Our Success Story

We’ll admit that we had something to prove when we first opened the doors to Woman with Portfolio and invited other women to join us in our investing quest. We launched this site around Thanksgiving, 2007. It was like setting out in a new sailboat, knowing that storm clouds were on the horizon, and that we would be testing our sailing skills during a hurricane. The market was plummeting, and we had to adjust our strategy and make some key decisions to stay out of trouble and keep moving ahead.

We’re happy to say that we have not only outperformed the market; we’ve been gaining steadily, even at times when nearly everyone else was losing. During the darkest days of winter, when the bears left their dens to roam around, scaring lots of investors, our Fairest Shares portfolio stayed in the black and actually gained. Our percentage of gain never dipped below a positive 10%, when many stocks, mutual funds and fund managers, including some of the best in the business, were racking up losses of up to 25% and 30%. By the middle of May, our average percentage of gain for our Fairest Shares portfolio had climbed to nearly 25%.

*Our Brazilian superstar oil company up over 50%!

*Our green recycling company up over 52%!

*Our green diesel engine company up more than 50%!

*Our fertilizer company up over 42%!

*Our green hybrid parts maker up more than 40%!

Our Method

We regard the key to our success as finding safe harbor in the strongest sectors and strongest stocks, using our trend-spotting abilities to get in early, before the rest of the crowd arrives. We use our Women’s Early Warning System to alert us to danger and possibilities as well as our VALUES method of shopping for stocks. Yes, we do crunch numbers, but that’s only one part of the strategy that we talk about on this site. (For math fans, we toss in a little chaos theory in addition to the usual ways of evaluating stocks.) We look at the whole picture, including global trends, so that we can find stocks to capture the benefits of those trends. We do our research, using some unusual sources. We happen to be enthusiastic data miners, and we’ve discovered some obscure stocks that have brought us great returns long before other analysts catch on. 

Our Outstanding Stocks

When the bottom dropped out of financial stocks, we were buying agriculture stocks and ETFs, including a fertilizer company and two agriculture-related ETFs, which kept going up like corn in Kansas. We even made a quick 25% gain in regional banks, when we saw an opportunity, and we found a safe real estate ETF that kept gaining when bricks-and-mortar real estate was tanking. We also foresaw that Brazilian stocks were going to start doing the samba, and we started the samba parade with our Brazilian energy superstar, already up more than 50% for us. And who says that girls and trucks don’t go together? We made a gain of more than 55% in a month on a diesel engine maker going green.

By the way, several men have joined the site, and they’re welcome. Our purpose is to create a community of investors who can help each other on our investing journeys. We think we’re on the verge of one of the best times in years to invest in the market. We can look all around the world for emerging opportunities, and the prices of some great stocks are really cheap, as we saw with our quick 50% gain in Equinix, which we featured in our Bargain Stock section. Join us as we take advantage of a rare opportunity!!

May 21, 2008 • 7:38 AM

A little trend-watching by the pool

We were watching the Olympic trials for the U.S. swimming team, and we noticed that nearly all the competitors, male and female alike, were wearing a new kind of Speedo suit called a LZR Racer that makes them look like dolphins, very sleek and streamlined. Always looking for trends, we went to the Speedo Web site to check out the suits, which are super high-tech. We were looking for a little gold ourselves for our portfolios.

A call to Speedo revealed that you can’t actually buy them yet (unless you’re an Olympic contender!), but they can be pre-ordered for delivery in October. They’re quite expensive, $475 for the women’s full-body suit and $550 for the men’s. On the Web site, you can watch a video of international journalists trying out the suits and ooh-ing and ah-ing over them. One of them says the suit makes him feel like a torpedo!

Speedo, as it happens, is part of a company called Warnaco Group (stock ticker WRC), which also makes and/or distributes “intimate” apparel and sportswear, including the labels of Calvin Klein, Chaps, Warner’s and Olga. Several analysts like the stock, and it has a target price (the price it’s expected to reach) of between $55 and $65. Its sales dipped in the last quarter, but they are expected to pick up later in the year. What we needed to know is whether the Speedo suits will give the stock an extra boost, even though they are such a small part of this company’s large holdings. The suits apparently give the swimmers an edge, so maybe the stock?

