created in investing too.
"You can see it is very much a boys' club. But it's something I think women should look into.
"It can be quite daunting to suddenly start buying shares but it's a lot of fun. Just do it.
"It's important women look after themselves and their finances too."
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