- 01- Women better investors: cautious, long-term.
- 02- Women make 65% of voluntary super contributions.
- 03- Beat end-year rush with weekly/monthly contributions.
Just about every investment survey I have ever seen concludes that women are better investors than men.
They tend to take fewer risks, do better research, take a long-term approach, and are usually cautious about borrowing too much.
They also have a much better success rate when starting small businesses.
The only problem is that men tend to dominate the investing landscape by making the big decisions and women are often also disadvantaged because they take more and longer breaks from work to look after children and ageing parents.
Fortunately, some recent research shows this is changing quickly with women much more aware of how to use the superannuation system to get ahead.
More Likely to Pay Extra into Super
Analysis by profit to member or industry fund REST showed that women represent around 65% of members making voluntary contributions, compared with 35% men.
That is a smart move by those women because the longer an extra contribution is allowed to compound, the better the return will be in retirement.
A lot of these voluntary contributions were concentrated near the end of the financial year, with May and June accounting for 19% of contributions by number but 42% of their total value.
Average contribution amounts more than doubled during the two months, suggesting members who make more voluntary contributions at the end of the financial year tend to contribute substantially larger amounts.
Contributions activity was relatively steady throughout the remainder of the year, with the other 81% of contributions spread across the preceding ten months.
Beating the End of Year Rush
Rest chief member officer Simone Van Veen said the findings showed there was an opportunity to replace the end of financial year rush by starting a more structured approach by moving to weekly or monthly contributions that might be easier to budget around.
“Rather than waiting until June, members may benefit from taking time earlier in the year to understand their options and make a plan that feels achievable,” she said.
The fund also recorded a surge in member engagement with contribution-related information, with visits to contribution focused content more than tripling in May and June compared with the preceding two months.
Of the different types of contribution, salary sacrifice and member voluntary contributions were the most common.
Downsizer contributions generally involved significantly larger one-off amounts but were less common.
The analysis also showed that contribution amounts tended to increase with age, which points to more access to capital and greater retirement urgency which comes with age.
All told, it seems like sisters really are doing it for themselves.
Get the wire before the market opens.
The ASX small-cap stories that matter, filed before 9am AEST. Curated by the Small Caps desk.