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#AD Women are not investing as much as men. In fact, just 10% of women own a stocks and shares ISA compared to 17% of men. The sad thing about this is that women are missing out on the potential returns.
In partnership with new app Dodl by AJ Bell, this article will look at some of the reason why you might be scared to get started on your investing journey and drops some hints and tips to help you overcome those fears.
Worried about losing money
It makes absolute sense that when you live in a world with a gender pay gap still at large, you wouldn’t want to lose any of that. As a result, women are more likely to save their money rather than risk it on the stock market.
How to get over it:
The flip side to this though is that in a world where inflation is hitting 10%+ and interest on savings is at a measly 1% ish your savings will be losing value. With all money decisions, there are risks.
Dodl makes this easier for you by having its own range of funds with different risk levels. If you’re nervous you can try their Cautious fund. Alternatively, you can up the risk and try the “Adventurous” fund. Or, if there’s something that feels like a better fit for you Dodl has a range of different shares and funds for you to choose from.
Overwhelmed by jargon
Don’t know your equities from your bonds. Gilts? Assets? Index funds? ETFs? Learning a new language is hard, but when your money is at risk if you get it wrong, well that’s a whole new fear unlocked.
Women aren’t alone in being confused by the jargon, but historically they have had far less exposure to these terms than their male counterparts. Particularly when research has shown that many publications aim debt and savings products toward women and focus investment and pension products towards men.
How to get over it:
Aside from a quick Google of the terms listed above, you could just choose an investing app that avoids many of these words in the first place. Most of them are unnecessary and you can be a good investor without knowing what most of them mean.
Dodl pride themselves on being one of those apps that have decided to ditch the jargon.
Underrepresented in the world of finance
It is hard to see yourself as an investor when there are few examples of people like you in investing. You likely have an image of Leonardo DiCaprio in Wolf of Wall Street shouting “Buy, buy, buy” as your default image of someone that invests.
How to get over it:
Follow people like me on social media. There are more and more women speaking about their experiences of investing online. Having role models that speak to your experiences are important.
Perhaps you think that only wealthy, straight, white men invest. Well, go on the hunt for black, LGBTQ+, and/or single mums that are doing it instead. Whoever you are and whatever your life looks like there will be someone on social media that looks like you or lives a life similar to yours and is a badass at investing.
Too many options
Do you know how often I hear the question “Yeah but in what?” whenever I talk about investing? All. The. Time. This is the question that every investor wants to know the answer to. But unfortunately, NO ONE (I put that in caps because many people would like you to think that they are different) knows what the next big investment opportunity is.
How to get over it:
You will always have to make some choices, but it helps to not be overwhelmed. Dodl offers a choice of 80 shares or 30 funds including 7 of their own multi-assets funds as mentioned above.
This means that you can choose what to invest in based on your risk level (like that AJ Bell Cautious fund), by industry (think Big Tech or The Property Tycoon), or something that is aligned with your morals (such as A Greener World or AJ Bell Responsible Growth).
Not enough time
Ok so maybe this isn’t about you being scared to invest, but it is a good reason as to why you might not have started yet. Chances are you are juggling a job, cleaning the house, exercising, maybe a couple of kids, a love life of some description and if you are thinking about your finances it is probably something to do with cutting your energy bills.
How to get over it:
AUTOMATE. It is going to take a little bit of time to download the Dodl app and decide what you want to invest in but after that you can set up a regular monthly payment and let your investments get to work. You can then check in on your portfolio on a schedule that works for you.
The minimum is £25 a month, but you can always up it in the future if you need to. You can choose to invest in one company or fund or make multiple payments into a mixture of them. Then it will be automatically invested every month with no further time commitment.
Getting started
Hopefully, by now, you are feeling a little less scared about investing. Honestly, it is much easier and less terrifying than TV and films would have you believe.
Download the Dodl app now and learn for yourself how unscary investing can be.
When investing your capital is at risk. This means that your money could go down as well as up.