With a longer life expectancy than men, women in Quebec can look forward to more time to enjoy their retirement. However, their aversion to investment risk during their working years may hamper their retirement plans.
According to a Desjardins Wealth Management survey, 61% of Quebec women with savings and investments have a conservative or moderate investor profile, compared with 46% of men, while only 7% of women savers are aggressive or dynamic investors, versus 19% of men.
One-third (31%) of the women who invest in an RRSP were reluctant to take any risks with their money. In spite of this, women hope for average yields of up to 8.1%, while Quebec’s professional financial planning body—the Institut québécois de planification financière—projects conservative or moderate portfolio returns at 4.89%.
The survey also indicates that 69% of female respondents know very little or nothing about investing.
“Even though women generally have great personal finance habits and take time to plan for the future, they reap only a fraction of the benefits they could from their investments,” says Angela Iermieri, a financial planner with Desjardins Group. “Being cautious causes them to miss some great opportunities to get the most out of their assets.”
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