How Women Invest
by
Gregory Grant
The trading floor is a sea of opinions, ideas and investment strategies, all aimed at making money. Different investors, different strategies. But is there a difference between how men and women invest? There just might be.
"I find that most of my female clients have a sense about the product, the service, the store; they personalize it more than men do," said Carla Bond of Merrill Lynch. "I think they just if you walk into Nordstrom, you feel treated well, you like that company, and you're gonna buy that stock much more than a man who looking at fundamentals and numbers more than services and special treatment."
Analysts sense that, in some ways, women do approach investing from a different viewpoint. But there are many other factors that create more similarities than differences.
"I feel that there is a lot of middle ground between how men and women invest, depending upon their need, their comfort level, their education, they're very apt to invest the same way," Bond said.
Men and women each bring unique insights to the investment table. But financial analysts seem to agree that it's the careful planning and solid research that helps women do what any investor desires, get the greatest return while building a solid portfolio.
In recent years, companies have flocked to the web to set up dot.com sites. Initially retail companies caught the attention of investors and consumers alike.
When to sell a stock is as important as when to buy a stock. The investor that goes beyond just looking at the financial pages will find that this kind of in-depth research will pay off in helping to make wiser investment choices.