Invisible Sex

The name may be eye catching, but this was only the title of an in depth analysis of service for women in the Australian Financial Services market.  We would not expect the results to be significantly different in New Zealand even though a number of people have claimed that Australia is a more sexist country than New Zealand!

Men and women are different when it comes to investment.  Research shows that women feel less secure, knowledgeable and confident about finance and investing.  Despite this, most financial services organisations treat men and women the same.  Yet, almost every consumer and retail services industry that exists globally acknowledges that men and women are different.  For example, certain models of phones are designed for women, cars for women, soft drinks etc.

Women are generally less confident with regard to finance and investing and seek a higher level of security.  Only 23.3% of females rated their financial knowledge as either strong or very strong compared to 42% of males.  Almost the opposite was their feelings of financial insecurity compared to males. 

Women are less inclined towards risk taking than males.  For example almost half the males polled would prefer to invest in a higher risk/higher return investment, compared to a quarter of the females.

Females control the purse strings! According to the report women are in control of, or are strongly involved in, 99% of spending decisions.  This shows that they have a lot of commitment to household financial responsibilities.

Women are also more price and detail focused than men and they gather information differently.  They will spend more time researching before committing to an investment than will males.

One of the most interesting observations was that they hated the idea of Master Trust investing.  The idea that their money would be aggregated and decisions and performance would be driven from there with no input from them or their adviser did not appeal at all.  Instead they wanted their own tailored financial investment solutions.

Most of the findings were in fact common sense.  It is a male thing to exaggerate about how much financial knowledge they have.  It is human nature for females to want more security than males.  After all, they have a much greater need for financial security as on average they will outlive their partners by several years.  Women also like designer clothes, so why would they want to buy a uniform investment such as a Masterfund?

None of the major investment advisory groups have successfully targeted female investors in this country.  This may be because the market is seen as being too small.  As the Australian results show, females have a very large influence on family finances.  Because of this, it will largely be up to the attitude of the adviser as to how well the investment needs of female investors are met.