Ash, the Pia Ops Manager here again 👋
Like any other person in their late 20’s, I’m starting to think more about my future finances. Don’t get me wrong I’m still down for having drinks in the pub and chilling at my local café with pals, eating overpriced avocado on toast. But now our hangover chats are slowly turning from mindless banter to “what the F*** is an ISA or what do I need to know about my workplace pension.” My friends, both male and female, are employed across a range of industries and all have mixed views on finance and investing.
Before talking to them, I assumed that those with an interest, would be more inclined to invest over the others. However, it was quite clear that investing was not dependent on knowledge or interest for this group. Only 15% of the women thought about or went on to invest, compared to 90% of the men (albeit a small sample size of 25 of my nearest and dearest). Interestingly, these investments ranged from ISA accounts to holding shares in Facebook, and many were initially driven because of their interest in the tech or UX design of the platform rather than the details of the investment proposition.
Why don’t women invest as much as men?
Recent research carried out by Starling, one of the UK’s leading challenger bank’s, revealed how starkly different the media approaches money with men and women. While women are told to watch their spending, by seeking out discounts and bargains, men are being recommended apps to enhance their investments.
This is a similar story in the broader financial services industry. Institutions continue to use male-oriented campaigns to captivate their audiences, despite there being countless research on how this is failing. Gone are the days, when women were limited contributors to society and controlled by men.
Women are CEO’s, directors and thought leaders, as well as being mothers and homemakers. According to the Allianz “Women, Money, and Power” study, more than half of women — 51% — say they control the finances of the house, and 53% say they are responsible for saving and investing in the house. Therefore it is not surprising that failing to engage with these women is proving to be a costly mistake for financial institutions. According to Kantar’ Winning Over Women Report, a staggering £130 billion would potentially be redirected to savings and investments.
Institutions need to remove patronising and complicated investment jargon, that only appeals to a small segment of men who like to talk the talk, if they are going to reach this blossoming market. This missed opportunity, is not only hurting their balance sheets, its damaging broader economic growth.
Are things changing?
Things are definitely changing as we begin to see more companies publishing articles and reports on the importance of empowering female investors. Ellevest, is one of many female led companies tackling this issue. CEO & Founder Sallie Krawcheck has not only created a game changing platform, she is empowering women with the tools to learn about investing their money.
Over on this side of the pond, robo-advisors like Nutmeg and Wealthsimple are trying to connect with female investors with targeted campaigns and content. For example, Nutmeg produced a report as early as 2016 exploring why women were better investors than men. The report stated that “women who have made it to the powerful positions in investing provide evidence that women’s behavioural psychology may help them make smart investment decisions. One seven-year study by the University of California found that single female investors outperformed single male investors by 2.3%.”
Other organisations, such as Investing Women and UKBAA, are encouraging more high net worth women to consider becoming angel investors. Jenny Tooth, chief executive of the trade body UK Business Angels Association (UKBAA), has talked in depth about about the importance of having female investors. “At the UKBAA, we are on a mission to change this situation and increase the proportion of female angel investors in the UK to at least 30 per cent in the next two years, ensuring that women are given the support, encouragement and skills to engage effectively in the exciting and rewarding world of angel investing.”
What are Pia doing to help out….
The Pia team is very conscious of the issues women face when investing. We are working tirelessly to ensure we build a product that appeals to everyone, not just middle aged men. This needs to come through in everything that we build, in terms of design, messaging and of course the tone of the content that we produce.
We are hosting female only and mixed gender feedback sessions to keep us on track but we are also working with people that have direct a understanding of female investing. Niamh Wylie, our editor in chief, is an ex-investment professional with over 16 years experience at the likes of Coutts, RBS and now a lecturer at Trinity College, Dublin. Niamh is responsible for all of our investment output and the messaging. We believe that her knowledge and experience will play a vital role in connecting with the typically underserved female investor, people like me.
Gayle Schumacher, a Non-Executive Director at Pia, advocates the importance of equal investing and is constantly challenging us on making sure we build a product for everybody. Gayle was previously the Global Chief Investment Officer at Coutts, so we clearly listen to her on all things investing given she has risen to the very top of her industry. Both, Niamh and Gayle’s dedication to combating the issue of a lack of women investors is critical to our success as a company. After all we want empower all investors, not just a few!
Head over to yourpia.com if you want to join our community and perhaps attend a focus group about investing.
