Girls that invest

By Megan Dunn

Sim and Sonya photographed for Vogue India.

Money, money, money… it’s arguably what makes the world go round. We need it, we want it, we chase it, however traditionally speaking we don’t talk about it.

Openly discussing one of the most rudimentary elements of our lives just makes sense, which is why it seems fundamentally backward that it is considered taboo, ‘hush-hush’ or even inappropriate to talk matters of finance. Simran Kaur and Sonya Gupthan, two 25-yearold girls from Auckland, are here to change that mentality and put their money where their mouth is, with their uber successful podcast, ‘Girls Who Invest’. The numbers speak for themselves, the podcast quickly rose to the no.1 investing

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podcast for woman and has over 1,000,000 podcast downloads. They have also amassed over 150,000 Instagram followers as well as 3,000,000 plus monthly impressions. To the girls, whose mission is to educate and spread knowledge to woman and minority groups about investing and the stock market, it’s the feedback from the competent community of investors that they have empowered, not the numbers, that bring them great joy. “It feels absolutely amazing, to say the least. We get emotional when we get messages when people say they’ve made their first investment and they keep us in the loop of their learns and how they’re doing,” they say. “Our community is super close and they are open to sharing their learns across our social media platforms.” The initial spark of inspiration in starting this podcast began after a post lockdown conversation between the duo, who have been best friends since they were five years old. “We got to talking about money and our personal finance journeys. It was so interesting because it was the first time we spoke about the topic and it was so easy to have the conversation. “We talked about how much we made, how much we had saved, investing, finance books, our money goals - the whole lot. “Sim had this idea of an investing podcast and asked me to be part of it which I quickly said yes too!” They make clear that they don’t tell people what or what not to do. “We don’t tell women what to invest in, we just simplify what the stock market even is, how to tell the difference between and ETF and an Index Fund”. Their aim is to simplify the art of investing to bring down the barriers and give everybody the equal opportunity to get ahead and enjoy financial literacy. “We wanted to make investing seem less daunting to women and minorities around the world, it’s to show that investing should be and can be for women and marginalised groups,” they explain. As the old saying goes, money can’t buy happiness however, many believe that what it can give you is access to a much greater force. “The power of money is freedom, it’s as simple as that. You have the freedom to make choices, if you want leave a job that is making you unhappy - you can,” say the girls. The financial sector has been dominated by men and is known as somewhat of a ‘boys club’, a network of male only business connections that focuses on fostering inherently male characteristics through job roles and success. Gender disparity in the financial industry is a culmination of centuries old ideas surrounding the financial sector and it means to be a part of such. This has directly caused the underrepresentation of females and minorities in the financial space, (but) in spite of that with more awareness and education, this is slowly to transpose. “We’ve found this space is changing quite a bit. The CEO of the FMA is an incredible woman - Samantha Barrass. “In our experience, we’ve come across many women in leading roles in the financial industry. Both men and women have championed us and our mission however, we still have a way to go.” Sim and Sonya collectively have created an inclusive platform delivering simple, smart and easy to follow advice to advance their listeners personal financial journeys and upskill in any way possible. They are the learning resource that people are directly gaining their knowledge and confidence from. Whilst being the inspiration to so many women across the globe, the people that inspire them the most are a little closer to home. “We’re so lucky to be surrounded by inspirational people on a daily basis. We both come from immigrant Indian parents so our parents are the root of everything that we do and have taught us a lot in terms of work ethic and financial literacy.” Having been featured in the likes of Vogue, TedX and Business Insider, it seems the journey is just beginning for this Kiwi investor expert duo, who are focussed on making investing a tool that everybody can understand . CT

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