This insight encouraged Benjamin to start the Ladies Finance Club, an investment education provider, in the UK in 2018. “I always wondered why my dad was in a share club for years, but my mother never joined one because none of her friends knew how to invest. Or why so few women talked about investing.”

Benjamin started Ladies Finance Club from her bedroom. “Over pizza and a glass of Prosecco, I invited some girlfriends over to talk about investing. We literally had our roommate, who worked in finance, explain what a share is. We made investment education simple, fun and social – and provided a space where women weren’t afraid to ask basic questions about investing.”

Benjamin returned to Australia when her sister, Briony Benjamin, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Like Molly, Briony is now a successful author, having penned a self-help book “Life is Tough But So Are You” on unexpected life turns. Molly is the author of “Girls Just Want to Have Funds”, a personal finance book.

Since 2018, Ladies Finance Club has had 40,000 women (and a few men) through its programs. Molly Benjamin says the club’s strategy is to demystify and simplify investing for women and make it a normal part of “adulting”. 

“We’re a big fan of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs),” says Benjamin. “When I present on ETFs, I describe them as being like a box of chocolates, where you own a little bit of a large selection of companies. I don’t talk about ETFs as a financial structure or other ETF complexities because that puts everyone to sleep.”

ASX Investor Study 

Benjamin’s experience with the Ladies Finance Club aligns with key findings from the ASX Australian Investor Study 2023. The survey of 5,519 adults found the proportion of female investors in Australian continues to grow steadily (42% of all investors) – and that half of all intending investors are women. 

However, women had smaller investment portfolios than men ($413,000 versus $667,000 on average). Also, more women had portfolio balances below $50,000 compared to men (31% of female investors versus 21% for males).

Other noticeable gender differences included: female investors generally being more risk averse then men; having less diversified portfolios; holding a higher proportion of investments in term deposits; and finding it harder to know which information sources to trust. Women also turned more to family and friends for investment help compared to men surveyed in the study.

These and other gender findings in the ASX study reinforce the benefits of investor education. Providing independent, balanced education can help more women invest for the first time – or earlier in their life compared to previous generations – and build wealth for themselves and their family. 

Caroline Gurney, CEO of Future Generation, is passionate about the benefits of investor education for women. She believes teaching financial literacy skills should be mandatory at schools for girls and boys. “If we want to create a stronger culture of investing among young people, we have to start much earlier.”

“You just have to start,” she says. “Even if it begins with paying more attention to your super balance, what your fund invests in and its return. Then, opening an account with an online broker and investing a small amount. The key is understanding your risk appetite, financial goals and how long you want to invest.”

Gurney encourages women to take advantage of free information resources and investing events. “There’s so much useful information available at the MoneySmart.gov.au website, ASX website, YouTube videos and other sources. With a little bit of work, anybody can educate themselves on investing fundamentals.” ASX Investor Day is another valuable education resource. 

Future Generation, for its part, holds events for female investors each year in capital cities. “Over a muffin and coffee at breakfast, a small group of women will hear from a presenter,” says Gurney. “It’s a really friendly environment where women are encouraged to ask any questions they have about investing.”

Gurney is optimistic about the future for female investing in Australia. “We’ve come a long way and will go further as the gender pay gap and gender superannuation gap narrow over time. There’s still a lot to do to help more women invest, but I honestly believe many women want to invest earlier in their life to help themselves and, if they have children, help their kids pay for sky-high rents.”

Gurney adds: “I also think women, by their nature, are better investors. We’re used to multi-tasking because we have so many roles to do each day, are more considered and disciplined with money, and generally take advice better than men do. We need more female role models in investing to help move it away from something that has been perceived as very male-dominated and complex.”

Future Generation’s LICs have a large and growing base of female shareholders, says Gurney. “In my experience, lots of women see investing as a way to help others. They like the idea that they can gain exposure to Australian and international shares through our LICs, and support mental health and homeless charities that help many young people, and women who are trapped in poverty.”
 

Exchange Traded Funds and female investors

The ASX Australian Investor Study 2023 found rising interest in ETFs among younger male and female investors. It showed that 33% of Next Gen respondents (aged 18 to 24) own ETFs, which is second only to Australian shares (43%). Among all female investors, 13% own ETFs, which compares to 27% for men surveyed.

ETFs aim to match the return of an underlying index. An ETF over the S&P/ASX 200 Index, for example, aims to provide the same return as that index – positive or negative – by holding all stocks in that index, according to their index weighting. More information on the features, benefits and risks of ETFs is available here.

ETF markets are growing quickly in Australia and overseas. About $178 billion was invested through 325 ETFs on ASX at end-January 2024, ASX data shows. Bought and sold like a share, ETFs typically have lower fees than actively managed funds and aim to match an index return, rather than outperform it. Information on the features, benefits and risks of ETFs is available here.

Greater access to ETFs, LICs and other ASX-listed investment products is helping more women invest for the first time. So, too, is the increase in investor education and events. But as Molly Benjamin of Ladies Finance Club puts it, the key is encouraging women to talk about investing and share their experience to build a culture of “loud investing” into everyday conversations.