Five Biases Women Face When Investing

OneEyedDiva

OneEyedDiva

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This article titled Break The Bias is from Charles Schwab's Insights and Ideas page. As noted in the article, some women believe one or more of these things themselves which may give them pause when it comes to investing or cause them to give their husbands or S.O.s full financial control.
1.We're afraid to take risks
2. We should save and invest like men
3. We ask too many questions
4. Women aren't financial household decision makers (I always was in my household)
5. Give women "one size fits all" advice
https://www.schwab.com/resource-center/insights/content/breakthebias-women-and-investing?cmp=em-XCU
 

OneEyedDiva said:
This article titled Break The Bias is from Charles Schwab's Insights and Ideas page. As noted in the article, some women believe one or more of these things themselves which may give them pause when it comes to investing or cause them to give their husbands or S.O.s full financial control.
1.We're afraid to take risks
2. We should save and invest like men
3. We ask too many questions
4. Women aren't financial household decision makers (I always was in my household)
5. Give women "one size fits all" advice
https://www.schwab.com/resource-center/insights/content/breakthebias-women-and-investing?cmp=em-XCU
Click to expand...
I really get put off by these articles.... that are often assuming all women are alike.

This article is really the one size fits all scenario.... where is the bias?
Risk adverse people can be either sex.... so that is a false bias

Asking questions or being curious another NON bias just assumption.
Saving and investing usually have small hurdles for example maybe a minimum dollar amount to open accounts........... again no hurdle of gender.
so there is really no reason that many do not start. Yet all these new apps for investing make it seem as if folks could never start before..

The idea that women are kept in the dark on finances is an outdated stereotype IMO .....
I did all of our investing he would not know what to do if i were to pass etc.....
 
OneEyedDiva said:
2. We should save and invest like men
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Thanks for the link, I read the article it was interesting. I agree with the article that women (on average) need to invest differently (more aggressively etc) because they have longer old age and fewer work years and lower wages than men.

I regret the superficial financial advice the news puts out that says to save enough to get as much 401k match as a person's company pays. I took that advice but I really needed to save a lot more than that especially early on when it would have had more time to grow.
 

Jeni said:
I really get put off by these articles.... that are often assuming all women are alike.

This article is really the one size fits all scenario.... where is the bias?
Risk adverse people can be either sex.... so that is a false bias
Click to expand...
Jeni, the article is much better than the intro, I think the detailed article agrees with you. It wasn't really saying women are risk-adverse, it said that women are more cautious and consequently are (statistically, not each individual woman) more financially successful in the market.
 
That is really interesting and I see some of those traits in my friends. Funny, I never thought of myself as any of those things. I went to college and pursued a degree in Mgmt. and Mktg. and a lot of those classes were about money, so when my USNavy husband went to sea, I automatically just took over. After the USN, he worked shift work and was often from home so I continued.

At one point I realized that he often shared that he assumed he would have to work forever - we could "never afford to retire." I then, decided that, if I wrote it down for him, maybe he could read it slowly and realize that I even as I have diversified, we were well on track for retirement. That REALLY HELPED! I created a spreadsheet that laid out our cash accounts as well as the designated retirement accounts. We moved around a lot so I had things fairly spread out. I was never shy about investing but I always kept 1/2 the money with one Financial group and 1/2 with another. (too many articles about Bernie Madoff and several local guys who took off with their client's savings)

Now I update that spread sheet weekly and take a copy with us when we meet with our Financial Rep. (He LOVES it BTW and takes it to meetings to gloat to his fellow Reps that HE has a client who has their s....t together!)

I have suggested to several of my friends that they NEED to know where their money is and how to access it, should something happen to their SO or spouse. I have even said the same thing to my married son - his wife has control of their $$ and he assures me that she keeps him in the loop.
 
I recently skimmed an article that said in a study between men investing and women investing, it was found women had better returns overall because they were more likely to "buy and hold", whereas men often fell into the "beat the market" timing moves, to their retirement balances' detriment. Might have been an excerpt from the Schwab article, but I can't recall off-hand.

I belong to several financial forums, including the FIRE forum (Financially Independent Retire Early) and I've noticed that the FIRE members who own individual stocks and aggressively manage their holdings/balances are invariably men. Not always, but it certainly appears that way to me after several years' membership.

We have our accounts handled by a CFP firm so the advice we receive is neutral third-party based on our specific risk profile. I enjoy investing and global finance, but after years of managing our retirement accounts, when we actually DID retire, I turned it over to a trusted professional.

They've done a good job for us and it gives me peace of mind that if anything happened to me, my spouse has them to rely upon. It's especially true if something happens to both of us, our heir is a sweetheart but totally unaccustomed to handling the kind of higher-end financial decisions (including such things as LTC, taxable vs non-taxable distributions, etc.) she would be required to make - and I don't think much of her partner's financial decision-making, frankly.
 
Jeni said:
I really get put off by these articles.... that are often assuming all women are alike.

This article is really the one size fits all scenario.... where is the bias?
Risk adverse people can be either sex.... so that is a false bias

Asking questions or being curious another NON bias just assumption.
Saving and investing usually have small hurdles for example maybe a minimum dollar amount to open accounts........... again no hurdle of gender.
so there is really no reason that many do not start. Yet all these new apps for investing make it seem as if folks could never start before..

