Amazon & PayPal investments help women outperform men

New research from Sydney start-up Stake has revealed women are reaping higher investment returns than men from some of the biggest companies in the United States.

Stake – the platform that allows Australians to directly invest in dollar amounts of US shares – found women invest in some of Silicon Valley’s biggest tech companies like Square and PayPal which saw returns of 199% and 84% respectively.

The study, undertaken in March, is based on the investment habits of all Stake users since its launch in 2017.

Stake founder and CEO Matthew Leibowitz told Canstar there has been a 530% increase in women using the investment platform.

“The growth in our female users is really exciting,” he said.

“Stake means easy and intuitive investing for anyone – male or female – who wants to break into the US market.

“The market doesn’t discriminate.

“It’s been really hard for people to access the share market in the past, it has historically been gendered and there was a lot of paperwork.”

The top five stocks traded by women on Stake saw returns averaging 85.01% for the year, compared to men who averaged returns of 72.23%.

Mr Leibowitz said the Australian share market does not offer the same opportunities as the US market.

“Australia has a very small market size,” he said.

“If you look at the amount traded through Apple in a single day, that amount is double the whole amount on the Australian market.

“It’s cheaper and easier for Australians to trade overseas than it is in the local market.”

Stake reports women also use advanced order types to trade more than men (22% of women compared to 20% of men) which suggests they are more tactical with their trading techniques.

Aussies can still make money during the Trump trade war

US President Donald Trump’s recent protectionist trade and economic policy decisions have made exporting countries like Australia nervous, but Mr Leibowitz remains positive.

“Regardless of what happens with Trump in America, there’s a way to make returns,” he told Canstar.

“If you’re investing in Australia you’re just hoping the market goes up – there are no real products that allow you to diversify, very few tech stocks and global stocks.

“In the US, you are able to diversify, take more opportunities and even make money when the market goes down, particularly through exchange-traded funds (ETFs).”

Stake also crunched the numbers on ETF investments, finding that the top five ETFs traded by women returned on average 18.68% annually compared to 12.52% for the top five ETFs traded by men.