Words of advice for a first-time femme fiscale
Women have different investment needs to men. For example, women have more demanding retirement requirements given that, statistically, they have lower pay and live longer than men.
Should a woman go through a divorce, she is likelier to take care of any children, and less likely to remarry than a man.
In a marriage, women are likelier to control the family budget and have to keep an eye on the financing.
There are other demographic factors at play, such as the fact that women are increasingly likely to stay single. From 1986 to 2009, Hong Kong data shows the number of women defined as 'never married' increased by 58.4 per cent.
Per Hong Kong household, women are as about as likely to be working as men.
The trends generally show that women are likelier to be single, to work and to live longer - in short, making more money and having greater financial needs than before.
All of this points to an increased requirement to think about investment, says Kerry Ching, Fidelity Investment Management's country head for Hong Kong.
Ching has practical advice for women looking to invest for the first time, although it applies equally to men. She counsels, for example, that individuals bring the same kind of scrutiny to investments as they would with any major expenditure.
Financial advisers may be empathetic listeners, but they are also salesmen: they have an agenda to create a sale and book a commission. Ching advises investors to push back on that process with plenty of healthily sceptical questions.
For female investors perhaps approaching investing for the first time, Ching has some practical tips.
She advises, for example, that investors should ascertain whether an agent is independent (and therefore free to recommend any company's products) or is tied to offering only those of one provider.
Ching also says to quiz vendors on their charges. 'Ask them exactly how much they receive,' she says, adding that fees vary from product to product. 'So, ask: 'How much do you get if I use product X and how much for product Y?''
Although Securities and Futures Commission rules coming this month require an intermediary to disclose the fees they get from a product provider, Ching advises investors to ask, anyway. 'They [vendors] may not always be acting in your best interests,' she says.
Ching sees traits for women in the way they handle investing. For example, if an investment tanks, women don't dwell on it. 'They cut their losses and don't look back,' Ching says. 'Women take off; they move on and don't waste any more time ... Men may not be able to cut off just like that.
'Ask questions and understand your investment. Stick to your financial plan. If you don't put aside enough one month, make up for it the next.'
By the numbers
Demography is destiny, and the data shows Hong Kong women's destiny is to work, live a long time and quite possibly do it all as a single person. The financial security of women, in other words, has never been so important.
According to the Census and Statistics Department, female life expectancy at birth was 75.3 years in 1971 and 86.1 years by 2009 - an increase of 10.8 years over a period of 38 years.
Men's life expectancy figures rose even higher in the same period - from 67.8 in 1971 to 79.8 in 2009.
Numbers of widowed and divorced/separated people jumped from 346,700 in 1986 to 600,100 in 2009. The number of widowed and divorced/separated women exceeds men, partly explained by women outliving men and the higher remarriage rate of divorced/separated men.
In that 13-year period, the number of never-married women rose by 58.4 per cent and men by 16.7 per cent.