The idea that women are kept in the dark on finances is an outdated stereotype IMO .....
I did all of our investing he would not know what to do if i were to pass etc.....
Click to expand...
I have read several articles over the years and currently that point out that women often let their husbands do the financial stuff. I know women who admit to this when the discussions come up so I don't know that it's an outdated notion. Apparently, @Myquest55 does too, as she stated above. Some of those I know have been thrown into financial chaos when their husbands died because they didn't know what to do. I also know of men who have the mindsets named in #2, 3 & 4.

Just because you and I held the financial reigns in our households does not mean it's the norm. Of course women are as career oriented as men and have been for quite awhile now, with many making as much or more as men but that doesn't mean they are financially savvy about investing. I agree with you though that #1 & #5 can apply to men according to #1, their risk tolerances and #5 what financial advisor they've chosen.
The point of the article is to say that women have these traits but that some men and I assume financial advisors who deal with women assume that they do. @HoneyNut And you're right...the article goes deeper than the title. I'm glad you found the article interesting.

@Myquest55 Do you feel your friends are intimidated by financial matters or just have absolute trust in their husbands taking care of matters. (Boy have I seen that backfire!). KUDOS to you for taking an active role in you and your husband's financial matters.

@Lethe200 I'm not surprised that women do well when investing. It's come to light that we do many things way better than we were once given credit for! :D It's good that you have a neutral CFP firm you are happy with. I sometimes get articles in my various news feeds about young people in the FIRE movement.
 
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Just be super careful about all investing information. Best thing you can do is find a CPA or financial advisor with some family connection and make sure that person confirms the strategy is wise.

The festival of thieves in the financial world is endless. I wouldn't trust anyone...including people at the major companies.

Really have to do a lot research to confirm things.
 
JonSR77 said:
Just be super careful about all investing information. Best thing you can do is find a CPA or financial advisor with some family connection and make sure that person confirms the strategy is wise.

The festival of thieves in the financial world is endless. I wouldn't trust anyone...including people at the major companies.

Really have to do a lot research to confirm things.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the ood advice Jon but I've been investing on my own for the last 23 years, except for my initial introduction into the investment arena via a seminar by a representative from the former Dean, Witter, Reynolds. I also used to read investing magazines like Money and Kiplinger, I've learned by trial and error. One such error was listening to trusted financial "experts" (only twice) about a mutual fund and a stock. My choices have always fared much better. I've added and changed brokerages several times over the years until at last I found the one that works best for my purposes, so most of my portfolio is there. I'm very happy with my mix of assets (I lean toward the aggressive side) and it's returns which have generally been in the double digits.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
Thank you for the ood advice Jon but I've been investing on my own for the last 23 years, except for my initial introduction into the investment arena via a seminar by a representative from the former Dean, Witter, Reynolds. I also used to read investing magazines like Money and Kiplinger, I've learned by trial and error. One such error was listening to trusted financial "experts" (only twice) about a mutual fund and a stock. My choices have always fared much better. I've added and changed brokerages several times over the years until at last I found the one that works best for my purposes, so most of my portfolio is there. I'm very happy with my mix of assets (I lean toward the aggressive side) and it's returns which have generally been in the double digits.
Click to expand...

Did not mean any offense. Clearly YOU have the skills to do that kind of investing. Just offering a word of caution...because the kind of experience you are expressing, is exactly what is needed. And there are plenty of folks who wade out into those waters without that experience, and get taken for a ride.

I personally know someone who trusted a friend and dropped $25,000 in the market. And, that was a good portion of her life savings at the time.
 
JonSR77 said:
Did not mean any offense. Clearly YOU have the skills to do that kind of investing. Just offering a word of caution...because the kind of experience you are expressing, is exactly what is needed. And there are plenty of folks who wade out into those waters without that experience, and get taken for a ride.

I personally know someone who trusted a friend and dropped $25,000 in the market. And, that was a good portion of her life savings at the time.
Click to expand...
Affinity fraud is rife these days. A "friend", a church member, a member of another organization, etc. Remember, if it seems to be too good to be true, it probably is.
 
JonSR77 said:
Did not mean any offense. Clearly YOU have the skills to do that kind of investing. Just offering a word of caution...because the kind of experience you are expressing, is exactly what is needed. And there are plenty of folks who wade out into those waters without that experience, and get taken for a ride.

I personally know someone who trusted a friend and dropped $25,000 in the market. And, that was a good portion of her life savings at the time.
Click to expand...
I wasn't offended at all Jon. What you said is sage advice. And as I thought about my reply, I realized I gave the wrong amount of years I've been investing. Senior moments...🙄 It's actually been 36 years. Rule of thumb everyone should heed...never invest with a friend or because of a friend, especially if something is supposed to be the next hot pick. Better yet, don't invest with any entity but a well known, trusted brokerage or insurance company (if it's annuities one seeks), that has a solid track record.

@bowmore you are absolutely right.
 
Trying to "time" the markets is almost like shooting Craps at the casino...IMO. I stay fairly conservative with our investments, and watch the CBOE Vix closely for an indication of where the markets are heading. We're too old to put our "cushions" at risk.
 

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