Young women active in financial management, says report

Young Chinese women are more active in financial management than their male counterparts and are more willing to take investment risks, said a recent report.

The report, published by Talicai.com, a website launched in 2012 to provide financial management services for women, based its findings on responses from thousands of urban women aged between 22 and 45 via online questionnaires, telephone and face-to-face interviews. The specific sample of the survey is not available.

The survey found that Chinese women are not afraid of investment risks, and the younger they are, the more active they are in investments. About one-third of the respondents were stock investors, while about 60 percent were also investors in equity funds.

"Most of the young women born after 1985 made significant investments this year. They hold a speculative attitude and have been active participants in the recent capital market rally," said Hua Lei, an account manager with Shenzhen-based Guosen Securities Co.

"An interesting aspect of the recent rally was that, the younger female investors were more active than their middle-aged peers in market-related activities. Not only were they adventurous, but more willing to make risky bets. They are bold investors because they have not experienced any significant losses," said Hua.

Besides, a significant number of the respondents, especially those aged below 30, expressed concerns about investing in precious metals and in online peer-to-peer financing.

Middle-class families tend to manage their growing wealth more rationally. Nevertheless, they still face significant investment challenges and uncertainties.

The survey collected data from women whose average annual income was 78,500 yuan ($12,640) and had investable assets of about 105,000 yuan. Yet another finding from the survey was that most of the middle-income women, who made financial investments, use about 30 to 50 percent of their annual income for such purposes.

The report said that women born after 1990 were more active and open to financial products than those born in the 1980s. Women born after 1990, on average, make their first savings of roughly about 100,000 yuan by the age of 26.4. That is 2.8 years earlier than those born after 1980.

In addition, about 5 percent of those born after 1990 have financing experience of more than five years, and 8.2 percent of them own at least one property.

Bian Wenyue, a 24-year-old who has just come back after studying in the United Kingdom and works as an engineering consultant, is one of the many who opened a stock trading account in January, hoping to ride the rally.

"I have just started working, and my income is not that high. I hope to make some extra money by investing in stocks. It is really exciting to dabble in stocks, despite the fact that some of my money is still trapped in the market. Overall, I did make some gains," she said.

"I also set aside some money to invest in funds, as they offer more stable returns despite less yields. I also spent a small amount of money on buying some online fixed-income products."

According to the report, when making an investment decision, women are willing to listen to their family members, but they still prefer to make the final decisions themselves, and have confidence in their decision-making capabilities.

At the same time, Chinese women are conscious about their personal growth. They spend one-quarter of their income on learning languages, higher studies and on travel.

Looking ahead, most of these young women are expected to have average investable assets of about 120,000 yuan in 2016, with average return rates of 10 percent, the report said.