Welcome to our #112 weekly newsletter.
“For women taking control of their financial future”
-Jana Hlistova
From The Purse
In this week’s newsletter, we focus on recent surveys by etoro and Fidelity Investments which highlight that more women have started investing since the pandemic.
***
You can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.
And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with Jill Pay who leads The Gender Index, the largest ever study into female entrepreneurship in the UK.
I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.
Until next week,
Jana
Survey: 42% of women started investing during the pandemic
Recent surveys indicate that more women are engaged around their money and invest.
According to a recent survey by eToro, two in five or 42% of women started investing in either 2020 or 2021, as reported by CNBC.
Whilst half of all women said they have become more interested in investing during the pandemic, based on separate research by Fidelity Investments.
Key findings:
50% of women investors in the etoro survey plan to hold their investments for 6 years or longer.
Separately, 67% of women are now investing outside of their retirement savings, up from 44% in 2018, according to Fidelity.
Whilst the pandemic has forced women to focus on their finances, investment platforms and mobile apps also have made it easier to invest.
And social media has helped to demystify how to invest with the rise of ‘finfluencers’, memes and general availability of information.
Here is a summary of how women invest (data from 2021, Fidelity Investments):
Cryptocurrencies: 23%
ESG/sustainable investments: 24%
Money market funds or CDs: 50%
Mutual funds or ETFs: 63%
Individual stocks or bonds: 67%
Investing: what women should consider
Investing goals: why are you investing?
Time horizon: you should invest for at least 5-7+ years
Risk tolerance: if you are investing with a longer time horizon, you can afford to invest in more risky investments. If you may need the money in say 3 years time, invest in less risky investments or in a savings account with high interest.
Diversified portfolio: spread your risk across different asset classes. Professional investors tend to more concentrated, however it makes sense to diversify as a retail investor.
Tax incentives: there are tax efficient ways to invest. For example, investing in a stocks & shares ISA (UK) means you can invest up to £20,000 tax free.
Speak to a financial adviser or a financial coach.
What next?
(re) listen to The Purse Podcast interview with Heather McGregor on how women take charge of their money.
(re) listen to The Purse Podcast interview with Dr Kate Levinson on how women can build a healthy relationship with money.
News in Brief
Financial news
IMF cuts global growth forecast to 3.6% (by 0.8%) as Ukraine war hits neighbours hard. The global economy growth will suffer with higher inflation than expected.
The value of global bonds has dropped by another $524bn this week, bringing total loss from ATH to $6.9tn.
US stocks fall in a dramatic reversal as yields surge. Nasdaq 100 drops 2% as US 10 year yields jump by 7bps to 2.9%.
The European corporate bond market’s ongoing sell-off has reached historic proportions, with high-grade bonds losing a record 8.6% in total return terms since their August peak.
US Federal Reserve Chairman, Jay Powell signals a 0.5% raise in interest rates in May. The US has the highest inflation in 40 years.
A perfect storm of surging fuel and food prices, Fed rate hikes and mounting debt is pushing emerging markets to the brink. Turkey, Egypt & Vietnam head the Bloomberg list of major emerging markets vulnerable to fallout from the war in Ukraine.
Russia is on course for its first external default in a century after its payment of rubles on two dollar bonds was ruled a ‘potential failure-to-pay event’.
Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs
Crypto prices dived along with most major stock markets after Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said a 50 basis point interest rate hike is ‘on the table’ for May.
Bitcoin’s supply is more distributed: retail investors (entities holding less than 10 BTC) increasing their share of circulating supply from 1.51% in 2012 to 13.9% in 2022 on average (see the current bitcoin price).
Morgan Stanely says that bitcoin is close to becoming a currency (report). Morgan Stanley said the integration of Strike and BlackHawk Network lets bitcoin enter physical locations, which makes up 85% of U.S. transactions.
Michael Saylor says MicroStrategy stock is (essentially) serving as a spot bitcoin ETF as investors wait for the first one to be approved. (MicroStrategy has spent $4bn on bitcoin to date).
Ethereum earned global investors $76.3bn in realised gains in 2021 thanks to DeFi (report) (see the current ETH price).
Ethereum foundation reveals 80% of treasury holdings are held in ETH. ‘The EF believes in Ethereum’s potential, and our ETH holdings represent that long-term perspective,’ said the non-profit, which oversees the development of Ethereum, in a treasury disclosure report published April 19.
Despite the cooling of the NFT market, on Wednesday, Coinbase- the largest crypto exchange in the U.S., launched its long-awaited marketplace for digital collectibles.
Moonbirds shatter OpenSea records with $240m traded within four days of launch. The profile-picture collection now boasts a floor price of 20 ETH ($62,000) – eight times its launch price of 2.5 ETH ($7,800).
Nike and RTFKT reveal CryptoKicks—their first Ethereum NFT metaverse trainers. The digital shoes can be altered via collectible ‘Skin Vials’, which can be swapped to enable varying styles.
Weekly NFT sales jump 20% to $246m. These were the 5 best-selling digital collections: Bored Ape Yacht Club, Cool Cats, CryptoPunks, Doodles, The Sandbox.
The Purse Podcast
We cover the following in our conversation:
Female founders
The Gender Index
The Rose Review
Closing the gender funding gap
And more
Please enjoy! Listen on Apple podcasts and Spotify+
Coffee Break? Read This
We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and @janicka.
The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2022 & All Rights Reserved.
The Purse provides content for informational purposes only, we do not recommend products or services or provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.
Share this post