--- title: Women Are Handling Stock Market Volatility Way Better Than Men description: Women are more likely to keep their money invested and not be concerned about stock market volatility, according to a new survey. authors: - name: Mallika Mitra role: Contributing Editor url: https://money.com/author/mallika-mitra/ bio: Mallika Mitra is a contributing editor for Money, based in Chicago. She has covered investing and retirement for seven years and her work has appeared in CNBC, Bloomberg, Kiplinger, AARP, Barron’s, Bankrate, The Daily Upside, ETF.com, The Bond Buyer, PLANADVISER, PLANSPONSOR and Investopedia. education: Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY Kalamazoo College at_money_since: 2020 articles: 395 covers: - Investing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - CNBC - Bloomberg - Kiplinger - Barron's - Bankrate - WGN-TV - CBS News Radio - This Morning With Gordon Deal - Everyone's Talkin' Money social: - https://twitter.com/mitra_mallika - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallika-mitra-4577a386/ editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Investing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2022-09-23T17:40:10.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T17:40:19.000Z' section: Investing tags: - News - stocks word_count: 674 canonical: https://money.com/stock-market-volatility-women-vs-men/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Illustration of a stock market graph attacking the symbol for woman, but all attacks bounce off.](https://img.money.com/2022/09/News-Women-Handle-Stock-market-downturn-better-than-men.jpg?crop=0px%2C101px%2C2880px%2C1620px&quality=85) Women aren't going to let a little something like stock market volatility scare them. Seventy-five percent of women who are actively [investing for retirement](https://money.com/save-for-retirement/) say they’ve continued their contributions despite market volatility, according to a [new survey](https://www.ellevest.com/magazine/news/financial-health-index-wellness-survey-annotated-press-release) from Ellevest, an [investment platform](https://money.com/best-online-stock-trading/) for women. That's compared to just two-thirds of men who've kept making steady retirement contributions during the stock market downturn. The survey, which included nearly 2,500 people age 18 and older and was conducted in August, is line with other reports that show women tend to be better at keeping their cool and maintaining a disciplined, hands-off approach to investing. For example, last year Vanguard issued [a report](https://institutional.vanguard.com/content/dam/inst/vanguard-has/insights-pdfs/21_CIR_HAS21_HAS_FSreport.pdf) on its retirement plan data showing that women traded in their accounts about 40% less frequently than men. It's a strategy that pays off: A [2021 study](https://www.fidelity.com/bin-public/060_www_fidelity_com/documents/about-fidelity/FidelityInvestmentsWomen&InvestingStudy2021.pdf?ccmedia=Facebook&ccchannel=social_organic&cccampaign=womens&ccdate=202112&cccreative=bau_womensstudy&ccformat=image&sf251615226=1) from Fidelity Investments found that over the last 10 years, women on average have outperformed their male counterparts by 40 basis points or 0.4%. That might seem small, but it can add up over time. Investors have endured a *ton* of volatility this year. After kicking off 2022 at a record high, the [S&P 500](https://money.com/how-to-invest-in-sp500/) fell into a [bear market](https://money.com/investing-moves-bear-market-stocks/) in June. While the index, which is commonly used as a benchmark to measure how stocks are doing overall, experienced a bump over the summer, it's once again plummeted and is currently down around 23% for the year. The pain may not be over. The Federal Reserve [hiked interest rates](https://money.com/fed-interest-rate-hike-september-2022/) by three-quarters of a percentage point this week for the third time in a row. Interest rate hikes are intended to get spiraling inflation under control, but they also tend to [crimp the price of financial assets](https://money.com/inflation-affecting-stock-market-2022/) like [stocks](https://money.com/how-to-buy-stocks/) and [cryptocurrency](https://money.com/what-is-cryptocurrency/). Goldman Sachs just [cut its year-end target](https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/goldman-sachs-cuts-2022-target-sp-500-by-16-2022-09-23/) for the S&P 500 by about 16%. But for the most part women are sticking to their long-term plans despite the market's ups and downs — a strategy [financial advisors](https://money.com/how-to-choose-a-financial-advisor/) say is the right way to go. ## How men and women react to stock market volatility The fact that so many women who are [investing for their retirement](https://money.com/save-for-retirement/) have continued their contributions despite the rollercoaster-like moves in the stock market is really good news. Even if financial markets look rocky now, compound interest — the money that accumulates from an initial investment over time — all but ensures that investing now will pay off in the long run. Earlier this year, Fidelity [wrote](https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/trading-investing/compound-interest) that $10,000 invested at the time that grows at 9% per year without any additional contributions would be worth around $15,000 in five years, $24,000 in 10 years, $56,000 in 20 years and $133,000 in 30 years. (Wondering where the 9% increase comes from? It's roughly the historical average return of the S&P 500.) Meanwhile, 77% of women said they haven't yanked money out of the market in the last year, according to Ellevest. That's slightly higher than the 72% of men