Even though few of us who just do some laps in our backyard or local pool will spend so much on a bodysuit, Speedo has already gotten a boost in their sales in the U.S. that their executives attribute to the “halo” created by the LZR. Speedo’s market share in performance swimwear this year through June 14th was up seven percent, at 61%, while Nike fell nine points to 11 percent, according to SportsOneSource, a market research firm.

We were wondering if Warnaco would get a further boost. We could wait until the Olympics are over and ask the question then, after the whole world has had a chance to see the suits. But then the stock might already have gotten the boost we think it might if the trend catches on. But that boost also depends on whether the swimmers wearing the suits actually win and set some records. So we’ll leave this up to you market-swimmers out there, whether or not you think Warnaco will start taking off when the starter guns go off.

Update: On August 7th, the day before the Olympics, the makers of the LZR have already gone gold. Warnaco Group had a boffo earnings report, and the stock climbed 8%. And still another company involved with the LZR also got a boost with their report. We found that there was in fact another company that was the secret behind the LZR. Actually, it’s a maker of software rather than swimwear: Ansys (stock ticker ANSS). Ansys makes 3-D simulation software, and their software played a critical role in the development of the LZR. The technology was used to predict fluid flows around the body of an elite swimmer in the outstretched glide position (assumed immediately after the initial dive and following each lap’s turn off the pool wall) to identify areas where drag, and its slowing effect, is likely to occur. In addition, the simulation analysis guided placement of specially designed drag-reducing panels to minimize this negative effect.

Ansys software is not ordinarily used to design sportwear: It’s used to design such things as aircraft wings that reduce turbulence, drug-coated artery stents that disperse drubs more evenly in the bloodstream, trucks that travel faster and with less vibration.

We looked into the fundamentals of the stock to see whether it merited more attention, and found that it has shown rather startling growth over the past years. It has met or beaten forecasts by Wall Street analysts for ten years, and its sales last year were up over 100%. Sales so far in 2008 are up 150%, on an annualized basis. The stock was up as much as 10% on their earnings report. So a little trend-watching by the pool can pay off, as we suspected.

So what do analysts think of the stock? You can look for yourself on the Yahoo Finance site, using the stock ticker ANSS and scrolling down the left side of the screen until you find the button for Analysts Coverage. You can get their average opinion as well as price targets for the stock, as well as lots of other information.

August 7, 2008 • 12:19 PM

RISKY BUSINESS: Learning your risk tolerance

Do you like roller coasters, or do you prefer the merry-go-round? If you won a junket to Las Vegas, would you prefer watching a show to rolling the dice? Do you like rock climbing? Or would you rather just bask on a rock while everyone else is sweating it out on the side of the cliff? With investing, as with sports and entertainment, it’s important to know how much risk you can tolerate. Particularly when the market is making just about everyone queasy these days.

First of all, you should know that with investing, as with sports, the same old saying holds true: no pain, no gain. No risk, no reward. The market is always going to have its ups and downs, so if you have zero risk tolerance, you should rethink your plans to get into the market. (As long as you realize the biggest risk of all is outliving your savings and not keeping up with inflation.) You should also know, however, that the market has always recovered from what seemed at the time the worst of blows. Folks who got out of the market after the terrible tragedy of September 11th, 2001, locked in losses and failed to benefit from one of the best buying opportunities of the recent past.

The science of neuronomics has been giving us some interesting insights into the way our brains and emotions work when it comes to investing. We hate losing, for example, even more than we like winning! So if you take on more risk than you can deal with, you won’t sleep well at night, and you might do the kind of things people do when they panic. You might bail out of the market when it’s at a low, when your portfolio is down. And that means you’ll lock in your losses in stocks, bonds or mutual funds that probably would have recovered if you’d just had the patience (and fortitude) to give them time. If you have index funds, which follow various segments of the market, they would definitely recover, as the market comes back up. But not if you panicked and sold at the bottom.

Here’s a little quiz to test your risk tolerance:

1. If the market dropped fifteen percent tomorrow, you would:

a. Sell everything and put your money in cash.
b. Wait and see what happens before taking action.
c. Put more money in, taking advantage of the bargain prices.

2. If you were an animal, you would be:

a. Turtle, slow and steady.
b. Coyote, watching for opportunities.
c. Cheetah, letting it rip.

