Female Investment in Europe: Challenges and Opportunities

The latest research from The Mobile Bank N26 shows there’s more to do when it comes to finding parity in investment opportunities among men and women. What obstacles are women (still) facing when investing their money? And, what are their motives and preferences? How much of their monthly income do they invest and what are their plans for 2022?

N26 surveyed an equal measure of investors and non-investors, 16,030 women and men in Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Their answers revealed that, while women do not currently invest at comparable rates to men, there are reasons to be optimistic that the landscape is changing as most of them want to invest more in 2022.

How does the gender gap influence how much women invest every month?

Whit an average of €857.52 per month, women in Europe invest 29% less than their male counterparts, who invest an average of €999.37 per month:

• Austrian women invest more than their other European counterparts, allocating a monthly average of €999 (42%) of their monthly income to their investments. This still counts to be 27% less than Austrian men who invest on average €1,361 (43%) of their income per month.

• The biggest gender gap when it comes to investing can be seen in Germany and France, where men invest a whopping 43% more than their fellow countrywomen.

• The smallest investment gap between men and women is registered in Spain, where women allocate an average share of 30% of their monthly income to investments, 15% less than men.

Why women don’t invest (more) and what could motivate them

In all 5 countries, both groups, women who already invest (45%) and those that are considering starting (54%), name lack of disposable income as the number one obstacle to why they don’t invest more and why they haven’t started yet.

Other main blockers include lack of sufficient knowledge (36%), risk aversion, uncertainty about future financial stability (22%) and concerns about the current and potential future pandemic (17%).

Women who don’t yet invest wished for more open conversations about the benefits and risks of investing and financial topics in general. They also wish for an increase in available investment products that are more tailored to women’s needs. The majority of the interviewed women (60%) stated that they find the investment field still dominated by men.

Female investment power – this is just the beginning

70% of women investors say they want to increase their investments over the next year. This is particularly true among Italian and German women, who report that they plan to increase their investments this year by 72% and 54% more.

Paula Mariani, Director of User Experience at N26, says: “This research demonstrates just how much more opportunity there is for women within the investment landscape. It’s great to see investing becoming more of a topic among women, as more of them explore ways to grow their wealth. Proactively contributing to this development by facilitating the conversation among women and creating money management and investment products that are more inclusive is an absolute priority for us at N26. For instance, our user research shows that the share of women holding Bitcoins has tripled in the past three years. However, it also shows that the share of men holding Bitcoins is six times as big. There is still a lot to do and we are looking forward to building towards an investment industry that is accessible for everybody.”

The survey was conducted among a total number of 16030 women and men in Austria (2006 survey participants from Burgenland, Kärnten, Niederösterreich, Oberösterreich, Salzburg, Steiermark, Tirol, Vorarlberg, Wien), France (4006 survey participants from Bassin parisien, Centre-est, Départements d’outre-mer, Est, Île de france, Méditerranée, Nord – pas-de-calais, Ouest, Sud-ouest), Germany (4008 survey participants from Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Berlin, Brandenburg, Hessen-Thüringen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen-Bremen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz-Saarland, Sachsen- Sachsen-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein-Hamburg), Italy (3005 survey participants from Central Italy, Islands, Northeastern Italy, Northwestern Italy, Southern Italy), and Spain (3005 survey participants from A.M Barcelona, A.M Madrid, Centro (Central), Levante (Central East), Noreste (North East), Noroeste (North West), Nortecentro (North Central), Sur (South)), with an equal split between those who invest and those who do not. In this survey “investing” includes options like stocks, bank products, real estate, exchange traded funds etc. and “investing” is limited to survey participants investing their own money, excluding investments as part of their profession. The interviews were conducted online in February 2022 by the research institute Sapio on behalf of N26 using an email invitation and an online survey. The asked questions aimed to find out about the participants’ preferences, needs, wishes and pain points when investing / considering to invest. The survey defines “women” and “men” as all persons identifying as such. Persons who identified as “non-binary” were not included in the analysis due the sample size not being representative. Please note that N26 does not give investment advice and that investing comes with financial risk up to losing the invested funds.

Vanessa Guerriero