Good morning, Broadsheet readers! First lady Jill Biden introduced a $500 million plan for women's health research, Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman dissented on the interest rate cut decision, and more women of color are investing outside retirement. Have a wonderful Wednesday!
- Investment gains. When it comes to women and investing, there tends to be too much focus on what we're doing wrong. Women lack confidence, for example, and defer to husbands or other third parties in financial management and decision-making.
The narrative around female investors is due for a refresh, according to J.P. Morgan’s newly released 2024 Diverse Investor study, which surveyed 1,069 Americans over age 25 with at least $25,000 in investable assets.
One major glimmer of hope: More Black, Hispanic, and Latina women are investing than in prior years. In fact, 51% of Hispanic and Latina women respondents and 46% of Black women respondents started investing outside of an employer-sponsored retirement plan within the past five years, compared to 24% of all respondents.
"Improved access to investment resources is working," says Veronica Navarro, head of communications for J.P. Morgan Wealth Management. "Investing is now more approachable to these communities, and for us that’s phenomenal."
Another positive development, according to Navarro: Millennials of all genders are the first generation in which the majority of respondents have a self-directed investing account, meaning they are picking their own securities without an advisor. Navarro credits the shift to younger generations being more familiar with online tools and having increased access to platforms and information than the people before them.
It also requires much less money to start investing than ever before, which helps women get in the game earlier. All of that aids women's long-term outcomes and wealth building, she says.
"Decades ago, the whole approach to women in the financial sector was about spending, and they would make fun of women," says Navarro, noting perceptions of who an investor is have changed dramatically in recent years. "Right now, there’s a cultural shift where it’s cool to invest. Investing is seen as a positive, it’s not seen as something women don't have access to."
JPM’s report does find that women lag men in investing confidence—55% of women are confident in their investing knowledge, compared to 76% of men—and a much higher share of women say they are risk averse than do men.
But Navarro notes that confidence and being proactive don’t necessarily make men better investors; in fact, there is a large body of research that shows that women investors outperform men on average because more frequent buying and selling hurts men’s returns.
Women "understand that this is a long-term commitment, that it is looking beyond today. They are looking at the news—who can not?—but they are trying to keep their emotions in check," Navarro says.
If there’s one change Navarro would like to see, it’s women thinking of themselves as "investors" rather than simply "savers." Shifting that mentality could help build confidence—and wealth.
"The view I had was that investing is gambling, in a way. I didn't invest for so long because of those views that investing is dangerous and it is better to put money under the mattress," says Navarro. "But we need to stop talking about saving for retirement. Investing is the key to success."
Alicia Adamczyk
alicia.adamczyk@fortune.com
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