You Invest Like a Girl!
by Juno MonetaApril 19th, 2008, 7:11 pm
I recently came across a 2005 survey commissioned by Merrill Lynch that found women and men make different kinds of investing mistakes. According to the survey, women are generally less knowledgeable about investing, but are better able to learn from their investing mistakes, and are more likely to seek advice from a professional than their male counterparts. Which is great news for Merrill Lynch, which, like most major financial institutions, has realized that professional women can be ideal customers - they’ve got earning power and they are actually willing to listen to advice. All of the survey respondents had investable assets of at least $75,000 and a household income of at least $75,000 to boot.
Men, on the other hand, are more likely to make “glamorous mistakes” like stubbornly holding on to a losing or winning stock or fund for too long. (What makes this “glamorous?”) And they are not as likely to seek a professional’s help. This, all according to the survey. But I can’t help but wonder if this kind of behavior resides in the same part of the male psyche that often refuses to ask for directions when lost, all while insisting that he found a “shortcut.”
Men, the survey says, are also more likely to make hot-headed mistakes like buying into the latest trend without researching it or ignoring the tax implications of their investment decisions. However, they seem to have a lot more fun with investing than the ladies do.
P.S. This is not a man-hating blog. I love men.
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Posted in Philosophy, Sex and the Wallet, Strategies |
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this is so true. i know a girl whose husband worked in the finance business, and he lost all their savings because he invested in crazy speculative stuff. too bad she didn’t get involved and inject a little common sense and restraint.
That’s ridiculous. My husband works in the hedge fund business, and he invests all of our money and we’ve seen great returns. This is just a bunch of anti-male rhetoric. If someone is better at something than you are, why not just let them do it rather than trying to prove a point?
I totally disagree with Gisella. I think that if you leave just one person in the know about your finances and something goes wrong with his/her investment stragtegy, than you’ll have no choice but to blame your financial ruin on just that one person’s incompetence and ulitmately end the relationship.
Hurrah for anti-male rhetoric! J/K.