New Survey Reveals Women Want to Invest On Their Terms
BELLEVUE, WA, March 28, 2006 -- According to a new survey from ShareBuilder Securities Corp., women want investing to be easier and accessible on their terms. This is just one of the insights women shared in the 2006 Women & Investing Survey. ShareBuilder surveyed more than 2,000 men and women customers to uncover what's really going on (or not going on) when it comes to women and their saving and investing habits.
Comparing men and women, the survey explored the early influences that shaped people's saving and investing practices, how they currently invest, their investing confidence levels and whether they believe they are doing enough to meet their future financial needs. The biggest differences between men's and women's responses centered on their confidence in their own investing decisions and how much they enjoy the activity of investing. Full results from the poll are now available at http://www.sharebuilder.com/about_us/web/SBPR_content.htm.
Women Not as Likely to View Investing as "Fun"
Seventy four percent of men responding to the survey said they think investing is "fun." This compared to only 61 percent of women. As a result, women engage in investing less frequently. Confidence likely plays a role here. Regardless of age, income and investing experience, only 35 percent of women surveyed (compared to 50 percent of the men) trust themselves to make good investing decisions.
"Women are less confident about their investing decisions. They find it difficult to save and invest, and are concerned they are not putting aside enough for the future," said Jeff Seely, Chairman and CEO of ShareBuilder. "Investing for the future is critically important for both men and women. ShareBuilder makes investing easy and accessible for everyone."
Saving for Retirement
Of those surveyed, eighty two percent of women are concerned that they are not saving or investing enough to meet their retirement objectives (vs. 76 percent of men). The gender differences regarding retirement savings habits are most noticeable among younger customers and those with lower household income.
The potential to retire may seem out-of-reach for many women when you look at their recent savings and investing patterns. Only 53 percent of women under 35 managed to save at least five percent of their income in 2005 (compared to 70 percent of men). And despite their concerns that they're not saving enough, only a quarter of the women surveyed (26 percent) responded that they were very likely to invest more this year than last.
The good news is that a majority of men and women have access to a qualified retirement plan, and half (52 percent) of those respondents made at least some contributions to these plans. A slightly higher proportion of women (14 percent v. 10 percent) made no contributions. The gap between men and women was greatest among those with middle income of $50,000 - $80,000 (18 percent of women made no contributions versus 8 percent of men).
When It Comes to Risk ...
Women are significantly more risk averse. When given the scenario of a decline of both the stock market and a stock they own, more than half of the women surveyed (54 percent) said they would go into a holding pattern in such a scenario and wait for a turnaround. In contrast, 52 percent of men said they would take advantage of the low prices and buy more shares. However, both men and women seem to agree that balance is the key to a sound investing strategy. When asked how to invest $1,000 of an unexpected cash windfall, men and women were equal saying they would invest in a blend of established companies and promising young companies.
About This Survey
The 2006 ShareBuilder Women & Investing Survey is the company's first annual survey conducted to evaluate women's saving and investing trends, attitudes and behaviors. ShareBuilder completed the online survey of its customers March 2 - 6, 2006. Respondents included 965 women and 1066 men aged 18 and older. The subsets of men and women surveyed have an average sampling error of +/- 3%.
About ShareBuilder
ShareBuilder (http://www.sharebuilder.com) is an online brokerage designed to make investing in the stock market simple and affordable for both beginning and experienced investors. The company vision is to increase the personal savings rate of the average American by helping people build and manage wealth over the long term. Customers pay low fees on individual transactions, have no account or investment minimums and can choose from three automatic, dollar-based investing programs. As a natural extension of its core business, ShareBuilder recently launched a simple, flexible and affordable 401k plan for small business owners with fewer than 50 employees (http://www.sharebuilder401k.com). The ShareBuilder 401k is 100% online, which makes it easy for employers to implement and painless for employees to manage.
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