who said the same. It's not all good news for women. They're still half as likely as men to invest, with 36% of women saying they currently are investing versus 63% of men. The new survey also shows that only 38% of women reported feeling concerned about market volatility versus 58% of men. But, of course, if fewer women are investing it makes sense that women overall are less likely to be worried about volatility. The main takeaway is that women who invest appear to be more likely to practice the strategies that have proven successful for long-term success with their portfolios. These strategies include not reacting to market news and [keeping money invested](https://money.com/keep-money-in-stock-market-why-important/) even when it's scary. The latter is especially important: The stock market's best days tend to happen right around its worst days, which means if you withdraw when you're anxious, it's possible you'll miss out on the upswings. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/stock-market-volatility-women-vs-men/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Investing", "item": "https://money.com/investing/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Investments", "item": "https://money.com/investments/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Women Are Handling Stock Market Volatility Way Better Than Men" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/stock-market-volatility-women-vs-men/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/stock-market-volatility-women-vs-men/", "name": "Women Are Handling Stock Market Volatility Way Better Than Men", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2022-09-23T17:40:10.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/stock-market-volatility-women-vs-men/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/stock-market-volatility-women-vs-men/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T17:40:19.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Women Are Handling Stock Market Volatility Way Better Than Men", "articleSection": "Investing", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2022/09/News-Women-Handle-Stock-market-downturn-better-than-men.jpg?crop=0px%2C101px%2C2880px%2C1620px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "News-Women-Handle-Stock-market-downturn-better-than-men" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mallika Mitra", "url": "https://money.com/author/mallika-mitra/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/mallika-mitra/#author", "description": "Mallika Mitra is a contributing editor for Money, based in Chicago. She has covered investing and retirement for seven years and her work has appeared in CNBC, Bloomberg, Kiplinger, AARP, Barron’s, Bankrate, The Daily Upside, ETF.com, The Bond Buyer, PLANADVISER, PLANSPONSOR and Investopedia.\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2020/05/Headshot.png?w=640&h=640&crop=1", "email": "mallikaamitra@gmail.com", "jobTitle": "Contributing Editor", "alumniOf": "Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY Kalamazoo College", "subjectOf": [ { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://cnbc.com", "name": "CNBC" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://bloomberg.com", "name": "Bloomberg" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://kiplinger.com", "name": "Kiplinger" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://barrons.com", "name": "Barron's" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://bankrate.com", "name": "Bankrate" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://wgntv.com/midday-news/your-money-matters-why-is-crypto-so-popular/", "name": "WGN-TV" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-wall-street-journal-travel-editor-scott-mccartney/id1500053390?i=1000505352440", "name": "CBS News Radio" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://thismorningwithgordondeal.com/b/Lots-of-People-Think-NFTs-Are-Cryptocurrency-and-Theyre-Wrong/306379835851553325.html", "name": "This Morning With Gordon Deal" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-invest-in-a-recession/id957163760?i=1000596422109", "name": "Everyone's Talkin' Money" } ], "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/mitra_mallika", "https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallika-mitra-4577a386/" ], "worksFor": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2022-09-23T17:40:10.000Z", "description": "Women are more likely to keep their money invested and not be concerned about stock market volatility, according to a new survey.", "abstract": "Women are more likely to keep their money invested and not be concerned about stock market volatility, according to a new survey.", "@id": "https://money.com/stock-market-volatility-women-vs-men/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-01-10T17:40:19.000Z", "editor": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brad Tuttle", "url": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/#author", "description": "Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.\r\n\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/01/Brad-Tuttle.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1", "alumniOf": "Columbia University School of Journalism, MS", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle", "https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225" ] } ], "wordCount": 674, "keywords": [ "News", "stocks" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Investment", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investment" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Stock market", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_market" ] } ] } ] } ```