Invest Like A Woman

Warren Buffett invests like a girl. He’s patient and does thorough research. He doesn’t take huge risks. He waits for the right price to buy, and he hold onto stock a long time. All of which, according to a survey of financial analysts and investment advisers, is generally how women investors behave. The study found that women felt it was much more important than men did to avoid incurring large losses, falling below a target rate of return or acting on incomplete information. In short, women are more risk-averse than men. And that can make them better investors than men. The study found that women’s portfolios gained 1.4% more than men’s portfolios did. (Single women did even better than single men, with 2.3% greater gains.) Now that the economy is showing some faint signs of recovery and many of us might be considering jumping back into the market, we turn to Dr. Ellen Peters, a psychologist from the University of Oregon, who was involved in the original study, for some ideas on what investment strategies will work for everyone.