4, March, 2021, LONDON –

New research has found that the proportion of women managing ethical funds is 97% higher than it is at “regular” funds.

Analysts from the personal finance comparison site finder.com looked at all the funds that were clearly identifiable as “ethical” (109) on a major investing platform and compared the findings against 103 funds focusing on other sectors.

The findings revealed there is at least one woman in a management role at 23% of “ethical” funds, compared to just 12% of regular funds.

While the increase of ethical female fund managers is positive, there is still a long way to go before the investing industry sees equality at senior levels – of the 253 fund managers in the sample looked at by finder.com, there were more called Richard, David, Nick or James than there were women.

Investing interest on the rise for younger generations of women

When it comes to retail investors, a new survey commissioned by finder.com also found that far fewer women are investing than men

Around 4 in 10 women (39%) said they had money currently invested in some form (either a share, fund, ETF or private pension), compared to around 6 in 10 men (58%).

However, investing is proving much more popular with younger generations of women than their older counterparts.

While around a quarter (26%) of those aged over 55 and 35% of 45 to 54 year olds said they currently hold at least one investment, this figure rises to 60% of 25 to 34 year olds. For 18 to 24 year olds the total who invest is almost 4 in 5 (79%).

Zoe Stabler (25) is an investment writer at finder.com and a keen investor. Here she talks about her experience and why it is important that more females take an interest in their finances:

“I first started investing around three years ago with a simple low-fee robo-advisor that rounded up my transactions and invested it in stocks and shares. Keen to understand more about the risk portfolios and how investing worked, I read a few books on money and investing, notably Money: A User’s Guide by Laura Whateley.

“Soon enough, I was looking into company financials and trends and investing small amounts of money in an individual savings account (ISA).

“I’ve since checked out what my pension is invested in, started consolidating my individual pots to reduce my fees and altered my investments to match my values. It’s incredibly empowering to understand your finances and how to make your savings work a little harder.

“It’s the norm nowadays for women to hold their own bank accounts, take their own loans and mortgages and save their own money – so I feel it’s equally as important that women should use the resources available to them, get clued up on the basics of investing (and the risks!) and give it a go. You can start with a robo-advisor before starting to trade financial instruments.”

To see the research in full visit: https://www.finder.com/uk/women-investors

Methodology:
Finder analysts looked at 212 funds listed on the Hargreaves Lansdown platform to find the number of female fund managers.

Finder commissioned Censuswide on 16th-18th February to carry out a nationally representative survey of adults aged 18+. A total of 2,000 people were questioned throughout Great Britain, with representative quotas for gender, age and region