Managing the next decade of women’ s wealth
THE CONSEQUENCES OF COVID-19 While the report, Managing the Next Decade of Women’s Wealth, was published the week before the world went into lockdown, the long-term trends remain largely unaffected and women’s wealth is still expected to outpace global wealth growth over the next years. The trend is intensified by the growing number of women taking the lead in financial decisions. Some regions have more catching up to do than others. In Asia, 79% of women take the lead on financial decisions compared to 86% of men. In North America, 70% of women take the lead in financial decisions versus 92% of men; in Europe however the rate drops to only 40% of women compared to 85% men and, in the Middle East, this compares to only 20% of women and 93% of men.
As Zakrzewski explains, “over the last five months, we have seen that COVID-19 is accelerating sustainable investing. 64% of investors believe the pandemic is a tipping point for ESG.” ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) refers to the three central factors in measuring the sustainability and societal impact of an investment. For women, value investing is of higher importance than for men. These past months, ESG funds have begun to further diversify beyond the red button issue of climate change. “The full breadth of the definition is filtering into mainstream investment discussions,” says Zakrzewski. If wealth managers can avoid the pitfalls of common misconceptions and “personalise their approach to meet the specific needs and priorities of individual clients, regardless of gender”, Zakrzewski argues that the enormous business opportunity of female investors can be unlocked.
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