eToro survey reveals only 11% of female investors invest in currencies
With the rise of the retail investor and more people investing in the markets than ever before, eToro set out to learn more about women’s goals and strategies when investing.
The online broker found that the overwhelming majority of female investors – four out of five – are confident they’ll reach their desired income in retirement if they continue with their current investment strategy, and nearly 1 in 5 plan to reach this goal within the next five years.
According to the women surveyed, the top reasons they invest are to outperform savings, supplement income, improve lifestyle, generate a one off payment, and attain financial independence.
Many of these women began investing to generate extra income and to counter low interest rates. Around a fifth (22%) began investing 3 to 5 years ago; 11% started 6-10 years ago and nearly half (47%) started 2 years ago or less.
The most popular investment held by the women surveyed was domestic stocks (41%). This was followed by cryptoassets (36%), domestic bonds (25%), foreign stocks (23%), alternative investments (23%), cash (21%), commodities (14%), foreign bonds (13%) and currencies (11%).
As to which assets female investors are planning to invest in for the future, the top answer was crypto (35%). Other assets include domestic stocks (32%), alternative investments (28%), foreign stocks (23%), domestic bonds (22%), commodities (21%), cash (17%), foreign bonds (14%) and currencies (12%). Female investors surveyed believe the best investment opportunities over the next three months will come from green energy and renewables followed by MAMAA stocks (Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet).
Women tend to lean heavily on personal recommendations for information on how and when to invest, with nearly 1 in 2 female investors (47%) turning to friends, family or colleagues for insight.
eToro’s Global COO and Deputy CEO, Dr Hedva Ber commented on the survey’s findings.
“Female investors are using investing as a powerful lever to secure their futures, boost income, and/or to build net wealth. It is clear from the research that female investors are carving out their own future, and building for the long-term, something which is to be celebrated.
“Women clearly want to improve their finances, and crave more education around investing. We need to respond to the calls for more female role models and ensure they represent the diversity of women who could benefit from knowing more about investing. Financial education is key and while progress is being made there is more work to do. We have a responsibility to make a positive difference to women’s lives now and in the future.”
The survey research was conducted by Appinio from 4th February – 15th February 2022. A total of 9,504 female retail investors were sampled across 14 countries. 1,000 in each: UK, US, Germany, France, Spain and Australia, and 500 in the following: Italy, Sweden, Netherlands, Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic, Denmark (319) and Norway (185). Female investors were defined as those who held investments such as bonds, funds, cryptoassets, currencies, equities, FX and cash linked to stock markets. They did not need to be eToro users.