Invest Like a Scriptural Woman

Society teaches us that women are fearful of investing, and want to avoid learning the basics of financial planning and retirement savings. It’s my experience that women are better equipped than men to be successful investors and should expect robust returns in their IRA or 401(k).

While I would never consider myself an authority on women, I was the first male to be born in our family in over 40 years. I also have three daughters and an amazing wife. Being surrounded by generations of women has not permitted me to fully understand them, but I consider myself a well-informed observer. After spending over 20 years as a pit trader at the Chicago Board Options Exchange, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with over 400 other “alpha-dog” male traders, I find the women clients to be a breath of fresh air now that I’ve left the floor and started my own registered investment advisory firm.

Contrary to popular belief, women are better equipped than men to be savvy investors. Wall Street has overcomplicated the entire process by perpetuating the misconception that you have to be a math whiz to be a good investor; not true. Being a successful investor is about patience, hope, faith in the future and loyalty; attributes that women have in abundance.

The 5 key traits than make women better investors are: Intuition, Patience, Wisdom, Appreciation & Gratitude and Loyalty.

Intuition

Women have a natural intuition that senses danger and generally keeps them out of trouble. Many emergency room visits are by men whose last words were “hold my beer and watch this.” Each time a sales representative wearing a pinky ring and cufflinks approaches my wife, the hair on the back of her neck stands up. It does not matter if you are having a discussion with a roofer, designer or wealth manager. Women, just listen to your intuition and what your body tells you. (Luke 1: 41-45)

Women intuitively know they should take a more active role in saving and investing because they will likely live 15 or more years longer than men will. Women want to solve one issue: financial security. Will their money outlive them, or will they outlive their money?

Patience

Most women have an abundance of patience and that is the #1 key emotional resource for being a successful investor. We home-school two of our children and when it is my turn to help kids with homework, I usually have them crying in about 5 minutes. My wife can spend several hours solving one math problem, and at the end she is all smiles.

Men prefer action and adrenaline, hence their dominance in the trading pits. Men are impatient and bet on every roll of the dice, and every play of the game. Men also create distractions like Fantasy Football, because the Super Bowl isn’t good enough. Another example of my lack of patience is when I have possession of the remote control. I skip through 100s of TV stations in a matter of minutes, whereas my wife has patience to wait for the start of a new hour to see what is on TV. Women have an abundance of patience. (1)

Wisdom

Women are better investors, because investing requires wise financial decisions. Men want to reward themselves with the latest, most expensive HDTV, instead of a pint of chocolate ice cream and a manicure.

We also have to look at the Scriptures and see how Mary, the Mother of Jesus responded wisely at the Annunciation. Women say things like “Let it be done unto me according to thy will.” Men say, ”It seemed like a good idea at the time. He learns that Mary is pregnant and he starts looking for an exit plan and put her away privately. An angel of the Lord instructs Joseph in a dream (2) to take Mary as his wife. Joseph changes his mind and is betrothed to Mary.

After the birth of our Lord, Joseph decides to return to Judea when again an angel of the Lord visits Joseph in a dream (3) to tell him to leave Bethlehem and go to Egypt. Joseph changes his mind and heads to Egypt. After Herod died, an angel appears to Joseph (4) and instructs him to go to Israel. But Joseph was afraid, and behold, an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream (5) and he travels to Galilee to a town called Nazareth.

Joseph needed to be told what to do, so God sent an angel to guide him. Mary used womanly wisdom to make her decisions. Go and do likewise.

Appreciation & Gratitude

Women have a natural appreciation for the nature of things. For example most women prefer cats because they appreciate the self-sufficient, loving and calming effect of a cat’s nature. Even misbehaved cats don’t bother most women because they just enjoy “being” with a cat. (6)

Men on the other hand prefer dogs, because we train them to sit, speak, shake hands, round up sheep and cattle and otherwise change their behavior to comply with our utilitarian needs. The stock market has a “nature” also. It ebbs and flows; it was overbought in 2007 and oversold in 2009. Men look for ways to beat the stock market, which is why it usual beats them instead. Women, by comparison, can appreciate the natural rhythm of the market and not be as affected by it. (7)

Loyalty

Even if your investment plan is not going the way you want, women are less likely to abandon the plan. Mary Magdalene was the first one to appear at dawn, at the tomb of Jesus and was told to get the other disciples (8). The bible tells us that two of the disciples already called it quits, and were heading out of town to Emmaus after the Crucifixion. (9)

In the Parable of the Talents, each bondservant was entrusted with a “talent” worth 20 years’ wages and was instructed to trade and invest it until the owner return. The fearful servant who buried his money was severely chastised.

“For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance”

(1) John 2:4-8

(2) Matthew 1:20

(3) Matthew 2:19

(4) (5) Matthew 2:22

(6) Colossians 3:17, James 3:7-12

(7) Matthew 24

(8) Luke 24:13-35