The age old debate rages on.  Are women better traders than men?  You can pull statistics from a number of sources that rate women as taking less risk and that women investors, on average, achieve annual returns higher than their male counterparts

But I think there’s more to it than that, and I’ll tell you why.

This has always been an area of interest to me personally.  As I’ve been in and around the markets for a few years now and I find it disheartening that you can virtually count on one hand the number of high-profiled women in investing relating endeavours, be it authors or seminar presenters.

I remember attending share market seminars quite some years ago and would often be one of only a few females in the room and the only one without grey hair!

Over the years, I’ve noticed the numbers are slowly increasing and females are beginning to take control of their financial affairs including their investing.  But still, a 80/20 ratio is about as good as it gets.

Many gender specific books have been written to offer advice and encourage the gals to look out for number one in a financial sense.    However, I always thought in this respect, financial common sense was not really that gender specific.

I’ve just been reading an article on the Wall Street Journal website, whereby famous author Jason Zweig pens an article about the differences between how women and men tend to invest.   Upon assessing these differences, he ponders how different things might be if the financial world were female.

Well, that created some response, with Zweig’s article bombarded with three pages of highly spirited comments, mainly by men, who have taken obvious personal offense to their gender ego being so publicly demeaned. 

ABN Amro Craigs, Chief Investment Officer, Cameron Watson also wrote an article about the gender differences, which cites a few more statistics of interest.  One point that specifically stood out for me, was that a poll taken by Harris Group for US broker Charles Schwarb in 2005. This poll found that nearly half of women agreed with the statement that “investing is scary”, which is double the rate from men respondents. 

And this is where we really discover the main difference.  That one comment ‘ investing is scary’ summarises an underlying theme that women tend to encounter.  It is a lack of confidence; which in turn results in a need to talk about their experiences.

I find it rather amusing that most articles about women in investing are actually written by men! Most don’t even bother to seek a female’s opinion on the subject.

Some time ago, I was involved in co-ordinating a series of meetings in Auckland and Wellington for female traders. It was really an experiment to see if it would be well received.  It was and the turnout to each event was inspiring.  The most rewarding part of these events was the openness of the attendees to share their experiences – good and bad.  The more experienced investors freely offered up advice to those new to investing.  There were no ego’s, no boasting, just a sense of belonging to a community of like-minded people. 

I spoke about my investing experiences at one event, to break the ice and from then on the room was abuzz with information sharing.  What started out as a group of strangers left as friends (when we finally had to force them from the building). At one point the chatter in the room was so loud we just laughed.  That’s just how we females are – we share, we build relationships.

And this, my friend,  is the key difference between men and women. Articles about the differences in genders’ investing spout facts from surveys, but it’s the emotional aspect that the authors neglect to identify.

We like to share.  We like to talk.  We need reassurance.  We need relationships.  These things create a supportive environment.  We’ve been programmed like this since the beginning of time, when groups of women gathered to care for the children while the men were out hunting and gathering. 

Let’s face it, trading and investing can be incredibly isolating for any gender.  Now days, all you need is a computer and an internet connection. And you can trade to your heart’s content without speaking to a sole.

To receive the much needed human interaction with like-minded individuals, most resort to one of the many forums and chat sites dedicated to share investing.   However, speaking from experience some of these forums can be incredibly daunting for a beginner, with some members not at all embracing of fellow investors trying to break into existing cliques.  

With some foresight, ABN Amro have identified women investors as a niche market and have established a Women’s Wealth Network with chapters around the country.  Craigs have identified the different investing needs of women and have met this need by providing advice, tools and regular breakfast meetings.

In summary, rather than stand in judgment we should be embracing these differences between the genders.  Choose to ignore the differences at your own peril.  But by acknowledging them, we’ll be empowered to invest more effectively, regardless of our gender.

Disclosure:   I’m  a ‘she’ trader.
The Sunday-StarTimes also wrote a piece just recently about Women in Investing.