What comes to mind when you think about the word ‘investing’? Maybe it conjures up images of Kit Harington in a well-tailored suit in Industry, or Leonardo DiCaprio’s character snorting lines of cocaine in his office in The Wolf Of Wall Street. A trading floor full of screaming men in suits. Something pretty far removed from our day-to-day reality.
This perception is one reason why women are tuned out when it comes to investing. Only seven million women in the UK invest, compared to 10 million men, and the gap is getting worse. In fact, the gender gap for investing is a whopping £567 billion – roughly the same size as the entire GDP of Poland. That means British men collectively own the equivalent of the entire Polish economy more than women in their investments and pensions, while women’s savings get smaller and smaller – at a time when we’re hardest hit by the cost of living crisis, too. Frankly, that needs to change – which is why Grazia is partnering with Boring Money, an independent company that helps ‘normal people’ make smart investment decisions, on a new campaign to close the gender investment gap.
Financial knowledge matters. With men dominating in the financial markets, we’re losing out on the security and freedom that comes with having an investment portfolio. We’re drowning in childcare costs, begging for that next promotion to make it all feel easier, meanwhile there’s a wealth of information at our fingertips that could empower us to make financial choices that result in affording things we might have resigned ourselves to living without, like having another child or retiring comfortably.
There’s a wealth of information at our fingertips that could empower us to make smarter financial choices.
Even the younger generation aren’t getting any savvier about money – among 18 to 24-year-olds just 9% of women invest compared to 24% of their male peers. Let’s break down what this means. Meet ‘Alice’ – she started with £1,000 back in 1995 and saved £100 a month in an account with high interest. She’s now coming up to retirement and has saved £48,000 in 30 years. If Alice had invested it into a simple collection of the world’s biggest companies_,_ that would have grown to £196,000 over the same 30-year period, according to the average stock market returns shown by the MSCI World global tracker fund. Think about it: about £150,000 extra saved over your working life with no extra hours, no assumed promotion, no sacrifices. Just one decision to invest and not leave your long- term savings sitting as cash.
The elephant in the room is, of course, that four-letter word: risk. It’s putting women off. It’s true that no one can predict what the future holds, but this is why you manage your savings and investments smartly, rather than avoiding investing entirely. You don’t need to be rich or to have piles of spare cash to get started, either. You can open most stocks and shares ISAs with as little as £50.
Let me be clear: for money you will need in a year or two, cash is always better. Global challenges such as war, pandemics and inflation can plunge stock markets into the red, however, the important thing is that over time they often bounce back. Look for sensible mainstream investments and steer clear of riskier things like bitcoin or only investing in one company.
Boring Money has tons of information about how to get started in investing and this campaign will see Grazia provide plenty of help too, alongside social trading and investment platform eToro.
Make 2025 the year we take back our financial power, one investment at a time!
Let's change the face of investing
'By opening kids' investment accounts I was able to save £3k in 18 months'
Kara Dunn, 36, is a property lawyer in Dorset and has three children aged 12, 10 and 18 months.
I decided to start investing while I was on maternity leave. When you have a baby, you get leaflets about setting up a Junior ISA (JISA). I chose the easiest option and set up a JISA for each of my children with my bank, NatWest. It felt like investing without having to know too much. I had to pick a risk profile I was comfortable with and put in £50 a month for each child.
I have an investment account for myself with Monzo, as well as one I set up for my children. I deposited a lump sum and started putting in £50 a month. With both NatWest and Monzo you see how much your money has gone up by percentage, which is rewarding.
I’ve been putting £250 a month into my children’s Monzo savings for about 18 months and it’s made £700 in interest. I’m only putting £50 a month into each JISA, but collectively – over the same period – they’ve reached about £3,000.
My advice to investment newbies? Just get started. There are ways to dip your toe in without having to make complex decisions.
'I got serious about investing in my thirties so I could buy a home'
Réka Sol, 38, is a lecturer in criminology at the University of Manchester.
My approach in life is to research everything, but I think it held me back in terms of investing as I felt I i needed to make the 'right' decision. I’ve always saved a lot, so I was hunting between different savings accounts. I started listening to podcasts and there was a lot of talk about ISAs so I decided to open a Help to Buy ISA.
It was after I turned 30 I started thinking seriously about money. I used a robo advisor – an automated investing service that helps build and manage your portfolio. It was very user-friendly, gave you a risk appetite and the fees were not prohibitive – you could invest from just £5.
Sometime later, I came across a money coach offering a one-year free trial. They said they weren’t giving financial advice, but talked about my situation and suggested a low-cost option like Vanguard, which offers tracker funds (these track the performance of a particular index, like FTSE 100), so I moved there.
The Help to Buy ISA, along with a Help to Buy loan, enabled us to buy our apartment. Now I have a few thousand in the stocks and shares ISA and a few hundred in a Junior ISA for my 18-month-old son, also with Vanguard, which is doing well. My advice is to lower the bar of what you need to know – start as soon as you feel comfortable rather than waiting to know everything.
'I was able to save thousands simply by moving my pension'
Kate Myers is a 49-year-old management consultant who lives in South Woodford.
I got into investing when I moved my pension into a private one instead of my default work option. I did some digging and didn’t like how much was being charged in fees. I realised I could put my pension into a global index tracker with a low fee and get the same kind of return. Instead of paying £35 a month for someone to manage it, I was paying about £18 a month, which saves a lot over a 20-year timeframe.
We all worry about house prices or car insurance, but your pension is probably your most valuable asset, so why stick with the default option?
I moved the pension in November 2023. It was £194,000 then and it is now up to £256,000. I have a global tracker fund that is a ‘set and forget’ option and just looks after itself, but I check it once a month anyway. I’m very pleased I did it, there’s the financial benefit, but what’s also really important is that sense of being in charge of your own destiny.
Here's your beginner friendly guide to starting investing
Start with a stocks and shares ISA: you can open one online in 10 minutes with as little as £50. Once it’s set up, you choose what to invest in, with some banks and robo advisors offering recommendations based on your goals.
Find a simple collection of investments that is spread widely: beginners should look for one simple investment solution that is well diversified. A robo advisor can automate your portfolio for you. Monzo and Nutmeg have decent options, or Moneybox has a nice ‘round-up’ feature that allows users to invest spare change. Or choose a low-cost global tracker fund (which tracks major indices like FTSE 100) ora ‘multi-asset’ fund, which typically have investments in more than 1,000 global companies, such as Apple, HSBC, Microsoft and Samsung.
Keep any money you need to access in savings: ideally, money you invest should be any you don’t need for at least five years. The longer the timeframe the better as you can ride out any stock market downturns.
Compare online providers: boringmoney.co.uk has independent comparison tables to help you pick determined by costs, customer reviews, apps, customer service and also who is best for less confident investors looking to get started.