Where men, women differ in investing
TEXT OF STORY
Steve Chiotakis: You know what they say about the difference between men and women who are lost. The woman will ask for directions while the man will just try to find his way on his own. Well, according to a report out this morning, that may apply to investment decisions as well. Marketplace’s Jeremy Hobson has more.
Jeremy Hobson: In a survey, the online brokerage Scottrade asked men and women the same question: Did your investment portfolio hold the same value or increase over the past year?
Scottrade’s Chris Moloney says “yes” was the answer for 48 percent of each gender.
CHRIS MOLONEY: So their performance is basically the same. However, when you ask women about their level of confidence or their overall confidence in their ability to do their own investing, they rank themselves a lot lower.
And he says the survey found women are more likely to seek financial education before investing.
Marion Asnes at Financial Planning Magazine has studied women’s money management. She says today’s report should make women feel better about investing.
MARION ASNES: Those women who had been sneered at as being risk averse and passive and blah, blah blah turned out to do pretty darn well simply because they made well-considered decisions and stuck with them.
The study also found more women than men are using their investments to save for a family member’s education — or for a rainy day.
In New York, I’m Jeremy Hobson for Marketplace.
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