Survey reveals gender gap among investors

It’s official: Hongkongers both save and invest a lot more than the global average, and women are more cautious with money than men, going by the findings of a new survey from BlackRock.

Inhabitants of the city save some 50% more of their take-home income than the global average (28% of their income versus 18% globally), but invest twice as much (24% versus 12%), according to the poll.

Women both in Hong Kong and globally are more likely than men to keep their investable assets in deposits. Asked about the total value of their saving and investments, in Hong Kong, women said 51% was in cash and deposits and men replied 41%. The figures globally were 62% for women and 51% for men.

In general, women and men take a different approach to investing in the financial markets. The proportion of women worldwide who actively invest is largely below that of men, at 17% versus 28%, respectively.

Hong Kong women appear more sophisticated – or perhaps confident – than female investors elsewhere, with 36% regarding themselves as active investors, yet they lag the 50% of Hong Kong men who invest. In addition, 43% of Hong Kong women are ready to invest but not sure how to, compared with 32% of men.

Female investors seem to have lower confidence and risk appetite than their male peers in making financial decisions.

In line with the global findings, Hong Kong women are less confident than men with regard to their ability to grow their wealth (51% of women versus 63% of men), preserve their wealth (68% versus 71%), draw an income from their savings/investments (59% versus 62%), fund a comfortable retirement (47% versus 58%), and pay for long-term care for themselves and/or their partner (42% versus 52%).

Moreover, a smaller proportion of Hong Kong women than men are comfortable investing in the stock market (27% versus 38%), and 43% of Hong Kong women ranked growing their wealth as their top financial priority, compared to 51% of local men.

The survey polled 17,600 respondents in 12 markets, including almost 9,000 women globally.