3. What do you think the future holds?

a. The outlook is scary, and I’m hunkering down for the worst.
b. I’m not sure, but I can cope.
c. I’m a cock-eyed optimist.

4. What is your primary goal in investing?

a. Protecting what I have.
b. Trying to beat inflation.
c. Trying to maximize my gains.

5. If you had to choose between investing in Microsoft, Apple and a CD with a three percent return, you’d choose:

a. the safe CD
b. Microsoft, the steady blue chip
c. Apple, the upstart with the cool stuff

Okay, for each a., give yourself one point. For each b., give yourself two points. For each c., give yourself three points.

If your score is between 5 and 6, your risk tolerance is low to nonexistent, and you should probably stick with Treasury bonds and CDs. If it’s between 7 and 11, you’re ready to take some moderate risks, and you’re ready for index funds. If it’s between 12 and 15, you’re considered an aggressive investor, and you’ll probably want to be investing in individual stocks.

June 29, 2008 • 8:11 AM

Tricks of the Trade, Part II: All About Selling Stocks

We know that parting is such sweet sorrow, as Shakespeare said. But when it comes to stocks, it’s better to remove the rose-colored glasses and forget the romanticism. DON’T fall in love with your stocks.  Most savvy investors will tell you that knowing when to sell a stock is just as important as knowing when to buy it. Investing, like dating, can be emotionally charged, and you might be inclined to hang on too long. Or you might dump a good prospect too quickly.

If you’re working with a broker, financial advisor or money manager, you should be clear about what their guidelines or policies are with regard to selling. And if you’re managing your own investments, you should ask yourself that question as well. Because you might not actually have a clear policy, and that’s a liability.

Here at Woman with Portfolio, we try to minimize our trades in order to cut costs, taxes – and mistakes. One of the fastest ways to cut into your profits is to run up trading costs and capital gains taxes. But on the other hand, we sometimes need to sell. Obviously, in the best of all worlds, you buy low and sell high. The rule of thumb is “let your winners run and cut your losers.” But sometimes that’s not so simple. You also need to decide if the stock is a long-term buy-and-hold, which will let dividends accumulate and build your position in the stock, or whether it’s a short-term stock, which you’re buying, you hope, at the sweet spot, at a price that will increase to a trigger point where you’re ready to sell and take your profits.

So what are the tell-tale signs when it’s time to say good-by to a stock? For a boyfriend, there may be a strange shade of lipstick on the collar. For a girlfriend, an unusual spending spree on new lingerie. For a company, there are several warning signs that can tip you off to changes that may mean the price is headed south.

Be Aware of the Balance Sheet

If the company’s fundamentals (sales, debt, cash flow, etc.) begin to show signs of stress, it may mean something has changed that will negatively affect the stock’s price. In this case, don’t wait for the market to panic over a decline in revenue or another key fundamental. Be prepared to unload the stock while you still have a healthy profit.

Don’t forget the FUD Factor

Sometimes fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) affect the market, and your stocks along with it. If your stock is falling along with the market, that’s not enough reason to sell. If its performance is worse than that of the market, that’s a reason to consider selling.

Beware of Bad News or Hype

Bad news can send a stock price plummeting, sometimes permanently, but sometimes just temporarily. Try to decide if the bad news affecting your company is something that will pass, or whether it will have a lasting effect on a company ‘s bottom line. On the other hand, too much good news can sometimes be as bad as bad news. Watch out for hype. If a stock you own becomes a media darling and gets a lot of buzz, it may be time to look at taking a profit. These kinds of stock feeding frenzies attract herd-following investors who bid up prices only to have the market collapse when the hype dies. If you’re not careful, you can watch the price fall right past your profit line.

Selling the “Nut”

Some investors have a rule of taking partial profits when a stock reaches a certain price – say, doubling in price. You can sell a third of your holdings or at least enough to cover your initial investment, so that anything else the stock gains will be pure gravy. It’s also a way to make sure you have some profits locked in.

