Making room for us all at the investing table

How recent conversations around the gender investment gap have got me thinking.

One of the most frequently asked questions I get from my community is: “where do I begin with investing?” It’s a topic I’ve shied away from for too long because I didn’t think I was capable of answering the question.

But recently, I’ve been involved in more and more conversations around the gender gap - be it the gender pay gap, the investment gap, or the ways women pay the price of parenthood compared to men. This week, I had the opportunity to visit the House of Lords and to learn about the gender investment gap from the team at AJ Bell Money Matters.

It got me thinking about what I can do to facilitate change, after all, 90% of my community are women. How do I pull up as many seats as I can to show you that there’s space for all of us at the table? There’s probably more than one answer to this, but for me it’s conversation.

Talking to people we know - whether that’s on the internet or in real life - about investing encourages us to think about it which in turn leads to action. It takes away the overwhelm, the lack of knowledge, and the reluctance. It gives us what we need to take the next step into investing. At least, I know that’s what helped me to take the leap.

I want to show you that investing isn’t an old boys club. Women, women of colour, children of immigrants, households with one income, and people who aren’t on a six-figure salary invest. I know because I am all of those things.

By sharing more of my investing journey and some of the numbers behind it, I’ll be showing you that we’re all worthy of having a seat at the investing table. It starts with honest, transparent conversation.

There’s room for all of us at this table.