This week, we spoke to Zoe Fiddes, the founder of MOXI Wealth. Zoe has spent over 10 years in finance, working in the currency market and Venture Capital, aka raising money to invest in businesses. In between wrangling numbers, dividends and percentages for a living, she set-up a website to help women build their wealth. MOXI Wealth is ‘like a best friend who works in finance’, you can go to them with any question and get a trusted answer.

Firstly, how pretty is their website! Zoe has clearly thought about her audience as the graphics, talking as a female, lure me in and immediately make me feel at ease. Zoe has created some super cool FREE calculators that you can use to help you focus on your savings goals. She has also put together some great FREE guides on some key topics for your money.

We asked Zoe if she thought women are afraid of investing and this was her reply:

Why Women Are NOT Afraid of Investing

The Story

Men are more likely to invest their money – 17% of men in the UK invest in a Stocks & Shares ISA versus 10% of women. But are women sitting on the sidelines of the stock market feeling scared? We don’t think so.

What’s going on?

The financial industry is man heavy and those who work with money are more in tune with investing their own cash. Who’d thought! There is also the matter of having spare cash. Although the gender pay gap is decreasing (hooray!), counting all full-time and part-time jobs, women on average earn 18.4% less than men. Fact – we have less money to invest.

This leads me to kids, our wonderful, beautiful yet expensive kids! Women who want to have children naturally plan ahead and save because it’s often them who take time off work. We’re not saying men don’t plan, but if you know you’re going to be off work for many months you’d like to have a cushion. And unfortunately, Statutory Maternity Pay isn’t enough to pay for rent/mortgage let alone all the baby classes and coffees (as well as the other essentials of bringing a baby into the world).

Could women invest more?

Saving for a rainy day, home deposit and kids is priority. But saving for nothing is a waste. Any ‘extra cash’ lying around in a low interest bank account could instead be put to work to grow wealth.

How?

When we say ‘grow wealth’ we mean ‘invest’. Investing can be so many things but the best place to start is with your pension. Why? Because not only can you benefit from a long-term investment you also get income tax-relief aka all your tax back – that is 20% for basic rate tax-payers and 40% for higher rate payers. It’s an unbeatable yearly bonus, better than any investment!

The catch? You normally have to wait until you are 55 to access a pension pot. If you want an investment you can access earlier then you could open a Stocks & Shares ISA. Via this account you can buy into a fund, invest in large companies or make a long-term loan in return for interest aka ‘buy bonds’.

Moxie Wealth’s final word

It’s old news that women have less money but the landscape is slowly changing. We have more choice now when it comes to career and having children. Our challenges don’t mean we can’t be investors. It’s better to have some skin in the game than none at all. Even if you siphon a small amount each month, before it gets spent on vino, you could be thanking your future self in your 40s and onwards.

This is a guest blog with the wonderful Zoe Fiddes at Moxi Wealth. Check out her website at www.moxiwealth.com