Here's how women can get started on their investment journey to freedom

Instead of following trends, think about how to structure your portfolio to meet life goals

- Alyssa Woo

I was taken by surprise recently when a younger colleague confessed that while she is unfamiliar about S&P stocks, she invests in them anyway because all her friends were doing it.

“I don't know much about it, but all my friends said it is safe and has made them money, so I'm okay with investing,” she said.

This was during a conversation I had with a few others about their financial confidence and money matters. Apparently, she is not alone.

A 2023 study by American financial services company Fidelity found that only a third (31 per cent) of women in Singapore are comfortable with investing, with 33 per cent confident about their financial situation compared with 41 per cent of men. It also found that 75 per cent of women in Singapore are anxious about their ability to save and invest.

This is not to say that women refuse to learn how to invest or do not know how to manage their money. Maybe they are like how I was in the past, intimidated by financial jargon, or under the impression that the finance world is one for those in suits and good at mathematics, and that we should just leave all this money business to them, anyway.

But I've since learnt that understanding the basics of investing and getting started really isn't that hard, and I wish I had got over my irrational fear and started investing earlier.

It's crucial that more women become confident in their financial security and investment strategies.

For one thing, women in Singapore have a longer life expectancy of about 85 years, compared with 81 years for men, and pay for health insurance premiums over a longer term because of that.

Living longer also requires women to have a higher provision to fund their retirement expenses as well as medical and caregiving costs such as for live-in helpers for their twilight years, said a Great Eastern spokesperson.