Research proves that investors are better off putting their money with a female fund manager
There is always a lot of noise about what to do with your investments. Which asset? What asset management company? Index tracking or actively managed?
But new research has revealed that there is one other important consideration that could bolster returns: make sure your fund manager is not a bloke.
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According to data prepared by investment platform rplan, 18 per cent of the 50 best performing retail funds over the last five years are managed by women.
This might not sound a lot, but it is double the proportion – nine per cent – of the total population of fund managers that are female.
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“There are plenty of studies that show female fund managers constitute a small minority of retail fund managers in the UK. But our analysis shows that they punch above their weight in the performance stakes, said rplan's chief investment officer Stuart Dyer.
Unfortunately, Dyer was left scratching his head when trying to ascertain why – in a market where such small proportion of managers are women – they do so much better. He said:
We can only speculate as to why this might be the case. It may be that women have to be better to succeed and/or it may be that they naturally have a more prudent approach to managing money. Analysis of our own clients’ behaviour has shown that female investors opt for less risky investments.