How Women Can Build Wealth Together March 5, 2025
Investing is one of the most powerful tools for building wealth, achieving financial independence and securing one’s stable future. However, studies show that many women hesitate to invest due to a lack of confidence, fear of risk, or simply because they feel intimidated by finance speak. This hesitation can result in missed opportunities for long-term financial growth.
On average, women tend to live longer than men, meaning they need more money to maintain their lifestyle in retirement. Additionally, on top of the gender pay gap, women often reach their salary peaks earlier than men and may take career breaks due to parenting and caregiving responsibilities. These circumstances make it even more crucial for women to take an active role in wealth-building.
The Challenges of Solo Investing
While investing can be a pathway to financial security, navigating it alone comes with several challenges:
- Lack of Confidence – Some women feel that they lack the knowledge to make investment decisions, which lead to inertia. A recent survey1 found that women are less likely than men to invest in the stock market due to self-doubt, despite having similar financial knowledge.
- Limited Resources – Without a support system, it can be daunting figuring out where to start or how to adapt to market changes. An independent investor may struggle to analyse investment opportunities without expert insights or peer discussions, potentially missing out on key opportunities.
- Fear-based Investing – Solo investors may be more prone to making impulsive decisions driven by fear or uncertainty instead of using a more purposed approach. During market downturns, an individual investor without support may panic-sell assets, and make actual losses. In contrast, those who seek support in investment groups often encourage each other to stay the course, drawing on shared experience and evidence of long-term investing success.
Power in Community: Why Women Could and Should Invest Together
Rather than facing these challenges alone, women can empower each other by learning and investing together. Building a supportive network fosters confidence, improves decision-making, and helps create long-term financial stability. Learning and investing alongside peers can:
- Build Confidence – Discussing financial concepts in a trusted circle, normalises investing and makes it less intimidating. Women’s investment clubs provide a safe space for members to ask questions, share knowledge, and gain confidence in their financial decisions.
- Foster Accountability – A support system maintains momentum and ensures ongoing commitment. For example, a group of colleagues can form an investing challenge, set financial goals and check in each month to stay on track.
- Facilitate Knowledge Sharing – Different perspectives and experiences can lead to smarter investment choices. Women from diverse industries can offer unique insights — one may understand tech stocks while another has expertise in real estate — allowing all members to make more well-rounded investment decisions.
A Community Thriving Together: The Example of Ellevest
One shining example of women building a successful investment network is Ellevest, a financial company founded by Sallie Krawcheck and Charlie Kroll. With venture capital funding, including support from Melinda Gates’s Pivotal Ventures, Ellevest is focused on helping women get ahead financially by offering personalised investment options, educational resources, and a community-driven model.
The platform fosters a supportive environment where women can learn from one another, making investing more accessible and less daunting. Its members demonstrate that when women pool their resources and invest together, they achieve higher levels of financial success through mutual support, and gain more confidence.
A Rewarding Way to Get Started
Taking control of one’s financial wellness is empowering, and now there is even more reason to start. Starting from 10th March 2025, the POEMS’ Referral Bonus Programme allows investors to earn up to S$600 in rewards when they invite their peers to begin their investing journey, by opening and funding an account.
A 2020 stock market trading experiment showed that trading stocks with modest stakes (around $50) over four weeks increased women’s financial literacy, confidence and subsequent stock market participation.1
This referral programme encourages women to support one another in taking the first steps into investing, while also gaining financial benefits together.
Find out more about the referral programme here: https://www.poems.com.sg/referral-program/
And while waiting for investment opportunities, you can still grow your idle cash with excess funds management (SMART Park), making it win-win.
Financial Independence Starts with Action
Investing does not have to be complicated or isolating. When women come together to learn, share, and invest, they transform uncertainty into empowerment. Just as the Fearless Girl statue stands firm in the face of uncertainty, women everywhere can step forward with confidence in the world of finance.
Now is the time to build your investing circle, expand your financial knowledge, and seize opportunities that reward you for bringing others along.
May we all become fearless women in finance and investing, shaping a future where we lift each other up and thrive.
Together, we rise—financially and beyond.
Reference:
Contributor:
Sophia Tan
Wealth Manager
Phillip Securities Pte Ltd (A member of PhillipCapital)
bit.ly/TTPsophiatansh
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About the author
Sophia Tan
Wealth Manager
With over 12 years of experience in the Financial Services industry, Sophia’s mission is to empower individuals to achieve their financial aspirations through expert planning, strategic insights, and tailored advisory, ensuring that their assets are well-managed and aligned with their goals.
Sophia believes that a lifelong commitment to service is a core value every practitioner must embody. She values the journey of growing alongside those who have entrusted their finances and future to her.
Throughout her practice, Sophia has served more than 120 clients and families, integrating both personal and professional elements into her advisory approach. She has conducted seminars and webinars, written articles on financial education, and currently runs financial literacy workshops for youths.
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