The Investment World for Women
To the moon? . . . how about into my bank account . Earlier this year in January, it seemed like everyone was talking about how retail trading platforms like Robinhood and TD Ameritrade abruptly restricted transactions in correlation with GameStop stock.
This topic of interest occupied seemingly everyones conversations for weeks, but this isn’t about GameStop, Robinhood (or even the moon). We want to understand where women exist in the world of finance, investing and money in the 21st century.
The gender wage gap is no secret and the glass ceiling, a reference the social barrier that prevents women from moving their way to higher positions within the work sector, is still being broken and has yet to shatter. The gender wage gap is critical for understanding what divides women and men in regard to investing. With a gender wage gap still overwhelmingly prevalent today, women often have less free money to invest. Other factors such as race and ethnicity further complicate job earnings for women and Forbes highlights how women only receive between 55% to 90% of what men earn.
In August, Forbes recapped the recent changes in investment, which has increased this year for various reasons including the pandemic and other opportunities like the rise of commission-free trading and the ability to purchase fractional shares. Since the start of COVID there was an increase of 23% men investing in the stock market compared to an 11% increase of women investing, according to Forbes.
Confidence, something personal and unique to each individual, is a common focus when studying the differences between how men and women approach investing. First Bank’s research states that 1 in 4 millennial women are mystified by investing and 52% of women say they are confident in investing, but 16% more men (68%) claim confidence with investing.
One’s personal relationship with risk, confidence, patience and other personal attributes all impact their interactions with investing. Patience is a niche most successfully inhabited by women in investing, read more about the dynamics of investing and gender from First Bank.
Women, per usual, are finding ways to cross the bridge, break the glass ceiling and #securethebag for both themselves and others. The following is a list of convenient investing resources to help change the narrative of investing:
A financial company by women, for women.
Smart Women Invest (Podcast)
A NYC based Podcast & Alliance of female millennial Financial Advisors, financially educating women of all ages to close the gender money gap.
Money Girl (Podcast)
Short and sweet pieces of financial advice.
Empower women financially with resources and intentionality.
A community created by financial educator, Kara Perez, that highlights the importance of financial literacy with a dynamic and strategic format.
A non-profit dedicated to the advancement of women, girls and gender equity, which includes closing the gender wage gap.
xoxo