Women tend to be 'risk-appropriate' investors, expert says: How that helps them in volatile markets

Many studies show that women tend to invest more conservatively than men. In times of wild market swings, their approach can pay off. Since the Feb. 28 start of the war with Iran , the major stock indexes have zigzagged, dropping before rebounding to reach all-time highs last week. Amid such volatility , women are more likely to adopt a long-term, buy-and-hold investing strategy compared to their male counterparts, research shows . When it comes to investing, women are generally thought of as more risk-averse than men, said Mary Ellen Iskenderian, president and CEO of Women's World Banking. However, they are often "risk-appropriate," she said. "Ideas like risk-averse have become very gendered," Iskenderian said, "and because a woman might not have the same risk profile, that doesn't make her adverse, it makes her smart." Because they maintain their portfolio allocations — as opposed to frequent trading, which can stunt performance over time — women outperform men in the long run. In fact, women investors tend to beat men by 40 basis points, according to research by Fidelity Investments , based on an analysis of annual performance for 5.2 million accounts from January 2011 to December 2020. According to Fidelity, these trends have continued. A separate 2025 study by McKinsey & Co. also found that women tend to prefer stable investments and adopt a more cautious approach to their money, prioritizing long-term financial security. …