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How women need to invest different than men to protect their financial future

Posted at 5:07 PM, Aug 23, 2018
and last updated 2018-08-23 17:07:44-04

When it comes to investing your money, the options are endless: stocks, bonds, mutual funds, but what you may not know is that women tend to invest differently than men.

Marissa Van Diest is a financial adviser at Carlson Financial and she said it’s probably not surprising that men far outnumber women as investment advisers, mutual fund managers, and Wall Street traders.

Diest said according to a recent CNBC article, men tend to dominate the investment industry, historically and still today. This can present an issue for female investors because industries that are dominated by men tend to do a better job for men.

Women may have different obstacles or challenges when it comes to saving and investing that are being overlooked, Diest said.

Some of the things that trip up the “average” investor like over-trading, hanging onto a stock too long, panicking during a downturn, those are really mistakes that men tend to make more often than women.

A big mistake we see women making is that they under-invest, either saving too little or not investing aggressively enough.

Diest also said there are other challenges such as longer lifespans, different base salaries than their male counterparts and child-rearing, which you just have to plan for. It is important to be aware of how as a female, your circumstances might be different and it’s important to be working with someone who understands that.