Using Stop Losses

Many investors set a floor on the stock’s price so that if it falls below a certain level, they sell. Some investors even have a set rule that if a stock falls a certain number of percentage points, that will trigger a sale. The limit can range from 5 to as much as 20%. You can keep adjusting that limit upward as the price of the stock goes up – that’s called a trailing stop. Be aware, however, that there are vulture traders out there who do nothing but try to scoop up stocks that have been set with automatic stop losses that fall within the stock’s trading range. The price may dip down to the limit for just an instant, but that’s enough for the vulture to swoop in and grab it. You can lose a good stock that way.

In order to set up your automatic sale at a certain limit, you fill out a sell order, filling in the “stop” price, meaning that when the stock falls to that price, it will trigger a sale. You then set a “limit” price, meaning the lowest price at which you are willing to sell. We have to warn you that the stop limit strategy can fail when a stock is falling so fast there is no one to buy the stock at your price limit. You can set a time limit for your sale as well, either daily, monthly or “unlimited,” which usually means three months.

You can also set an upper limit that triggers your sale. Let’s say that you’ve set a target price, following the target price set by a trusted analyst, or your own assessment of what the stock should be worth, and you’ve decided that you are willing to sell when the stock reaches that level. The rationale here is that you may be afraid that the stock will have a difficult time supporting a market price above a certain level and any hint of bad news will send the price into a nosedive. However, it’s important to “let your winners run,” so you should keep resetting your upper limit if it looks as though there is further room for growth.

June 23, 2008 • 10:13 AM

WWP Rule #3: Greed Is Contagious

Why is it that big-money people who’ve managed to lose money big-time for their clients head for Monaco, one of the most expensive places on earth, to commiserate and lick their wounds? Shouldn’t they perhaps go to a more modest destination, like Las Vegas, and pledge not to get carried away by greed and hubris? At least they could get by with cheaper lunches. Or how about Fatima, where they could humble themselves and ask for a miracle?

Hedge fund managers and mutual fund managers who met in Monaco this past week are predicting yet more ugly secrets to come creeping out of bank vaults, with a prediction of additional “write-downs” to exceed the ones we’ve already seen. How many bad mortgages can there still be out there, waiting to bite banks in the butt? You have to start asking yourself if there were mortgage hawkers were out there on every freeway in the U.S., flagging down broken-down cars on the highway to see if the owners wanted to buy a million-dollar house.

It’s gotten absurd, really. This has far surpassed the dotcom bust in stupidity born of greed. And from what we can see, the investment banks have not been alone in their greed. These things are contagious. Many fund managers who managed to escape the excesses of the dotcom absurdity appear to have remained blind to the equally visible excesses of the subprime era. Some of the most venerated mutual funds, like the Sequoia Fund (SEQUX), have been losing money just as handily as the dotcom idiots of yesteryear.

Which brings us back to the wisdom of index funds, which can’t be influenced by the “strategies” that have misguided so many hedge fund and mutual fund managers. The market will eventually right itself and recover, just as it did after the dotcom excesses, and the indexes that track the market will also recover. Those who made big bets in the wrong sectors, however, or on the wrong strategists, will not recover for a very long while. 

June 22, 2008 • 8:13 PM

The Downdraft Effect: When Good Companies Go Bad

The market can sometimes behave like a barrel of apples, so that when one or two go bad, the rotten spots tend to spread. What we’ve seen over the past few months is a few bad apples, in the form of investment banks, going bad. Bearn Stearns, widely considered the most ruthless of the investment banking firms, has already gone with the wind. And we’re witnessing yet another firm in the process of toppling. Or at least tipping precariously, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Bad news has begun leaking out of venerable Lehman Brothers, a firm we once admired and whose advice on stocks we valued. Lehman Brothers (LEH: NYSE), whose business model resembles that of Bear Stearns, appears to be among the most vulnerable of all the investment banks. The severity of its problems had not come to light earlier because of the rescue policy of the Fed, which instituted a lending facility allowing the investment banks to temporarily swap their “alphabet soup” assets for Treasuries. These so-called alphabet soup assets — mortgage-backed securities (MBS), asset-backed securities (ABS), collateralized loan obligations (CLO), and others — had been sinking the investment banks.

