Planning Perspectives with Palesa Tlholoe

WOMEN ARE ACTUALLY GREAT, CONFIDENT INVESTORS

When I started in this industry almost 10 years ago, I would walk into a room filled with bald heads and feel lost. No wonder there are so many stereotypes about women and investing. How can we expect women to feel comfortable to engage in frank discussions about something so personal with people they cannot relate to?

If you type “Wall Street” or “JSE” into Google, 99% of the faces you’ll see are male. This is one of the many ways the universe is telling us the investment world does not belong to females.

There’s also a plethora of articles explaining why women don’t invest in stock markets. Instead of focusing on the urgent need for transformation in the sector, these articles repeat tired stereotypes which claim women lack investing confidence and are risk averse.

As more and more women occupy technical, senior roles in the investment profession, I am hopeful this narrative is starting to shift. Seeing the JSE lead the pack with a female chief executive,

Dr Leila Fourie, (who succeeded another woman, Nicky Newton King) and the Financial Planning institute being helmed by Lelané Bezuidenhout, gives me a lot of hope.

The presence of female CEOs, female fund managers, female stockbrokers and female financial planners is a vital confidence booster for aspiring female investors.

We can now confidently bust the stereotypes about female investors because we know being historically excluded by the system has not stopped women from investing.

Women have, in fact, been great, confident investors for decades. Some women have invested informally through stokvels and other community-based organisations, while others have founded formidable investment companies. Such heroes include Zanele Mbeki and Tania Slabbert who founded WDB Investment Holdings in 1996; Salukazi Dakile-Hhlongwane, Jean Ngubane and Dawn Mokhobo, who founded Nozala Investments in 1996; and Nomhle Canca, Louisa Mojela, Wendy Luhabe and Gloria Serobe, who founded Wiphold in 1994.

WHY WOMEN MAKE GREAT INVESTORS

Research shows women often enjoy superior investment outcomes to men. This is attributed to the fact women tend to possess the skill and the attitude needed for successful investment outcomes. Women are typically adept at:

● Creating clear goals for their investments (a vision board).

● Doing the research, which enables them to adopt a long-term view that anticipates short-term fluctuation. This allows them to benefit from compound interest while avoiding the costs that come with timing the market.

● Embracing a holistic approach to investing that doesn’t only focus on returns, but also on the appropriate level of risk for the investment term and the financial resources available.

● Being patient and having the right level of confidence. While men tend to be overly confident and make quick investment decisions with inappropriately high levels of risk, women usually take time to ask the right questions and are better at exercising patience.

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

If the points highlighted above sound like you, then there’s no excuse not to get started on your investment journey. I’d strongly recommend seeking advice from an FPI-affiliated financial planner who can help you in a way that matches your appetite for risk and your life stage. Even natural born investors can do with a little bit of coaching!

Palesa Tlholoe

Palesa Tlholoe CFP is Co-Founder and Wealth Manager at Imvelo Wealth and Brand Ambassador for the Financial Planning Institute