Poll: Women confident managing own portfolios

The majority of women who manage their investments online feel they’ve been successful at closely matching or outperforming the markets, according to the International TD Women Investor Poll.

Read: Too many women shy away from finances: TD

More than twice as many women in the U.S. (31%) and U.K. (38%) manage their investments online compared with their Canadian counterparts (13%). Of these women online investors, more than three-quarters in Canada (76%) say they’ve consistently outperformed, or performed close to the market. This is consistent with women investors in the U.S. and U.K. who say they’ve also been successful managing their own investments online (81% and 82% respectively).

Read: Financial “success” differs by gender

The majority of women online investors in all three countries (Canada: 87%, U.S.: 94% and U.K.: 87%) also say they are quite confident or level-headed about managing their portfolio, although in each country surveyed, approximately one-in-ten women (Canada: 13%, U.S.: 6% and U.K.: 13%) say they’re nervous and “never feel like they’re making the right decisions when it comes to their investments.”

Read: Canadian women: mother doesn’t know best

The majority of women say they have changed nothing in their portfolio in reaction to volatility in the markets (Canada: 61%, U.S.: 54%, U.K.: 52%), saying they are confident they have a long-term plan that can weather the volatility.

Generally, women say they are risk-averse. Canadian and British women report to be the most conservative. Thirty-eight percent of women in Canada and 35% of women in the U.K. say they don’t want to take any chances with their money – only one quarter of American women (25%) gave this answer.

Read: The female factor

The majority of women in all three countries said they are willing to take small chances to receive a better return (Canada: 58%, U.S.: 66%, U.K.: 60%), and very few women describe themselves as having a high risk tolerance (Canada: 4%, U.S. 8%, U.K.: 5%).

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.