Women Traders
10/02/2005
Women traders are few. Why do I raise this? Well my new book about female entrepreneurs and starting up in business is on my mind ("Our Turn!") as I completed a book launch in London.
Online trading is for men only. So suggested a Harris poll conducted for e-broker Charles Schwab a few years ago. Twice as many women (48 percent) as men (24 percent) indicated "investing is scary for me."
Women are less confident than men about their financial skills. According to the survey 52 percent of women said they had confidence in their investing abilities, compared to 82 percent of men.
Yet according to psychologists, men tend to be overconfident than women in their own abilities, and not just in finance, but also driving for instance. Men also tend to attribute trading success to their own abilities even when that is not warranted. This in turn often makes women better traders - more risk averse, awaiting clearer market signals of good trading opportunities and less prone to take risky gambles and poorer trades.
Men are three times as likely as women to risk losing all their savings if there was a chance of 'making a fortune' according to National Savings. And twice as many women (40 percent) compared to men wouldn't risk 'a penny' of the family nest egg on investments.
A little more confidence to start investing, but not so much as to be a bad investor appears to be the difficult resolution. But how?
The study showed that women tend to have learning styles that differ from men's and that many women have a strong preference for learning from other women in a collaborative and interactive environment.
Bulletin boards for example can be hijacked by the intimidating, almost always male members who create an 'exclusive' clubby atmosphere.
Yet it may have a large latent market: 64 percent of women surveyed said they would be more interested in investing if they knew more about it, versus less than half of men. Gathering information through investment seminars appealed to 65 percent of women and only 42 percent of men. Such courses need to be advertised in magazines predominantly read by women rather than men it seems.
What of the markets? The Dow is just 10% off its all time high, albeit at 1999 levels. The FTSE is outperforming the Dow presently but further off its all time highs. I would in the short-term put my money on the commodities rich FTSE 100 over the Dow.
Value-Growth
On my value growth criteria which are based on stocks meeting revenue and profit growth and good value based on criteria such as price earnings growth, the following names come up. Remember they are for a 6 month outlook: Metnor, Fenner, First Choice, Chloride Group.
Remember I am targeting about 20-20% with the value growth criteria. Last year it produced 33% return. On my momentum value indicator I have some new names: White Young Green, Goldshield, Interior Services.
Crazy Small Stock
These are high risk volatile stocks which could move sharply higher or move sharply lower in my view, but will almost certainly not stand still. Names on the radar include: Aston Villa, Tarsus, SDL, Waterman Group.
Also, if you would like a free multi-media CDROM on 'Investing Better', which covers spreadbetting, CFD trading and momentum indicators like the MACD, posted to you then drop me an email with your postal address to alpesh@tradermind.com.
Spreadbetters
Spreadbetters and futures traders often look at hard and soft commodities. Here's my quick take on the action for the week ahead:
- Oil: Sideways
- Copper: Higher to sideways
- Gold: Sideways to lower
- £/$: Sideways to down
- Dow: Sideways
- FTSE 100: Sideways to up
- Soyabean Oil: Up
Jargon
I have been asked by a couple of readers to explain the jargon I use. 'Going long' means buying a stock in the expectation of it rising in price. 'Going short' is selling something you do not own in the expectation that a price fall means you can buy it back cheaper to make a profit from the falling price.
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