Invest Like a Girl: Jump into the Stock Market, Reach Your Money Goals, and Build Wealth by Jessica Spangler

PART I
Building a Solid Foundation

Let’s be real—the gender investing gap is no joke. Male investors may have had
a head start, but that doesn’t mean we can’t catch up. In fact, we’re more likely
to surpass them in the process.
Time and time again, women have proven that we’re not just good, but great
at money. Despite having far fewer years to accumulate it, women now hold
more than 30 percent of global wealth, amounting to tens of trillions of dollars in
assets, and this number is only expected to rise in the coming decades. Women-

owned businesses generate $1.9 trillion in revenue and employ over nine million
people, companies with at least 30 percent women in leadership positions add 6
percent to their net profit margins, and during the 2008 financial crisis, women-

led companies in the S&P 500 index outperformed male-led companies by 18
percent. But just in case that wasn’t enough to convince your meathead uncle of
our investing prowess, direct him to the study I mentioned earlier. You know, the
one that analyzed more than five million Fidelity customers over the last ten years
and found that when comparing the investing returns of men and women, it was
women who walked away the clear winners.
The overall implication is even clearer: Women know exactly what they’re
doing, once they know how to do it. This section will level the playing field and
provide you with the tools you need to make your own informed investment
decisions. You’ll find resources and exercises designed to boost your knowledge
about investing and your financial literacy as a whole, plus some added tips and
tricks to help you take actionable steps toward building wealth along the way.
Women have lots of money (though there’s always more to be had), we
spend lots of money (though there’s always more to be spent), we make lots of
money (though there’s always more to be made), and we can learn to invest lots
of money, too. And, boy, when we do, we are very, very good at it. We have all
the power we need to overcome the gender investing gap for good and build
lasting generational wealth, and there’s more for the taking. So let’s get started.

Invest Like a Girl: Jump into the Stock Market, Reach Your Money Goals, and Build Wealth by Jessica Spangler