Women invest more judiciously than men even in times of crisis

Trade Republic, Europe’s largest savings platform, shares insights on the savings and investment behavior of women in Germany. Despite a challenging market environment marked by high inflation and recessionary concerns, women increased their rate of savings in 2022 compared to the previous year. In doing so, women invested in a more risk-conscious and diversified manner than men.

“Based on our data, we can clearly see that even during challenging times characterized by rising interest rates and steep market downturns, women are not only continuing to save consistently but are expanding their savings activities even further. In particular, they have significantly increased their share of ETFs and are focusing on increasing their savings over the long term. It shows that women are acting with greater confidence and common sense to navigate uncertainty in the capital markets. First and foremost, it takes an interest in one’s own finances, common sense, and risk awareness to successfully build up wealth. Women bring all of this with them in a very natural way when they decide to take their finances into their own hands.”

Christian Hecker, co-founder of Trade Republic.

For International Women’s Day, Trade Republic analyzed data from its German clients from 2021 and 2022, with a particular focus on changes in women’s savings behavior during the challenging market period in 2022. While the S&P 500 ended 2021 with a positive performance of about 27%, it plummeted by almost 19% the following year, demanding strong nerves and stamina from savers. Women thus rose to the challenge by further diversifying their portfolios and increasing their saving rate.

The average share of ETFs in women’s portfolios rose by ten percentage points from 38% in 2021 to 48% the following year. Comparatively, men increased their ETF share from 29% (2021) to 36.5% in 2022. The group of 26- to 35-year-old women in particular had the highest share of ETFs in their portfolios, at 55%. For both groups, the remaining percentage points were distributed among the categories of uninvested cash, equities, cryptos, and derivatives.

Women also increased the frequency by which they contributed to their ETF savings plans by around 17% (men: 15%). In terms of the number of annual savings plan executions, women increased theirs by 28% in 2022, outpacing men by two percentage points year-over-year. In this context, the Core MSCI World USD Acc (WKN: A0RPWH) was the most popular ETF among women in Trade Republic’s trading universe in Germany.

Looking at the current poverty risk figures from the Federal Statistical Office in Germany, it is clear that women are at a higher risk of not having enough money to live on in old age. According to forecasts, 16.5% of women and 15.1% of men in Germany are at risk of poverty. Trade Republic’s mission is to facilitate private wealth accumulation and retirement planning for all people with secure, easy, and commission-free access to the capital markets.