FTA: Why is it important to encourage more women into managing their wealth and investing?
MRM: Most of all its because being able to manage your own wealth and becoming a successful investor is empowering.
Making money is a great outcome of course, but actively managing your wealth and investing teaches you how to analyse, manage risk and learn about new industries and economies.
It also takes you into new communities; other investors, entrepreneurship and the advisory market. Whatever your gender, if you have children you set an example for them too.
One of the greatest joys of angel investing is that you back the future. Angels have backed most of the world’s greatest companies when they were rookie start-ups.
Who would not like to say they were partly responsible for the emergence of new technologies (and the rest) that have gone on to change the world for the better?
FTA: How can financial services professionals help to break down barriers to help more women become confident investors?
MRM: I think it starts in school. We need to include business, investment and wealth management into the school curriculum from reception onwards.
Twenty minutes a week every week for 13 years playing shop, running a cake stall or even selling a school newsletter for 10p would not just teach children how to count but also teach children about risk management, team work, innovation, marketing, selling, investment, finance, business models, economics and tax in an organic way.
Not only would this create more business leaders of the future, but it would also train those who do not want to be leaders but who do need or want to work in a business about how it all works.
A useful aside would be that more people would enter the workforce at least part trained, which would help the economy more generally and start to improve the UK’s poor productivity rates.
Meanwhile, those responsible for secondary and tertiary education could start today by setting up clubs for students to learn about all the different types of investment and practice doing it.
For adults, the tools are out there that are easy to access. There are many amazing business books, websites and informal clubs of investors. For example, The Pluralists Club has a stock market club and an angel club within it where we discuss aspects of investing.
I would encourage people to just dive in and be prepared to take their time to understand the risks before actually spending any money on investments.
To those who care about helping others to become 'millionaire makers', I would say stop for a minute and think about what you can do to help.
