A study indicates single women aren’t as comfortable with investing as single men are. Reach out if you’re interested in getting more comfortable with investing and your financial affairs.
45% of Single Women Agree They Know A Lot About Investing
A UBS investor watch study (link opens in new tab) from April 9, 2019 found some interesting discrepancies between single women and single men when it comes to their money. According to the study, 61% of single men agree that “I know a lot about investing” while only 45% of single women do. When it comes to making long-term investing decisions, 74% of single men agree that “I’m confident I can make long-term investing decisions”, but 67% of single women agree.
A Bit of Good News
In good news, the majority of single women say they know how much they are saving for retirement: 69% of millennial women, 90% of Generation X women, and 93% of Boomer women.
These research findings align with some of my personal experiences working with women. In my experience, when women feel confident that they know exactly what to do (contribute x% of salary to your 401k; save $x monthly towards your goal of buying a home; donate $x monthly towards charitable needs) – they are likely to do it consistently.
People experience confusion when they don’t know what to do. As a result, I’ve seen that they often take no action, which creates its own set of problems (not enough money saved for retirement; purposeless spending; no real plan of what to do with their money). And for some reason, according to the study, women are less likely than men to feel that they know what to do when it comes to investing.
That’s where I can come into the picture. One of the aspects of my work that I love most is educating my clients about investing: everything from risk tolerance (what does that mean, what risk tolerance works for me) to investment vehicles (what’s an ETF?) to investments to choose in a 401k with often limited options available. No question is too basic or stupid. Actually, the only stupid question is the one that’s not asked!