Women are better investors!

Interesting article in TheStar here. Women make superior investors. The article quoted Propedia Consultancy founder and principal Vicky How who says that since women are more calculative, they are naturally better investors. She says, “It is a myth that men are better at investing. Women are more careful when it comes to investing their hard-earned money. However, women are often conditioned to believe they are ‘not smart enough’ to invest and so they leave it to the men. Actually, you don’t have to be smart to be an investor. You have to be calculative and this, women are.” It also quoted data from American financial services company Fidelity Investments in Boston. Fidelity says that women are superior investors because Fidelity discovered that women save more than man (0.4% MORE) and their investments earn more annually too (0.4%). (Okay, seriously I should not comment. Please do read the article to understand more of all the other reasons why women are superior investors yeah.)
Okay, what are your thoughts about this? Let me share about the story of three ladies then. All three were once my colleagues. A close friend, now in her 40s had just bought her apartment after working for over 10 years. I shared with her about property investment and why she should take advantage of opportunities to buy instead of just being satisfied with a home, even if she thinks as a single one home is enough. As usual, also shared the typical return on investments, calculated risks etc. She understood my sharing and today owns a few properties, not just in Malaysia but also outside Malaysia.
Another lady friend who’s over 30 and earns lesser than RM4k bought a property for her own stay after many years of saving for it. She attended a property 101 talk I gave to fellow colleagues and told me that she believe she should buy another property. To cut the story short, after some Q&A with me, she bought her second home 3 months after my sharing. Today, she has one home to stay and one place to rent out. Yes, she loves to save money.
Another close friend asked me if she should give up her ‘affordable’ apartment and pool the money with her husband for a condo instead. I asked her a few questions on the purpose of her affordable apartment, who would she be renting to since she will not be staying there, how much would the rental be since the nearest college is well known for its low fees etc. She decided not to buy the affordable home because the number of choices are aplenty today and she is currently enjoying her condo stay with her husband.
These three stories may not tell much about whether they are better investors or even superior as compared to men. However, these three stories show that these ladies are far readier to buy because they save MORE. It tells also that they are able to make firm decisions once they have had a long Q&A session which provided them with answers. Last but not least, they show to me that they may not start investing much earlier on because they do not have the knowledge to do so! Starting earlier is the key but it’s always better to start today rather than tomorrow. As for men who discusses property investment with me, they are usually younger and are usually the typical above average income earners. Did they buy after they talked to me? The answer is yes but usually even before they discussed with me, they already have some idea and decisions in mind.
A male schoolmate lost THREE opportunities to buy one same place despite speaking to me three times over the years. First time was when he viewed a unit he deemed expensive even though I told him that he should quickly buy because people are snapping up all the available units. He said, ‘No need to rush, there are so many units.’ He did not get any unit and told me later than the ‘many’ units were actually the same unit and it was already sold.  Second time was a few years later when he said he wanted to upgrade to a bigger unit and he said my place is within his budget. After checking, he said all the units are TOO EXPENSIVE. He only wanted bare units for lower price and unwilling to pay more for renovated units even though I told him that the extra price he pay would still be by far lower than the renovation. So,he failed yet again.  The very last one was when I told him I wanted to sell my place (I was moving to KL) and that if he wanted, he can look at the market and give me an offer. He did not give an offer and said that my unit at Level 5 was not his first choice. My unit was sold 4 weeks later and when he learnt about it, he said, ‘Aiya, you should have reminded me and given me more time.’  I really do not know how to comment.
There was even a good male friend who kept insisting that the housing market would collapse way back in 2009, when the market was just starting to warm up. Is this showing to us that men are weaker when it comes to investment? Frankly, no idea. Happy investing yeah everyone. Cheers.
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written on 6 March 2018
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