Global stocks have enjoyed the best year since 2009, only 16% of employers are tracking the gender pensions gap, money apps to use in 2020 and how to fix your money mindset
Weekly newsletter for women who want to be smart about money: financial news, personal finance and investing
Happy New Year! And welcome to our first weekly newsletter in 2020.
Every week we curate key articles and content so you can stay informed and inspired about money and investing without the boring bits!
We spend hours sifting through content every week and apply a female-lens to news and content about money so that it is fun and meaningful to you.
Ultimately we want to support you in making well-informed financial decisions, grow your net worth and ensure your financial security.
From The Purse…
Editorial from the Founder
Did you know that if the same number of women invested at the same rate as men, the financial services industry would see an additional £100 billion in the UK alone?
Women are not investing their money anywhere near what we should.
This not only exposes us to greater financial risk, but it also means we are not using our economic clout to influence businesses and institutions which simply no longer serve us or the world we want to create for our kids or loved ones.
Female consumer purchasing power is bigger than the GDP of China and India. And women make up over 85% of all household decisions.
The good news is that women investors take a different approach to investing, are the driving force behind impact investing and are controlling more money than ever before.
Crucially, women entrepreneurs are more likely to build businesses which have a social purpose, are socially responsible or have social impact.
The more women invest and direct their money towards start-ups and businesses which reflect their values and address a specific pain point for the female consumer (largely underserved), the sooner women will influence and power the world of tomorrow which serves everyone.
(Read more: Why the financial services industry needs to become more female-market intelligent)
The Big Picture
Global markets and economy news, trends and indicators
Global stocks have enjoyed the best year since 2009.
This is how markets performed in 2019 (Source: The Guardian)
MSCI World Index: up 24%
UK FTSE 100: up 12%
Europe-wide Stoxx 600: up 23%
China’s CSI 300: up 36%
Japan’s Nikkei: up 18%
US Nasdaq: up 35%
US S&P 500: up 28%World stock prices have continued to rise… and ‘stocks have entered bubble territory’ (Source: Holger Zschaepitz, Twitter)
Britain’s FTSE 100: gained 12% due to Brexit and political uncertainty making UK stocks ‘unloved’. The smaller FTSE 250 index, which contains domestic stock gained 25% this year. This could lead to a return to UK equities for investors. (Source: The Guardian)
Global tech stocks have had an amazing year. Apple has gained 84% and Microsoft has gone up 55%. This has pushed the indices up higher too (Source: The Guardian).
US/China Trade deal to be signed on 15 Jan 2020. (Source: FT)
Bitcoin believers expect a 2020 rally:
Looking Ahead to 2020
Have You Seen This?
Female-focused news, reports, research, campaigns
Only 16% employers are tracking the gender pensions gap.
“The Employee Benefits/Wealth at Work Pensions research 2019, which was conducted during October 2019 among 135 HR decision makers, also found that, while a fifth (20%) of respondents report that they plan to begin measuring their organisation’s gender pensions gap, there is still a significant majority (64%) that have no plans to boost their understanding of the extent of the issue. A further 56% state that they have taken no action to reduce the gap.”
Study: the old boys network is real and explains part of the gender pay gap.
“A new, unpublished study from Harvard Business School's Zoë Cullen and UCLA's Ricardo Perez-Truglia finds that men and women get promoted at the same rate when their bosses are female, but when men have a male boss, they climb the corporate ladder faster. The gender of women's bosses makes no difference in their careers.”
Study: sons twice as likely to inherit family firms, compared to daughters.
“Nick Fahy, chief executive of Cynergy Bank, said: “Historically family businesses have overlooked female leadership talent and handed their businesses down to sons and nephews. Family businesses make a significant contribution to the communities in which they operate, so it’s important they reflect these communities in their leadership.”
Women aged 22-29 are opting out of a workplace pension.
“About 10.5% of women aged 22 to 29 opted out of their workplace pension last year, compared with 8.1% of men in the same age group, according to the insurer Royal London.”
3 ways to make the 2020s the decade we close the gender gap
“On average, only 55% of adult women are in the labour market, versus 78% of men. And women only earn 60% of what men do for the same work, with half as much non-wage income..”
What We’re Tracking
Female-focused products or services, crowdfunding campaigns, start-ups led by female entrepreneurs & investment, research.
Ada Ventures launches with a $34m fund aimed at super-charging diverse global founders.
“…92 in every 100 dollars invested in Europe goes to all-male teams, 83% founders are white, 82% are university educated, in the U.K. a quarter of investment committees saw no female founders in 2017 (British Business Bank) and 72% of VC funding is invested in London alone (London & Partners and Pitchbook, 2018).”
Money Habits of the Week
Do you have a money habit you would like to share with us? Tweet @jointhepurse
We like the idea of saving £43.60 per week by giving up alcohol. You can save for a nice holiday or better yet, why not start or top up your emergency fund with the savings?
This from Claer Barrett, from the Financial Times:
And here are three timeless personal finance principles from Certified Financial Planner & Advisor, D. Muthukrishnan: spend less than you earn, invest the difference and have no debt:
Caught Our Eye
New digital tools and cool stuff for managing your money
Check out these money apps and stay in control of your money all year round. Download from your app store.
Cleo: your AI friend that looks after your money.
Emma: she helps you in avoiding overdrafts, finding wasteful subscriptions and giving the control you need over your finances.
Snoop: a new kind of app, designed to save you money. Connect to your bank accounts and credit cards, showing you how to save money at the places you already spend.
Yolt: spend smart, stay on track, and reach your goals with one smart thinking money app. Just add your accounts to get started.
Money Dashboard: save money, plan and achieve your goals with our free multi-award winning money app and budget planner.
We’re Applauding
Female role model in politics, finance, business, money, or investment
We’re super excited about Francesca Warner’s work in the venture capital industry. She co-founded Diversity VC, a non-profit partnership promoting diversity in Venture Capital and recently launched Ada Ventures-a $34m fund focused on overlooked founders and markets.
Big news! Today we launch Ada Ventures a $34 fund focused on overlooked founders and markets. techcrunch.com/2019/12/10/ada…. What does it take? 💰330 LPs met ✈️ 62 flights 📒112,000 words of meeting notes 💸10 investments while fundraising Video: vimeo.com/365235261
Female-led start-ups tend to innovate in the the female market and address pain points currently ignored by male dominated startups.
What We’re Watching
Named Britain’s best therapist, Marissa Peer is the author of 5 best-selling books and her USP is to teach “simple steps that produce dramatic and life-changing results”. We came across this 28min video where she talks about how to fix your money mindset so you can enjoy more in your life.
What We’re Reading
We’re starting the New Year by re-reading two classic books in the world of personal finance: The Richest Man in Babylon and Rich Dad Poor Dad.
The Richest Man in Babylon is ‘hailed as the greatest of all inspirational works on the subject of thrift, financial planning, and personal wealth’
Rich Dad Poor Dad is the ‘number one personal finance book of all time’. Enjoy and we’d love to know what you think! Tweet us @jointhepurse.
Coffee Break? Read This
We’d love to hear from you. Do you have feedback? Have we missed anything? What would you like to see more of? Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and @janicka.
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