Aussie women more experienced at investing than men – Superhero research
Superhero, a leading share trading and superannuation platform has today released new insights into the investment habits and preferences of Australians.
Over 3,700 customers were surveyed with Superhero finding a quarter (26%) of women have been investing for over five years – compared with just 15% of men.
Men also make up the bulk of new investors with two in five (41%) only starting to invest in the last six months. Unsurprisingly, older Australians are the most experienced with nearly half (47%) of over 55s stating they’ve invested for over five years. There is however a clear rise in new Australian investors with 35% of 18 to 24 year olds entering the investing world in the last six months.
“It was very interesting to see that the majority of our long term investors (more than five years experience) were women. We’re proud to have such an experienced, informed customer base,” said John Winters, CEO and Co-Founder of Superhero.
“Investing as a concept has grown tremendously in popularity over the last year or so which was made clear by 35% of respondents noting they’d only started investing in the last six months. We’re expecting this trend to continue as not only Superhero grows but also as interest in investing continues to gain momentum.”
The research also unpacked the reasons why Superhero customers started investing. Across the board, a goal of turning money into more money was clear with half of respondents noting this. Other priorities included building a nest egg (14%), diversifying assets (18%), retiring early (11%) and saving for a property deposit (7%).
Our customers don’t want their money just sitting in a low interest bank account – they want their money to grow and create real value,” said Winters. “Superhero customers have clear goals with their money, some more long term and others they want to reach in the coming years, and investing will help them get there.”
In terms of how much money Superhero customers would like to put into the market in 2022, nearly a third (29%) said that they’d like to invest over $20,000 – in direct contrast to the four per cent of respondents who noted they are looking to invest less than $1,000 next year.
A fifth of female Superhero customers indicated that they would like to invest more than $20,000 in 2022 and this figure jumps to 30% saying they’d like to invest between $1,001 and $5,000 this year. Interestingly, over 55s are most likely to invest over $20,000 with 38% of those surveyed indicating this.
“2022 is shaping up to be a big year for investing. Our customers are looking to invest significantly and use the year to build their wealth – and they’re quickly realising that investing in shares is a smart way to grow wealth sustainably,” Winters continued.
When asked how they’d feel if they checked their investments after a year and found they had fallen by 20%, over half (53%) of respondents said they would be patient and stay the course. A further 31% showed even more confidence, saying that they’d actually buy the dip. Only 2% of respondents thought they’d panic in this situation.
“This resounding confidence in the market comes from the fact that our customers typically educate themselves on the assets they purchase. From listening to podcasts to reading the news – we know that our customers have never been so engaged with their investments which means even a dip is viewed as an opportunity,” Winters concluded.
