How Australia’s richest women are rewriting the rules of investing for the future
The number of high-net-worth women in Australia is growing at double the pace of men, and female investors will control $3.2 trillion as the great wealth transfer plays out.
When it comes to building and preserving significant wealth, investment principles don’t change based on gender. But as the country’s wealth gap between men and women narrows, Australia’s richest women are rewriting the rules about investment.
For decades, the perception of female investors was characterised by what they allegedly lacked: financial literacy, confidence, risk appetite and the toughness required to make big decisions.
Women were left out of key financial discussions, as advisers defaulted to addressing the male breadwinner in meetings with couples. But a new cohort of female investors is changing how fortunes are managed at the highest level, influencing not only the selection of investment products but who calls the shots.
According to Amanda Fong of Escala Focus Partners, the modern woman’s approach is defined by a sense of responsibility beyond personal gain.
“Women have more empathy in taking responsibility for managing wealth, not just for themselves in terms of values alignment, but in terms of preserving the capital again for the next generation,” she says. “It’s not about getting the greatest return possible … it’s about appropriate and prudent investment.”
Apt Wealth Partners chief executive Andrew Dunbar says women are “prioritising long-term security” but also taking a more considered “goals-based approach to investment decisions, which I think can really work in their favour”.
Some of the nation’s top male and female advisers have noted the growing number of women, generally over 40 years of age, who seek out financial advice for portfolios with a minimum of $500,000 in investible assets.
The typical asset allocation often starts with a focus on core assets, particularly property.
“The family home is sacrosanct,” says Morrows Private Wealth managing director Laurel Moulynox.
“Women are far less likely than men to use it as collateral for other investments.”
While this may seem conservative, female investors are becoming highly active in growth assets.
Chris Smith of VISIS Private Wealth says of his female client base that portfolios typically start with the family home, then investment properties and blue chip shares.
“They might then have a satellite portfolio of slightly more growth-focused investments including private equity,” Smith says, as well as more defensive assets “in cash, typically in offset accounts” and then “a similar portfolio of equities and possibly bonds in a superannuation account”.
“Most of our wealth accumulators will be growth-focused seeking compounding returns and using their substantial cash flow to fund gearing strategies in order to create significant wealth,” Smith says.
Between 2018 and 2023, the wealth controlled by women globally rose by 51 per cent, outpacing the overall market growth of 43 per cent, according to a 2025 report from global consulting firm McKinsey & Company.
A 2024 report by JB Were and CoreData says the number of high-net-worth women in Australia is growing at double the pace of men.
“Our most successful female clients tend to be entrepreneurially minded,” Moulynox says.
“A common theme among them is that they’ve surrounded themselves with a strong network of women, such as advisers and other professionals, who help them grow and develop.”
This article is from Barron’s Top 150 Financial Advisers 2025,publishedonline and in The Australian on November 20.
This consultative approach also appears to be a common theme among those who reach the highest levels of success. “I wouldn’t say they’re risk-takers,” says RFS Advice founding partner Troy Theobald.
“They’re entrepreneurial in that they’re prepared to listen to a professional, to have sound advice, and act on it.”
In the great wealth transfer, women will take charge of a staggering $3.2 trillion over the next decade. This is changing not just who manages the money, but how it’s handled.
“We have a lot of family meetings with clients, and I think females – clients, mothers – include their children and hold family meetings to educate them and teach them the values that they’ve worked for,” Dunbar says.
“Women talk about the family’s legacy; that money’s come from maybe their parents, and now it’s theirs, and then it’s going to the next generation. It’s multi-generational money.”
Theobald also notes women spend more time interviewing financial advisers before deciding who to hire.
“I’ve some ladies at the moment, too, a group of friends, who are all interviewing advisers and they’re going to make a group decision,” he says. “All asking their own questions, all asking (from) their own viewpoints.”
While property provides the anchor, female investors are also highly active in growth assets.
The key difference, Dunbar says, is a distinct “tilt towards more quality investments”, such as the “traditional type of dividend-paying stocks rather than speculating in the smaller end of the market”.
This disciplined approach is a world away from the more aggressive stance often taken by men, which Moulynox characterises as “gung-ho”.
“Men might get a share tip from a mate at golf or a friend at work and are likely to act on it,” she says. “Whereas women tend to take that information, do their research and think it through before acting.”
Perhaps the most significant differentiator is the integration of philanthropy, not as an afterthought, but as a core wealth strategy.
Dunbar says: “What I do find is females tend to have stronger personal values that they want to link their investments with. I think the extension of that is around philanthropy as well, where they tend to want to be purpose-driven with their wealth.”
A slightly more nuanced view emerges from a new report, The Generational Blueprint, by Wilsons Advisory.
It finds that while men report higher confidence in their wealth transfer plans, anecdotal evidence suggests that women, particularly those from younger generations, are more focused on increasing financial literacy and gaining control over their wealth, while men often prioritise investment returns.
Wilsons Advisory Private Wealth adviser Hilary Troy emphasises the industry’s need for change: “More women are prioritising sustainable wealth and looking for advisers who align with their vision.”
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