Welcome to our #227 weekly newsletter.
“For women taking control of their financial future”
-Jana Hlistova
From The Purse
We hope you had a chance to celebrate International Women’s Day!
In this week’s newsletter, we focus on research by Boring Money which highlights the growing gender investment gap in the UK. Although women’s risk aversion and lack of money confidence is often used to explain why women invest less than men, we know the reality is far more complex.
And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with David Fogel. We talk about angel investing, why we need male allies, how to eradicate ‘bad behaviour in VC’, investing in female founders, raising capital as a female founder and how to build a startup investment portfolio.
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And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.
I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.
Until next week,
Jana
Women, money and the gender investment gap
According to investment research house Boring Money, the gender investment gap rose by £54bn to £567bn between January 2023 and January 2024, as reported by the Financial Times.
More men than women, aged 25-44 years, have invested their money over the last 12 months. And the disparity in investing has become even more pronounced for 18-25 year olds.
Overall, just 19% of women aged 25-44 were investors, up a mere 1% from January 2023. And the average amount held by male investors is £102,000, compared with £66,000 for women.
The survey also highlighted that only 18% of women preferred a higher risk pension compared to 33% of men.
Moreover, female investors keep 29% of their assets in cash, compared with 25% for male investors. This means women lose out on compound interest and equity growth overtime, which limits how fast their net worth can grow.
Cryptocurrency investing
According to HM Revenue & Customs, 13% of men own cryptocurrencies compared with 6% of women. This may also explain why more than twice as many men invest aged 18-25 years of age, than women.
Women, risk and money confidence
And whilst this can suggest that women are less tolerant to risk, overall research shows that women are in fact risk-aware, as opposed to being risk averse.
A lack of confidence is also cited as a reason why women may be investing less than men. But the reality is far more complex.
Social and gender norms dictate that ‘money making’ continues to be the domain of men. Women tend to be exposed to far less education and information regarding investing. And they often feel alienated by an industry dominated by ‘white bros’ chasing alpha, speaking in technical jargon few understand or can relate to.
Gender bias and parental conditioning continues to play into how girls and women are talked to about money and investing (if at all), not just in the home, but also by the financial services industry.
The gender pay gap also means that women have less money to save and to invest. And if women decide to start a family, they are more likely to take a career break, work part-time which impacts their income level.
If follows that women are in fact exposed to far more financial risk over the course of their life than men.
Which is why women should be investing more money, more often and taking on far more (calculated) investment risk.
Crucially, their financial plan should look very different to a man’s.
What next? (Re) listen to The Purse Podcast
#86: How women manage risk as investors, at work and in life with Michele Wucker and Barbara Stewart
#93: How women can become financially independent with Holly Morphew
News in Brief
Financial news
Jeremy Powell says the US Fed is ‘not far’ from the point of cutting interest rates.
On Tuesday: bad day for fiat money: not only has Bitcoin reached an ATH today, Gold is also trading at a record high.
ECB’s Christine Lagarde signals June rate cut with 2% inflation in sight. Markets agree and price in 97bps cut for 2024.
Gold has hit another record, but the volume of gold ETFs keeps falling. This indicates that demand is not coming from private or institutional investors, but that other players are stocking up on the precious metal.
Goldman's CIO says don't invest in China. This chart shows why: over the last 30 years the MSCI China index has posted a total return of 0%.
UK interest rates: the latest Monetary Policy report says rates are expected to remain around 5.25% until autumn 2024 and then decline gradually to 4.25% by the end of 2026.
UK to have first parliament in modern history with fall in living standards, says thinktank. Household incomes on course to fall despite national insurance cuts in budget, says Resolution Foundation.
In Friday's intraday reversal, Nvidia has lost $250bn of market cap in 2 hours.
Morgan Stanley warns Tesla could lose money this year. Adam Jonas is the latest analyst to raise some concern with Tesla and slash price target. In the bear case, the share could fall to $100.
Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs
On Tuesday, Bitcoin briefly passes $69,000 to hit new record price for first time since November 2021. And on Friday, reached an new all-time high at $70,105. This is remarkable, considering that the coin was trading for below $17,000 in January 2023.
Ethereum hit $4,000 for the first time since 2021. Over seven days, it has soared by 13% and the price of ETH stands at $3,894.
Dogecoin had a very good week—it nearly doubled in price. It has since dropped and is now priced at $0.1749. It touched $0.19 on Monday, and the Elon Musk favorite is still up over 27% the past seven days.
Solana, rose above the $150 price point on Friday for the first time since January 2022. The token behind the Ethereum-competing blockchain is now up more than 13% over the past week and is priced at $145.82.
Bitcoin transaction volume skyrockets as the halving approaches and miners cash in.
SEC Chair Gary Gensler skirts questions about agency's stance on spot ETH ETFs.
Coinbase shares top $250 direct listing price for the first time in over two years. Up more than 350% in the past 12 months, Coinbase surpassed its initial direct listing price of $250 for the first time in more than two years.
Bitwise says Coinbase tech issues similar to Facebook's past, bitcoin ETFs unlikely affected.
The Purse Podcast
We cover the following in this conversation:
Angel investing: US vs UK
Male allies and eradicating 'bad behaviour' in VC
Investing in female founders
Gender bias in VC
Raising capital as a female founder
How to build a startup investment portfolio
Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+
Coffee Break? Read This
The Women’s prize for fiction is a success – now it has a nonfiction sister
Half of the world goes to the polls in 2024. Let’s ensure women’s voices are heard
We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka. We do no provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.
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Women, money and the gender investment gap