The Great Debate UK

Women make better investors, if only more of them had a go

- Claer Barrett is associate editor of the Investors Chronicle. The opinions expressed are her own.Reuters will host a “follow-the-sun” live blog on Monday, March 8, 2010, International Women’s Day. Please tune in.–

“I’m sorry to tell you that my husband has died, so I want a full refund on his Investors Chronicle subscription.”

It is a sad fact of life, but for a magazine with a high number of elderly male readers, we receive two calls from bereaved widows every week. No doubt, scrupulous management of the family budget over the years has honed their cost-cutting skills. But I secretly wish they would switch the subscription to their own name, and have the confidence to carry on investing in their own right.

It may sound harsh – but I am a firm believer that women make better investors than men. I learned my financial lessons from my mother and grandmother, who battled through the austerity of the post-war years. The concepts of rationing, make do and mend and digging for victory are the epitome of financial prudence. “Look after the pennies,” I was told, “and the pounds will look after themselves.”