At Invsta, we’re always curious about the shifts and trends shaping the financial services industry. We make it our mission to continuously source new reports and articles to keep abreast of these changes, and to help steer our clients and stakeholders in a future-forward direction. As we are celebrating International Women’s Day this month, we tuned in to find out more about women investors and their particular needs.
The rise in women’s wealth provides a strong opportunity for companies to create meaningful relationships with this segment, with a strong focus on empowering and educating them to help drive better financial outcomes. There is an even stronger need to support this segment, as Covid-19 has had a bigger impact on women globally that their male counterparts. Take a look at some of our favourite pieces of content, which may provide some really interesting insights as you pivot your strategies to adapt to the new normal.
- Women’s jobs are about 19% more at risk than males during the pandemic. Even though women are more vulnerable, reports suggest that 401(k) and 403(b) savings rate in America hit record levels for women in the last quarter of 2020. This article serves to reinforce the need for investment firms to identify ways to better support and empower women investors as they navigate these challenging times. Get more insight on the numbers here: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/women-are-saving-more-for-retirement-even-as-theyre-suffering-from-the-pandemic-11613664221
- This brilliant whitepaper from Casey Quirk discusses how distribution technology is key to redefining relationships with asset management clients. Both retail and institutional clients have evolved due to social and operating environment impacts who “now seek more continuous, less transactional, relationships with investment firms”. Page 17 details a really useful sample client journey that serves as a wonderful blueprint that incorporates the three layers of technology: a integrated data repository, the client analytics engine and client experience applications. To sum up, those that had above-average investments in distribution technology experienced an exceeded organic growth rate of 2% while “net flows plummeted among weaker spenders”. Read more here: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/financial-services/how-technology-will-redefine-asset-management-relationships.pdf
- “Women invest less aggressively than men”. It’s a common misconception that women are more risk-adverse, but perhaps the data has been skewed all along? With women earning typically lower than men, Christine Benz delves into available research to uncover women’s investing behaviours in three key areas: contribution rates, equity weightings, and willingness to use professional advice. Some really great insight here: https://www.firstlinks.com.au/women-really-invest
- Off the back of their Wealth Management C-level Survey, Accenture has identified 3 key impact areas for wealth management in 2021. The need for advice, heightened digital client interactions and increased desire for financial wellness are some of the three key areas for wealth management firms. These three areas serve as a brilliant platform for companies to pivot themselves to become “data-driven, smarter wealth management organizations that deliver hyper-personalized client solutions”. For a full breakdown, read up here: https://www.accenture.com/nz-en/insights/capital-markets/wealth-management-reframing-growth
- The role that gender plays in wealth management is a very real and necessary discussion we should all be having across the financial services industry. This whitepaper from Merril explores the negative stereotypes in wealth management, and the underlying behaviour from advisors that could be perpetuating this narrative. Take a look here: https://mlaem.fs.ml.com/content/dam/ML/Registration/seeing-the-unseen-whitepaper.pdf
- An oldie, but a goodie. Even though this article was published in 2020, the insights and statistics are still incredibly relevant (perhaps even more so considering the economic effects that Covid-19 has had on women). With women controlling 32% of global wealth, BCG conducted a survey to discover how women’s investment priorities differ from men’s. With women’s wealth on the rise, and millennial women taking more control over their investment decisions, wealth managers would be wise to start servicing this segment in a way that helps support and empower them. Read the full article here: https://www.bcg.com/en-au/publications/2020/managing-next-decade-women-wealth
