Women investors are more likely than men to hold their nerve during financial turmoil but are less likely than men to invest overall, according to a new study.
The research, for investment provider Alliance Trust, revealed that women were better at holding their investment nerve and less likely to have crystallised a loss when the market dipped.
Almost half of men (48%) have sold investments at a loss when they have gone down in value to try to avoid losing more money but only 38% of women have done the same.
When asked whether they had stopped or reduced their regular investment payments because the markets had dropped, 17% of men had done so entirely compared to just 12% of women.
Survey Questions:
Sometimes investments go down in value. When this happens, some people decide to cash in their investments at a loss to avoid losing more money. Have you ever sold an investment at a loss? |
| Gender | |
Total | Men | Women | |
Yes, within the last year | 12% | 15% | 6% |
Yes, within the last 1-2 years | 10% | 10% | 9% |
Yes, within the last 3-5 years | 13% | 12% | 14% |
Yes, within the last 6-10 years | 6% | 6% | 4% |
Yes, over 10 years ago | 5% | 5% | 5% |
No | 51% | 48% | 55% |
I don’t know | 5% | 4% | 7% |
NET: Yes | 45% | 48% | 38% |
Source: Alliance Trust / Opinium
| Portfolio value falls 5% | Portfolio value falls 6-10% | Portfolio value falls 11-15% | Portfolio value falls 16%-20% | Portfolio value falls by more than 20% | |||||
Men | Women | Men | Women | Men | Women | Men | Women | Men | Women | |
I would stay put / hold | 69% | 61% | 59% | 52% | 46% | 40% | 37% | 31% | 30% | 27% |
I would sell my investments | 12% | 14% | 12% | 17% | 21% | 19% | 22% | 18% | 21% | 21% |
I would buy more investments | 10% | 12% | 14% | 14% | 16% | 18% | 20% | 21% | 21% | 22% |
I would pause regular contributions | 5% | 9% | 10% | 10% | 12% | 13% | 13% | 16% | 14% | 12% |
Not sure | 11% | 15% | 11% | 17% | 12% | 21% | 15% | 26% | 20% | 28% |
Source: Alliance Trust / Opinium
However, the survey also showed that men have more money invested compared to women and were more likely to invest in the stock market. Some 30% of men in the UK have a stocks & shares ISA compared to just 16% of women.
About 17% of men have a general investment account compared to 10% of women while 19% of men have a SIPP compared to 9% of women. Ownership of cash savings was similar.
Men also have more money invested with more than half of the women who do invest (54%) having less than £20,000 invested, compared to 37% of men.
In contrast, 39% of men have more than £50,000 invested while just 28% of women can say the same.
• Consumer research was conducted by Opinium Research, who surveyed 2,000 UK adults in August. Of these, 730 were investors (defined as having a Stocks & Shares ISA, a general investment account, and/ or a self-invested/ self-managed personal pension).
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