The Fed’s actions may have forestalled a modern-day “bank run” on Wall Street. But the Fed has not solved the bigger, longer-term crisis. And it doesn’t protect the vulnerable shareholders of Lehman Brothers, who will have to absorb the losses on the securities Lehman swapped temporarily for treasuries. The more leverage — or debt — a company employs, the quicker shareholders get wiped out when assets go bad. And unfortunately, Lehman has huge liabilities in comparison to its actual equity. This is called being leveraged to the hilt. Lehman is scrambling to reduce leverage and raise capital by selling illiquid assets into a weak secondary market. Unfortunately, illiquid mortgage-backed securities aren’t a particularly hot item these days. There are few buyers for such assets — even at steep discounts.

Lehman management has not been terribly forthcoming about reporting quarterly losses and write-downs, and some observers are saying that “fuzzy math” produced Lehman’s “strong” March earnings report that kept the stock from falling. Until now. Lehman is still facing the likelihood of losing tens of billions of dollars over the course of the next few years. As losses pile up, Lehman will have to raise capital. That means flooding the market with LEH shares. Lehman may have to issue hundreds of millions of new shares at a discount to rebuild its capital shortfall, severely diluting the existing shareholders.

We were expecting Lehman’s troubles to hit the market around mid-June, when the company issues its next earnings report, but it looks as though the bad news has gotten out sooner. So the substantial market dip we were anticipating appears to be happening already, in dribs and drabs. Better to let the air out of the balloon a bit at a time, perhaps.

June 3, 2008 • 12:17 PM

Simple Solutions for Cash-Strapped Investors: What You Can Do with $100

One of the biggest barriers to investing is, well, money. Lots of women (and men, too) assume that you need a big pile of cash in order to start investing. The notion is that the stock market is a private club for rich people and pinstriped traders. But we’re out to show that the market can also be a way for the rest of us to get a goodly share of the wealth our system generates. And you can get started with just $100.

Okay, so you have a spare $100. And you’ll need to be able to put aside another $50 a month. If you can do that, you can start building a portfolio that will amaze you in a few years. It won’t happen overnight. The secret to successful investing is time.

You’re not going to be ready to buy individual stocks if you’re just getting started with a small stash of cash. But you can put yourself into some of the best mutual funds available.

So here’s what you can do. Check out a mutual fund family like T. Rowe Price (http://www.troweprice.com), which allows you get started in a fund with just $100, as long as you agree to an automatic investment plan in which you’ll continue to invest a minimum of $50 a month in the fund. The monthly amount is drawn from your bank account or an account you set up with T. Rowe Price. The company refers to these as “automatic asset builder” accounts. (You’ll need a minimum of $2,500 for a regular account, $1,000 for an IRA.)

There are some 90 funds to choose from, so you might want to look at a fund like their Capital Appreciation Fund (PRWCX), which is regularly ranked among the top funds. If this a retirement account, you can choose a targeted retirement fund, geared to the approximate year you expect to retire. If you set up an automatic investment plan, you’ll also be taking advantage of one of the best tricks of the trade in investing: it’s called dollar-cost average. By spreading your investments over a period of time, you take advantage of any dips, and you’re not investing a big chunk of funds when the price is high.

So why not shake out your piggy bank and see if you have $100? Or look under your mattress. Better sow some seeds for the future and let your financial garden start growing, the sooner the better. Check out our other Investment Gym workouts to see how you can keep developing your skills and building your portfolio.

May 19, 2008 • 10:01 AM

Start today! You can do it!

We’ve heard it all before, those clever little excuses. So you’ll EXCUSE us if we can’t help but discreetly roll our eyes. We keep hearing from some of our dear friends and from some very interesting, successful women we’ve met why they haven’t gotten around to investing. Or even learning the first thing about it.

These stockophobes are smart, capable women, some of whom are actually running their own companies and making lots of money. These are women who make Martha Stewart look disorganized. They run marathons. They kick butt in business. And they do get around to those regular manicures, somehow. But when it comes to managing their own money, they seem to turn back the clock. They keep their savings under their Tempur-Pedic mattresses or “outsource,” which means handing it over, like their laundry, to someone who can “deal” with it. Hmmm. This sounds to us a little like those rather feeble excuses for not going to the dentist, not going on a diet, not getting rid of the jerk in your life. (And to be honest, it sounds like us, too, before we saw the light.)

