Savvy female investors are turning to the sharemarket in droves to invest their cash

Savvy female investors have been flocking to the sharemarket to help boost their wealth and financially set themselves up.

Savvy female investors have flocked to the sharemarket during the pandemic in a bid to boost their wealth.

During the past 12 months the ASX200 has had a rollercoaster ride – particularly in March last year when COVID-19 struck Australia – and its value fell by about 30 per cent.

Despite this, the stockmarket has well and truly rebounded and many hopeful investors are swarming to try and boost their wealth. Here’s how to get your slice of the share investing pie.

FEMALE BOOM

Australian fund manager BetaShares analysed the investment trends of about 7800 Australians and found a spike in female investors snapping up exchanged-traded funds.

ETFs are a low-cost way to help traders diversify where their money goes. They allow a basket of shares or assets to be purchased in a single trade, as opposed to investing in a single company.

Building cadet Rachel Pannowitz, 22, started investing in ETFs in March last year when the pandemic hit.

“I saw there was a bit of an opportunity when the markets were down, I’d heard about investing and never looked too much into it,” she says. “I started reading articles about ETFs and investing and what that involves.”

Pannowitz signed up to CommSec Pocket which allows investors to buy in bite-size chunks, even with $50.

“I set up spreadsheets tracking what funds I wanted to put my time, effort and money into and what aligned with my values,” she says.

She has so far invested about $5000 and is taking a long-term approach.

Rachel Pannowitz, 20 started investing in shares in 2020 and is hoping to build up a share portfolio. Picture: Toby Zerna.

OPEN THE RIGHT ACCOUNT

Purchasing shares can be daunting for many investors who have never dipped their toes in the stockmarket.

Experts say opening up a share trading account – which is usually free – is the best way to get started.

Then begins research – reading up on what companies and funds interest you and where you would like to invest your hard-earned cash will help you make educated decisions.

Some of the most popular share trading platforms include CommSec, NABtrade, CMC Markets and Superhero.

Australian fund manager BetaShares’ chief executive officer Alex Vynokur says entry-level investors shouldn’t be afraid to start small but concedes, “picking stocks is difficult”.

“The ETF industry is known to be cost-effective, diversified, and with simple investment tools that trade on the ASX just like a share,” he says.

“In one trade a person can buy a diversified portfolio of global shares, Australian shares, ethically-screened shares and other asset classes such as gold.”

SHARES NOT JUST FOR THE RICH

There has long been a perception that purchasing shares is just for the wealthy, but Vynokur says this is absolutely not the case.

“A vast majority of people thought investing was really just for the rich,” he says.

“The ETF industry in the past 10 years or so has been delivering the ability for the average Australian to invest and build wealth.”

Managed funds broker InvestSMART’s Evan Lucas says investors typically should have “$5000 or more to start”.

“If you were to put $100 in you would have to pay brokerage to buy and sell so you would realistically need to be making a minimum of $30 to break even if it’s $15 per trade,” he says.

● An ETF is a managed fund that you can buy or sell on the ASX.

● Each ETF is a basket of shares or assets.

● The value of the ETF goes up or down when the index or asset moves.

Source: moneysmart.gov.au

Originally published as Savvy female investors are turning to the sharemarket in droves to invest their cash