Stock Market: Women and Shares

While few northern women might be sitting on a gold mine at the moment, the latest figures from investor website www.DigitalLook.com show that shares owned by women are outperforming those owned by men.

In the first quarter of this year the girls have beaten not only the boys, but also the Footsie. They averaged a loss of just 4% in the first three months of 2003 compared to a fall of double that in the FTSE 100 index – it was down 8% over the same period. The men fared even worse, suffering an average 9% fall in the value of their portfolios. As far as regions go, the survey found that investors in the north of the country outperformed those in the south.

How do they do it?
So what is the trick? Is it Lady Luck or a little feminine intuition that has seen the girls come out on top?

Nicole Savage, 29, a member of an 'all girl' investment club, puts it down to a bit of both – and a nose for a bargain. "Women love shopping and a group of us thought, hell, buying shares can’t be so different," she says. "There aren’t many women who don’t love a bargain and we thought we'd give it a go and see if we could do it."

So far the club, which has been running for just over two years, has been pretty successful, "until war broke out, that is," says Nicole. "Now we're sitting on a small loss, but we’ll see how it goes and hopefully Lady Luck will see to it that we're OK in the end."

Retail bonanza
Her club's investment strategy is typical of the approach used by other women in Digital Look's survey. The successes have been those whose strategy lies largely in filling their baskets with a fair share of high street names.

Nicole says: "We're big on the supermarkets and we've held M&S and Next. You name it, if we've shopped there, we’ve bought it."

Latest Marks & Spencer share price

Latest Next share price

This shopping spree has even extended to Europe. "We bought Inditex – just because we all shop at Zara and thought we might as well add their shares to our shopping list as well," she adds.

Steady as she goes

Digital Look's survey shows the key to these successful investors' victory is investing prudently – being happy to sit, watch and wait and only buying and selling at the most opportune of moments.

Sticking to 'unadventurous but steady' stocks has also proved key to their winning strategy. Names such as that of household goods giant Unilever, Allinson bread and Associated British Foods, the manufacturer of, among other things, Ryvita), all crop up frequently among the more then 3,200 investors who were questioned for the survey.

Another key to their success could also be found in their own self-assessment of the current trading conditions. Only 39% of the male investors surveyed chose to class themselves as 'risk-averse', compared to 59% of the women surveyed.

Why women do it better
Digital Look's Andy Yates says interest among women in making money on the stock market is not all that new. Digital Look has been following the fortunes of women and men investors for the past couple of years and Andy says the women have consistently come out on top.

"Over the last few years women have comfortably outperformed men when it comes to share investing – and that trend is continuing," he says. "Our survey will raise some eyebrows in the traditionally male-dominated City," he adds.

And not just in the City, either. Lucy Fox, 26, who calls herself "a real rookie" has been investing in shares ever since her boyfriend (a bond broker) challenged her to make a profit investing. So if you think Women are not up to the mar where shares are concerned, well, well, think again!

(Deduced from Internet resources)