#WhoFundTheWorld: where female millennials are investing their pension

Last week we examined the guys’ pensions, now it’s time for the girls – coinciding nicely with Good Money Week’s #WhoFundTheWorld campaign, which begins this Saturday.

Raising the profile of ethical finance and overall responsible investing, the theme of Good Money Week this year is to empower women to invest and find confidence with their finances. It also happens to be my favourite time of the year at work because, unsurprisingly, I invest heavily in responsible funds. But where do the rest of the female millennials in the office invest?

“When women participate in the economy, everyone benefits.” — Hillary Clinton

Staci, 26

Until recently I was investing my pension exclusively in Stewart Investors Asia Pacific Leaders. While not an out-and-out ethical fund like my ISA picks (ASI UK Ethical Equity and Rathbone Ethical Bond), sustainable investing is at the core of its investment process, which is really important to me.

However, after a recent filmed interview with Jamie Jenkins, manager of BMO Responsible Global Equity, I decided to add the fund to my pension for more diversify – and up my contributions at the same time. I really appreciated Jamie’s passion when talking about sustainability and I like that the fund invests 70% in companies actively targeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. But I also like that the fund allows some flexibly. It’s a nice reminder that no one’s perfect.

Florence, 29

Florence is a perfect example of women being more patient investors: she still holds the same three funds she started her pension with two years ago: Artemis Global Income, Fidelity Asia Pacific Opportunities and Fundsmith Equity. With a long-term view on things she admits she wants to add a fourth fund investing in global equities, but hasn’t found the right fit yet.

Artemis Global Income was one of our most viewed funds last ISA season, along with a number of other global funds that could perhaps fit the bill for Flo; for example, Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, Baillie Gifford Global Discovery or TB Evenlode Global Income.

Sarah, 30

Growth funds are key to Sarah’s pension choices and she’s prepared to take a higher degree of risk with her money. Global funds in her portfolio include both Fundsmith Equity and Rathbone Global Opportunities. Sarah choose Fundsmith Equity because her family invests in it and it’s performed well. Rathbone Global Opportunities came as a result of her work with FundCalibre and the first speed-dating event where she got to interview manager James Thomson.

In addition to global equities it was important for her to have UK holdings too, one of which is TB Evenlode Income along with a few commodities such as water and gold for diversification.

My key takeaways

1. Asia was well represented. Half of the millennial pensions I looked at featured Fidelity Asia Pacific Opportunities – it was a fund that people felt confident in their decision to invest in over the long term, believing Asia’s growth story and own growing millennial population will fuel their investment returns.
2. Ladies had a more concentrated portfolio. Us girls seemed more willing to have three or four funds that we felt strongly about, holding them for long periods of time – whereas the guys all had at least 10 holdings and seemed to ‘check in’ more and make changes more frequently.
3. UK investments were popular. 5 of 7 held UK equity funds somewhere in their portfolio – myself being a notable exception. But as I’m American that’s probably not a surprise. I decided to work for UK smaller company instead!