Sixty per cent of people who own shares identify as male, and sixty-one per cent of women agree with the statement “I find investing confusing”, versus forty-one per cent of men.
Liz, a 31-year-old high school teacher working and living in Mackay is one of the many women who feels that the investing world is a male-dominated one.
Her investing journey began three months ago, meaning she’s in the very early stages, and already she’s found that breaking the bias has been not only incredibly rewarding, but also empowering.
“I really believed it wasn’t something for me,” Liz said.
“I thought it was too hard, and exclusively for the smart or rich people – the grownups.
“I’ve never spoken to another woman about investing, and even at work it’s my male colleagues, and the male doctors at my partners work that are doing the investing.”
In a world of ever-changing gender roles, women like Liz are making headway in male-dominated industries, both through their own head-first dives into the world of investment, and through sharing their stories with others.
Her own story began when she and her partner were saving furiously for a deposit for a home loan.
“The market is insane and we don’t know what our long-term plan is, or whether we wanted to buy in Mackay,” Liz said.
“We decided we weren’t ready to make the commitment yet, and we had the deposit sitting there and we thought, should we invest it?”
Both Liz and her partner are quite risk averse, but Liz started doing a bit of research and heard of Sharesies, as well as micro-investing.
The Sharesies platform is an accessible digital investment platform was a no-brainer with over 500,000 people using the platform in Australia and NZ, with the aim of breaking down the barriers to investing.
Through the platform, Liz joined the investing world, and is now advocating to other women in Mackay to keep breaking the bias and join the world of investing.
“It’s been interesting [trying to convince my co-workers], my staff room at school is all female and I come in and tell them I’m investing,” Liz said.
“It’s interesting to see the reaction – they’re unsure about it. We don’t usually talk about money.
“They’re still on the fence, but I think I’ve convinced two of them that they should get started. I look forward to discussing my shares with them.”
Liz said that she feels more confident in her financial future and managing her wealth thanks to delving into the world of shares, and she is just one of the normal people in Mackay doing their part to represent in an often male-dominated world.
