Gender Impact on Personal Investment Strategies

Abstract

Abstract Research purpose. This study is dedicated to investigating the peculiarities of personal investment decisions among female and male investors to analyse the gender differences that occur during personal investment strategy establishment processes. This study is based on the literature research and aims at exploring the existing knowledge on financial behaviour and gender influence on personal investment selection. The importance and originality of this study are that it assesses the collective evidence in the personal investment field and explores its processes through the prism of gender impact. The understanding of the gender bias impact on the personal investment strategy development process can play an important role in addressing the issue of gender inequality in finance and investment areas. This paper is dedicated to answering the question of how gender impacts personal investment strategies. Design/ Methodology/ Approach. The major task was to conduct the research on the male and female personal investment decision peculiarities presented in literature sources and to prepare the survey to conduct practical research while applying theoretical knowledge and presenting the findings along with the suggestions on how to improve the female situation in investment field. Findings. The most prominent finding to emerge from this study is that females lack knowledge and understanding in finance and especially investment areas; therefore, this leads to inadequacy in self-confidence in finance and investment matters and, as a result, neglect of successful personal finance management and, more significantly, poor investment strategy decisions. Originality/ Value/ Practical implications. The main goal of the current study was to determine whether the gender difference exists in personal finance and especially investment area, to refine the reasons behind this phenomenon, to analyse what could be done to improve the situation and introduce suggestions for further research. The research was done based on relevant literature, reports, surveys, statistical data used for literature analysis, and Lithuania’s case study for the practical part of the research. The primary objectives were to find out what are the main peculiarities between males and females when it comes to personal investment strategy choices and to analyse financial literacy and investment fields through the female perspective. The main points revealed during this study were that men tend to invest more often than women, as females, in general, prefer to save rather than invest; women tend to choose less risky investment strategies compared to men or save rather than invest. The main factors of this phenomena are the influence of cultural, social, or psychological factors, low financial literacy level, differences in economic status, longer life expectancy, the lack of confidence when it comes to knowledge applied to the financial decisions; males are more likely to choose a higher-risk investment strategy and to be more confident in their investment ability even if they have less knowledge on the matter. The analysis of Lithuania’s case has also confirmed the main literature review findings and reported females to lack financial and investment knowledge, spare funds and prefer to save rather than invest or invest into the low-risk tools.