Another big investment survey has found women are better at investing than men.
The Fidelity report indicated an increasing number of women were taking an interest in active investing, with two-thirds investing outside of their retirement schemes. Photo: 123RF
A survey of more than 5 million retail customers released last month by Fidelity Investments, a large United States-based financial services company, indicates women investors outperformed the men by about 0.4 percent a year, over a 10-year period.
Craigs Investment Partners head of private wealth Mark Lister said he was not surprised by the findings, as women investors outperformed men in every of the many surveys he had seen over the years.
"I've seen them from Merrill Lynch, from Wells Fargo. In the Journal of Economics, there was a really famous one in 2001 by a couple of very, very good researchers," Lister said, adding that while there were many good male investors too, such as Warren Buffet, women were generally better.
"In general terms, the lesson is that women have the demeanour, the temperament, to be very good investors and I think we probably need a few more of them in the financial markets industry."
He said just over a quarter of Craigs' 180 investment advisers were women.
The Fidelity report indicates there had been an increasing number of women taking an interest in active investing, with two-thirds investing outside of their retirement schemes, compared with just 44 percent three years ago.
Lister said a number of studies show women trade a lot less, were more willing to stick to a long-term plan, and were more open to seeking advice.
"In contrast, men tend to overestimate their ability, and believe their more frequent trading will make them money. In truth, all it does is cost them more in fees," he said.
"It's a good sort of reminder for any women out there that sort of are pondering what they might do with their money - get amongst it because statistically you will probably be quite good at it."