Well, we think it’s high time you took charge of your financial future, and we’re going to help you get off your butt, out of your leopardskin Barc-o-lounger or your ergonomic Herman Miller chair – and get started. If you really want to make your dreams of financial security come true, stop waiting for Prince Charming, the ship that isn’t coming in (sorry, but it’s just not that into you), and join us! And believe us, it’s way more fun than going to the dentist.

So here are those those excuses we keep hearing and why they just don’t hold water:

#1. “I just don’t have enough time.”

This is the one we hear most frequently. And we do understand how busy everyone is, balancing work, home, and family. But we also know that women always seem to find time for the things they think are most important. And one’s financial future is surely as important as making the kids’ soccer game. That’s why we’ve included our quick-and-easy lazy woman’s portfolios in our Investment Gym. These portfolios, composed of a handful of index funds, are actually for very busy women, and they are based on portfolios set up by institutional investors as well as some of the country’s wealthiest families. You can set up a lazy woman’s portfolio, with monthly dollar-cost-averaging contributions, in little more than the time it takes to set up a bank account. And you’ll only need to rebalance your portfolio once a year. 

#2. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

We hear this a lot, too, from women who’ve aced their bar exams or otherwise proved their competence. That’s why we have workouts on the Investment Gym, guaranteed to build your skills and confidence in investing. And use our Woman with Portfolio Guide to Stock Shopping, which you receive when you join the club. We’ll also be going over our buying strategies in future installments in the Investment Gym. If you join us, we’ll keep you up to date with the latest in what’s happening in the market. What’s more, you can ask questions or share ideas in the Idea Spa, and you can watch the progress of the stocks we’re watching in our Fair Shares Portfolio. We’ve been kicking butt with our stocks, by the way! 

#3. “My money is safer under my mattress. Or maybe in a savings account.”

We agree that saving money in a bank account or money market account (though not in a piggy bank or under your mattress) is a must. You need some available cash for emergencies and for short-term financial needs – those coming up in a year or two. However, if you park your money in an account with modest returns, such as those of a savings account, which have averaged some 3% a year over the past 50 years, you’re actually taking a very big risk with your future. And that’s because your money will probably not grow fast enough to keep up with inflation.

Here’s a chart that shows how your money will fare over a 50-year-period when placed in a savings account, in bonds, or in stocks. You can clearly see that stocks far outpace bonds or savings accounts over the long run, despite greater volatility. It’s clear that for many of us, we can’t afford NOT to invest.

#4. “The market is a big casino. I’d rather go to Vegas.”

Mr. Market is indeed volatile. And the way some folks invest is like rolling the dice rather than investing. But we like to minimize risk. That means diversifying, as well as buying stocks for the long term rather than churning our portfolio into buttermilk.  We agree with investment gurus like Warren Buffett that you should never pay too much for a stock, and you should always know why you’re investing in a company.

#5. “I don’t have enough money to invest.”

If you have $100, you can start building your portfolio. For example, you can choose a retirement-year-targeted mutual fund with a top company like T. Rowe Price and start with a $50 investment, as long as you set up an automatic monthly investment (minimum investment $50), which also gives you the advantage of dollar-cost averaging. And if you decide to use our lazy woman’s portfolio as a guide, you can choose our low-budget version, which uses ETFs that have no minimum investment. We’ll be adding lots of advice in the Investment Gym on how to minimize your investment expenses.

May 17, 2008 • 2:05 PM

Haunted by the Inner Bag Lady

Are you haunted by an inner bag lady, by a fear that you’ll be waiting tables and soaking your aching feet at 65 instead of heading for the vacation of your dreams? Then you’re not alone. A new survey on women’s issues shows us why we need to invest. But it also shows that there is a huge gap between what we need to do and what we’re actually doing.

In a unique collaboration between two of the nation’s leading media companies, Meredith Corporation (MDP) and NBC Universal (GE) announced key findings of a nationwide survey conducted among more than 3,000 women that covered a wide range of important topics to women, including marriage and family, health and fitness, safety, and financial matters.

The study, titled “What do Women Want?,” brought together the resources of Meredith, recognized for its well-known media brands such as Ladies’ Home Journal, More, Family Circle, Better Homes and Gardens, Fitness, Siempre Mujer and BHG.com, and NBC Universal whose brands include The Today Show, MSNBC, Bravo, Oxygen, Access Hollywood, Telemundo, and iVillage.

