New analysis suggests that women who invest their money often achieve slightly higher long-term returns than their male counterparts. Despite this performance advantage, a significant gender gap in participation persists; only about a quarter of UK women hold investments, compared with approximately 40% of men, according to recent reports.
Teleri Evans, a civil servant from Cardiff, illustrates the potential of long-term planning. She began saving into a Help to Buy ISA at age 25 and later opened a stocks and shares Lifetime ISA. By age 33, she had accumulated £40,000, with £8,000 of that total derived directly from investment returns. “I saved aggressively, and lived at my mum’s for half of that time, so I could save as close as possible to the maximum £4,000 per year into the Lifetime ISA,” she explains. She successfully used these funds toward a home deposit earlier this year.
Data from consumer finance website Boring Money highlights the scale of the participation gap. Only 26% of UK women invest, a figure that falls to 23% for those under 45. In contrast, 41% of all men invest, a participation rate that remains steady at 40% for the under-45 demographic. We have examined the data behind these trends, which reveal some surprising differences in how men and women approach investing.
Experts attribute this disparity largely to culture. Gillian Fleming, co-founder of Mint Ventures, notes that men have historically dominated family investment decisions and wealth ownership, though this is shifting. “Money and wealth creation is not a topic that women often discuss, and we would like to change that,” she says. Teleri Evans confirms she has noticed a shift, noting that investing is becoming a more common topic within her own friendship group.
When women do invest, the results are often strong. Fidelity International found that over a three-year period, its female personal investing customers recorded cumulative returns of 50%, compared with 47% for men. The analysis does not identify the specific reason for this difference, but why may it be the case? One clue lies in trading frequency; Barclays data shows that women trade around half as frequently as men.
Joanna Floyd, a business psychologist at The Work Psychologists, suggests this restraint is a key factor. “Studies show that male investors trade more than women, chasing higher returns, but women actually get higher returns,” she says. “The restraint that keeps women out of the market in the first place is the very same thing that rewards them once they are in it.”
This cautious approach extends to risk management. Fleming argues that women are often mislabeled as risk-averse when they are actually risk-aware. “Certainly from speaking to male investors their main focus is on the rate of return,” she observes. While men are often attracted by potential financial gains, women tend to invest more broadly, looking at sectors ranging from retail and health to creative industries.
Anna Macdonald, investment strategy director at Hargreaves Lansdown, notes that women place greater weight on the impact of their investments and their personal values. “Our research suggests men are more readily attracted by the potential financial return,” she adds. Jemma Slingo of Fidelity International agrees, stating that female investors appear more likely to connect their portfolios with real-life goals, such as building emergency savings or providing for their children.
It is important to acknowledge that women in the UK generally have less capital to invest due to the ongoing gender pay gap. To bridge the participation divide, Macdonald argues that the investment sector must improve. “The industry needs to do a better job of making investing feel accessible, relevant and connected to people’s own goals and values,” she says. “Addressing this would be good for women’s long-term financial resilience and for the UK economy.”
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