Younger women are seemingly stepping up to put their money into alternative finance products, despite women being generally more conservative and risk averse in their investment.
That is according the new research from BLEND Network, a property lending club, that has surveyed roughly 1,000 to find out their attitudes to investment.
While noting that there is still a £15bn gender investment gap in the UK, 29% of women interested in exploring alternative finance options compared to 15% of men.
The key drivers for this seemed to be that many alternative finance brands have a wider social purpose as part of their ethos, which appeals more to women, in particular younger generations, according to the BLEND Network report.
Another reason cited was many of these businesses also have more on trend captivating brands, which again are likely to appeal to a younger cohort of women.
Digging deeper into the findings, it also revealed that some 50% of male respondents either currently hold or have held in the past an investment product compared to 31% of women.
Moreover, women hold more bonds than men, 14% compared to 9%. Although, 18% of both genders had had invested in unit trusts and 3% of women and 4% of men had invested in commercial properties.
Looking at what would woe them to open their cheque books, 43% of men looked at returns as their main priority compared to 27% of women.
For women, safety was their number one priority when investing, with 32% stating it as a top concern compared to 22% of men.
Commenting on the results, Roxana Mohammadian-Molina, chief strategy officer at BLEND Network, said, “Our survey clearly shows that women have a greater appetite for alternative finance products than men, partly because of the way they are marketed, which suggests that if investment products were offered in ways that were more sympathetic to women or more tailored to their perspectives and attitudes then this could help significantly in closing the investment gender gap.
“A greater appreciation of female investors’ needs and their investment priorities and a more supportive wealth management industry would help to drive change, but women can’t and shouldn’t wait for this change to happen but should act now to drive it forward themselves.”
Copyright © 2019 FinTech Global
