How can women best protect and grow their wealth?

• Women tend to be the main caregivers of children and aging parents. Taking career breaks to care for others can harm their career prospects over the long term.
• When we integrate the impact of lower earnings and a stalled career progression into the model, Jane's wealth at age 85 becomes 43% less compared to Joe.

Source: "The relationship between income and time off is highly non-linear for those in our sample. Any career interruption – a period of six months or more out of work – is costly in terms of future earnings, and at ten years out women are 22 percentage points more likely than men to have had at least one career interruption. Deviations from the male norm of high hours and continuous labor market attachment are greatly penalized in the corporate and financial sectors." Bertrand, Goldin, Katz 2010.

• Women engage more often in part- time work. In the US, women are nearly twice as likely as men to work part-time. Part-time work can have a lasting effect on women’s pay, for example, because they are less likely to be promoted. Women also receive fewer benefits and smaller allocations to their pension funds.
• In our model, the impact of flexible work results in a 96% decrease in the value of Jane's wealth.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015.

• In the US, women’s life expectancy is 6.7 years longer than men’s, whereas in the UK, the difference is 5.3 years. – Differences in life expectancy vary by country and seem to be narrowing. On average, the gap has gradually declined to 2.8 years today from 3.8 years in 2011, 4.6 years in 2001, and 6.3 years in 1971. Even a few years difference can have an impact on women's wealth.
• In our model, Jane's additional living years result in her not being able to achieve her goal of passing wealth to the next generation. She also struggles to maintain her lifestyle.

Source: Scientific American (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-is-life-expectancy-lo/); V.Kontis, 2017 Study by Imperial College London and the World Health Organisation.

• While women are more likely than men to invest in a disciplined way , numerous surveys and studies also highlight women's relative lack of financial confidence when deciding on investments. This lack of confidence supports observed differences in women’s appetite for risk. Not taking enough risk can result in women not receiving the returns they require to achieve their ambitions or pay for the things they need.
• Our Jane's illustrative situation becomes even worse if she invests too conservatively. She faces an even bigger gap if her investment portfolio delivers returns of 1% a year rather than the previously assumed 3%. Because Jane chose an investment that is less "risky" (lower volatility), she cannot achieve her goals and is unable to support herself in retirement.

Source: Croson, 2009.

• If Jane wants to maximize the likelihood of achieving her goals, she must invest all her funds strategically. We conclude that investing in a disciplined way using an appropriate strategy can help women bridge the gap to men’s wealth journey and help them meet their objectives.
• In our model we show how with the right portfolio Jane and Joe can both meet their objectives.

Source: UBS