Step forward the stronger sex 
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Not exactly the right thread, but there was a really good piece on women investors and what motivates them on City AM the other day - worth a read if youâre into the subject!
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There are a few of us here 
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Not many I guess! Me - last to the party as usual 
and finally joined the âcommunityâ.
Got burnt following Neil Woodford and decided to teach myself how to do make a better job of it.
Many lessons learned, primarily - NEVER trust a man with your money 
So far, so good!!!
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Hi there! 
Very new here, being fresh out of uni and in a grad job. Have lots to learn but better late than never!
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Welcome to Freetrade. Out of interest what did you graduate in?
Would love to know how many over 60âs are on Freetrade. By the way I know 80 year olds who are as fresh as daisyâs so not suggesting over 60 is old. Didnât we have an 88 year old Freetrade user ?
During this lockdown I think weâve been reminded of the great knowledge, wisdom, charisma, comfort and all round positivity the older generation have to offer. Iâve always been drawn to older people and love when going out and about striking up conversations with older people. Iâm in my 30âs and have friends in their 80âs who I see and chat to regularly, some real characters. Always cherish them. Cannot wait for everyone to be out and about again and ignite the social contact.
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Thank you! I graduated from mechanical engineering but am working in transport planning now. Did a couple of semesters of introductory courses to financial reporting etc and found them interesting (and very different to engineering!), coupled with that quarter-life crisis on money/how a single source of income is not enough haha, thatâs why Iâm here 
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Welcome to Freetrade!
@Bex - Woodfordâs fail was how i got into investing too funnily enough 
I hope you both donât mind my asking but: As women, why do you feel so few woman invest? (Is it the risky perception, the male-dominated image, etc?) ; What do you both feel could be done to get more women investing? By freetrade and, more broadly, by the sector as a whole (incumbents, media, etc) ?
Iâve always hated the âus and themâ rhetoric - Iâve always felt that people are people, and if you want to invest youâll invest, but threads like this one clearly highlight that maybe there are still way too many problems/barriers (scoial or otherwise) for women in investing.
Frankly, I have no idea. But women do invest, all the time, just differently - time, effort and money into their homes, careers, families, clothes, looks, relationships - theyâre just not likely to obtain much of a financial return, but they still feel rewarded and isnât that what we are all doing it for?
Iâm a Gen-Xer, weâre notoriously pragmatic. I was bought a car at 17. The same birthday I was gifted a Haynes manual and told by my father âYouâll only know youâve made it in life when you can afford to pay people to do things for youâ. Biggest life lesson ever - if you have a problem, whatever it is, teach yourself to fix it.
Men and women are just different in teaching themselves skills and have varying levels of confidence in their abilities. If there was a Couch to 5K plan for investing, women would be all over it!!!
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@Bex ; Thatâs an interesting perspective on it re investing time and effort into friendships and careers etc, I certainly never stopped to reflect on this.
To add on to that, Iâm a millennial (or borderline Gen Z) and we certainly donât get taught enough about this in the current education system (not even about investing but about personal finance and wealth management as a whole). It varies from different upbringings though, my parents taught me to be smart with my money, whereas some of my friends spent a lot of time on short-term gratification. So, coming out into the âreal worldâ, investing seems like something scary where if you donât have much to begin with, why on earth would you chuck your very little savings into the uncertain abyss? At first glance it seems like a âWolf of Wall Streetâ-esque game that you can never win at.
This isnât a blanket statement on all millennials though, some are amazingly clever and have got their lives figured out, some will start to have to figure it out when they hit that quarter-life crisis of âoh shoot, time to get seriousâ and so on. But I definitely am grateful for my privilege i.e. I had a uni education, have a job amidst this craziness, have access to tech and resources to learn more, when a lot of people are struggling just to get by in the present 
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Hey @Bex, another Gen-Xer woman here!
None of my women friends invest (outside of their work pensions) and although they have good jobs and savings, they still see investing as âgamblingâ and they are scared of losing âall their moneyâ (their words). It doesnât help that investing in the media is synonymous with either big wins or big losses (the Wolf of Wall Street @lynnieler mentions) and not a lot in between.
I do talk of my plans to fund my early retirement via investing and although over the years, my friends ask me how Iâm doing, theyâre still not interested enough to want to jump in themselves.
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Hi everyone! Itâs been a while since this thread got much action, but Iâm hoping to get in touch with some female Freetrade investors whoâd like to share their stories about how/why they started investing.
Weâre looking to write a piece for International Womenâs Day which would be shared on our social and editorial channels.
If youâre keen to chat, please reach out to gemma.boothroyd@freetrade.io
Thanks! 
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Paging - @Emmie @Optimisery @SB426 @RumNCoke @Kiava @louiseDJ
Am I forgetting anyone? I know there are some good stories youâre all sitting on!
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Yep, me! 53 at the end of the week and been here since last Sept. I blame @NeilB because he answered most of my newbie question s.
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Emailed you!
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Emailed you - Iâm an antique 
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I would happily do it if I were a women
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