The best investors are getting left behind - I'm talking about you ladies!

Entrepreneur

14-07-2025

The best investors are often women. I'm not just saying that to beat the feminist drum - this fact has been well-documented over the years. In fact, a Warwick Business School study that tracked 2,800 UK investors over three years found female-run portfolios beat men's by 1.8 percentage points a year.
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A long-term timeframe and less frequent trading. This risk-averse approach is the secret sauce for success when it comes to producing strong returns over time, and this is where female investors shine. Angel veteran Sherry Coutu turned a cautious, data-driven style into early stakes in LinkedIn and Zoopla, both billion-pound exits. Yet only one in four women worldwide feel confident about investing, and just 10% say they 'fully understand' it, according to BNY Mellon's Pathway to Inclusive Investment report. So why are women less likely to invest than men?
Despite their investment prowess, the latest Pensions Policy Institute work shows the average woman retires with £69k in pension savings versus £205k for the average man, around one-third of the pot. 'That's due to the gender pay gap!' I hear you cry. And you're not wrong; however, a massive contributing factor is the deep-rooted sense that finance just isn't for women. That misconception starts early: Scottish Widows' 2025 Women & Retirement report found only 34% of women aged 18-24 invest outside a pension, versus 64% of men their age. And women juggling the mental load of careers, children, and the running of a home may feel there's not much left in the tank to tackle the world of finance. It feels so exclusionary - peppered with complexities and jargon - and what is an 'asset' anyway?
But it's all smoke and mirrors - behind the narrative that investing is for middle-aged white guys in grey suits, is a really simple concept that just needs explaining in plain English, and that's why I founded Investing Insiders. Women have been underserved and overlooked for too long - let's change that! So what's the issue?
Women have the ability - it's confidence that holds them back. Women reach out to me on social media all the time 'Can you help me?', 'I just don't know where to start. ' Wives, mothers, widows, divorcees - some have been handed the baton by fate, others are tentatively trying to take control. Many seek security for their children. Is it easier for them to ask me because I'm a woman? Do they feel there is less chance of scorn?
The system, as it stands, lies heavily in favour of men. Women are more likely to take time out of the workforce, work part-time, or earn less across their lifetime. Regular pension contributions suffer here. Latest Pensions Policy Institute work shows the average woman retires with £69k in pension savings versus £205k for the average man, around one-third of the pot. Pensions are the biggest assets most people will own. But even workplace pensions, while sounding so safe and preparatory, are mismanaged into underperformance a staggering 93% of the time. We launched a pension performance tool at Investing Insiders, a simple way for women to check the performance of their pensions in seconds, with clear, jargon-free steps on how to take control and improve their own outcomes.
Women, who have historically had the tendency to defer big financial decisions to employers or partners, are now taking the reins. This control over one of the biggest pots of money they will ever accumulate is the first important step to financial freedom. But there is still a long way to go. According to Hargreaves Lansdown, only 28% of women actually know their pension is invested, compared to half of all men. This will directly lead to poorer outcomes for their retirement. Investing is literally for everyone. But what about the risk?
'Isn't there a risk of losing all your money?' Being risk-averse makes women great investors, but it also stops them from investing at all, which is why I try to explain that not investing is actually much riskier. In a high-inflation environment, leaving money sitting in cash is a guaranteed way to lose value over time. Women don't need to change their risk appetite to invest; they just need clarity about what investing actually entails. They need to know how even small contributions can add up over time, how compound interest does the heavy lifting, and have access to the right tools and information to make the best decisions. That's why at Investing Insiders, we also developed a series of calculators that can demonstrate what meaningful change investing, even small amounts, can facilitate.
Finance should never be opaque. It should be simple, empowering and even satisfying. Yes, watching compound interest at work can be as satisfying as seeing seedlings turn into a garden - slow at first, but quietly powerful. We are starting to see change. Is it enough - definitely not. There is a lot of ground to cover before the system works equally well for men and women. If there's one message I want women to take away, it's this: You don't have to be a perfect investor to get started. You don't have to wait until you've read every guide or reached a certain income. Start where you are. Ask questions. Take small steps. Over time, they add up and they put you back in control of your financial future.