The invisible investors
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Women may be better investors than men, but do we need special financial products for them?
Around International Women's Day, the financial services industry is busy dusting off their “special offers for women” campaigns. Pink-themed brochures, discounted brokerage for “lady investors,” and investment seminars “designed specifically for women’s needs” flood our inboxes and social media feeds. The marketing machinery works overtime to convince us that women require a fundamentally different approach to money.
Recently, I had two conversations that highlighted the contradictory narratives we maintain about women and investing. A senior investment professional, who happens to be a woman, told me that in her experience, women tend to invest more consistently and often achieve better returns than men – they just don't broadcast their successes on social media or in WhatsApp groups. “Men brag about their multibaggers,” she said, “but rarely mention their losses. Women simply get on with it.” This invisibility creates a perception gap that the industry is only too happy to fill with stereotypes.
In stark contrast, a male acquaintance mentioned that his wife, a successful entrepreneur with a substantial independent income, leaves all investment decisions to him. “She's brilliant at making money but doesn't bother about investing it,” he said with a mixture of pride and puzzlement. These contradictory narratives – women as naturally cautious but effective investors versus women as financially disengaged – serve different purposes. The former is used to pitch “women-oriented” financial products, while the latter justifies the status quo where men dominate financial decision-making. Neither fully captures the complex reality of how gender intersects with financial behaviour.
The truth is that good investment principles are universal – diversification, long-term thinking, understanding risk-reward relationships, and maintaining liquidity for emergencies. These fundamentals don't have a gender. A 25-year-old woman starting her career has more in common with a 25-year-old man in the same position than with a 55-year-old woman nearing retirement. Age, income, financial goals, and risk tolerance are far more relevant variables than gender when crafting investment strategies.
So what’s behind the “special” financial products marketed to women? Usually, it's the same old offerings wrapped in different packaging, often with higher fees or more conservative projections based on questionable assumptions about women's risk appetite. These products rarely address actual structural issues that might affect women's financial positions – like career breaks for caregiving, gender pay gaps, or longer average lifespans that require extended retirement planning.
This isn’t to say that there aren’t differences in how men and women approach investing. Research does suggest women may trade less frequently (thus avoiding excessive fees), panic less during market volatility, and maintain more diversified portfolios. These tendencies – if they truly exist beyond stereotypes—would generally lead to better investment outcomes. The irony is that the financial services industry often markets to women by emphasizing the opposite qualities: the need for “simpler” products, more hand-holding, and lower-risk approaches.
What would genuinely useful financial services for women look like? They would acknowledge real structural challenges without patronizing. They would recognize that a woman who takes time out of the workforce for caregiving might need strategies to compensate for those non-earning years. They would factor in women’s longer life expectancies in retirement planning. Most importantly, they would provide the same level of respect, transparency, and options that all investors deserve.
This Women’s Day, instead of signing up for a special “investment workshop for women,” perhaps the best gift to yourself or the women in your life is to recognize that good investing principles are universal. The best investment is one that matches your specific life circumstances and goals – regardless of gender. And that's a truth that doesn't fit neatly on a pink brochure.
For more columns by Dhirendra Kumar, click here.
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