Women in Finance? #Breakthebias
BreakTheBias, or "breaking prejudice”, In finance, this slogan could not be more topical. The feeling is often that we are at year zero on the front of combating discrimination, stereotypes and gender inequality, with the risk of going backwards rather than making progress.
Is it women who need to take on male attitudes to assert themselves, or is it the financial industry that needs to change?
The data lean toward the second option, because it shows that creating a more inclusive financial industry would benefit everyone: companies and investors. The BNY Mellon study reveals that if women invested to the same extent as men, assets under management from individuals would increase by $3.220 billion worldwide. Fifty percent of asset managers who took part in the survey said that women make up 10 percent or less of their managers, but nearly three-quarters believe that female talent would bring more innovation and attract more of a different clientele than the traditional one. The biggest impact is on young people: 29% of respondents under 30 admitted they would invest more if they had a female financial advisor versus 16% of those over 50. The latter are probably resigned to a "suit-and-tie" industry.
"If women invested at the same rate as men, there would be at least an extra:
$3.22 trillion of assets under management from private individuals today."
How knowledgeable do women feel about investing?
Overall, less than half of all women who invest (48%) consider themselves knowledgeable about investing—compared to 59% of men. Italian women are the most confident investors at 55%, while only 30% of Spanish women say they are knowledgeable about investing. Non-investing women also indicate that lack of knowledge is a blocker, ranking it as the second most common reason why they don’t invest. Possible causes for this include a lack of access to educational resources and underrepresentation in the investment community at large.
Empowering women to invest
Despite progress in recent decades, 60% of the women N26 spoke to believe that men still dominate investing. So, what might motivate women to invest more? The survey insights of N26 suggests several approaches that may help empower women to invest:
- Talking openly about investing. Open conversations can help women feel more confident about investing, whether they’re currently investors or looking to invest in the future.
- Expanding access to information and resources. Promoting access to educational resources—especially those designed with women in mind—could help address unique challenges that would level the playing field.
- Recognizing and addressing gender inequities. The pandemic only heightened some of the financial burdens faced by women, who statistically bear the brunt of childcare and domestic activities. Addressing these burdens and continuing to shrink the gender pay gap may also lead more women to invest with confidence.
What women want in investing is independence
Women value responsible investing and investments aligned with their personal values. They are also motivated to invest by a range of other factors, with financial independence topping the list. The investment industry, therefore, has a key opportunity to appeal to women by focusing on messaging around financial independence.
Almost two-thirds of women (63%) believe that it’s important that more women invest to provide for themselves in retirement, and six in 10 women believe that it is important that more women invest in order to give themselves greater financial independence. This rises to eight in 10 women in India (80%) and the US (79%). Historically, the industry marketed wealth products to women based on financial provision for their families; today, however, we find that investing in independence is more important than financing dependents. Motivators around retirement and independence are rated even more highly than growing a financial legacy for their family, for example (cited as important by 57% of women).
In short, women are no longer willing to remain excluded from a crucial sector like finance and want to be drivers of change. However, there remains the structural limitation of a country where education is still lacking and is not supported by an adequate investment program that hits the gender gap. It is precisely the lack of education that is one of the biggest obstacles to the markets sector. If they could, women would consider real estate (29 percent), followed by cryptocurrency (26 percent) and banking products (23 percent), yet the issue of education remains a structural limitation for many aspiring female investors. Two in five women (40 percent), in fact, say they have no opportunity to broach the subject with anyone. Another useful aspect, according to non-investing women, would be the support of professional advisors who could help women considering investing (22 percent).
Women invest 29% less than their male counterparts—but nearly 2 of 3 want to invest more in 2022
Poor knowledge and low financial readiness are, in short, the biggest obstacles to women's entry into the world of markets. The low level of financial information is particularly visible among younger women (18-24 age group); in fact, 81 percent say they are confident, but only 48 percent feel informed. Despite this, the motivation to join this until recently exclusively male-dominated world is very strong, especially with the goal of acquiring financial security for family and children (40 percent) and maximizing savings for retirement (30 percent). There is still a long way to go, but the premises are more than good, and if serious discussion of the proposal to introduce financial education in schools begins, the future of investing will not only be brighter, but also pinker.