The findings from the “What do Women Want?” study reveal that women and their families are experiencing tremendous financial woes and are very concerned about their long term financial security. For example, two-thirds (68%) of women in the study cited “financial strain” as a major threat to the American Family – and a much bigger threat than “divorce” (48%), “loss of faith/spirituality” (47%), “liberal views on sex and sexuality” (32%), “both parents working” (28%), “unwed mothers” (21%) and “couples living together instead of getting married” (19%).

Three quarters of women are concerned about the future of social security (77%) and saving enough for retirement (75%). Baby Boomer women are especially concerned about the future of social security (84%), while Gen X women are particularly concerned about saving enough for retirement (84%). Two-thirds (67%) of women and/or their partners are counting on social security for retirement – this is especially high for Baby Boomer women (79%). Two-thirds of Gen X women and/or their partners are counting on social security (65%) and their 401(k)/Roth/IRAs for retirement (64%).

Despite these concerns, however, the reality of what women are actually doing to secure their financial futures is worrisome. Only half (54%) of women put money in savings on a regular basis – somewhat higher for Gen Y (60%). And here’s the kicker. Only 13% of women say they regularly make investments in stocks, bonds or mutual funds. More than a third of women (38%) say they feel overwhelmed by the complexities of investing.

And that’s why we sometimes feel like evangelists when it comes to the subject of women and investing. Women need to make that leap of faith and start investing, however small an amount they’re able to put aside on a regular basis. Just think of it as a magic tip jar that will grow and grow. Don’t you deserve a secure future, as hard as you work?

May 2, 2008 • 3:09 PM

Sex, Risk and Stocks

Do you ever think about your Apple stock the way you think about, say, Brad Pitt? Do you daydream about owning shares of Dreamworks the way you do about dating a dreamboat? Then you’re an exception. It’s actually men who seem to confuse sexual attraction with stock attraction.

Remember the big investing bubble of the ‘80s when strutting Wall Street types called themselves Masters of the Universe? Well, it turns out these testosterone-driven traders might be masters of Mars, but we women still have control of Venus when it comes to investing. Thank goodness.

More and more study results keep pouring in that reveal the astonishing, amazing, bewildering fact that men think differently about investing than women. And that, in fact, sex and testosterone have something to do with the way they invest. Duh!!! Actually, we women shouldn’t be surprised. Not being burdened with an excess of testosterone, we’re already free of a biological compulsion for risk that drives many male investors.

A study by Cambridge University, which measured the hormone levels of young male stock traders as they made high-stake deals, showed a direct correlation between trades and testosterone levels. The researchers found that the traders tended to make more money on days when their testosterone levels were high. That is, they took bigger risks when they were getting a high from their huevos, as our Latina friends might express it.

A Wall Street Journal writer conjectured that this could mean that testosterone could also play a role in inflating stock prices and creating economic bubbles.

In another study, which took place at Stanford University, researchers used brain scans to find out what was going on inside of the minds of Masters-of-the-Universe-to-be when they took financial risks. And guess what was on their minds? It was sex. When young men were shown erotic pictures, they were more likely to make a bigger financial gamble than if they were shown a picture of something scary, such as a snake, or of something harmless, like a stapler.

The researchers found that the erotic pictures lit up the same part of the brain that lights when financial risks are taken. So for young male investors, women and money light up the same place in their brains.

It’s a little sobering to think that Angelina Jolie and a big chunk of Google stock would turn on a young man in the same way!

As for women, perhaps we’d better stay away pictures of Brad Pitt before we put in our buy orders in the morning. (Just joking!) But the real lesson, I think, is that we need more women investors in the stock market to keep those bubbles from forming in the first place, and to keep our household finances from being beholden to testosterone.

So if women are labeled as “slaves to fashion,” sometimes spending too exuberantly, then men are just as much slaves to their stock trades.

Here’s another thing. If women can be labeled, however unfairly, as “slaves to fashion,” sometimes spending too exuberantly on shoes, then men are just as much slaves to their stock fetishes – spending way too much on bubble-building pie in the sky.

April 21, 2008 • 1:41 PM