Women Investor Study 2026: How Women Invest and What Matters Most
Women Investor Study 2026 · 10 min read
Women are projected to control $34 trillion in U.S. financial assets by 2030.
The growing financial influence of women represents one of the most significant shifts in wealth and investing. But the opportunity extends far beyond the amount of wealth women will control.
When women build wealth, they expand what’s possible.
They support their families, invest in businesses and ideas they believe in, create opportunities for others, build legacies, and shape the communities and world around them.
How they build that wealth, how they invest it, and what helps them make informed investment decisions may differ.
That’s why Investor Collective conducted the Women Investor Study. To understand how women actually invest. To learn from their experiences, questions, wins and mistakes. And to bring new data and investor perspectives to the broader conversation about women, wealth and investing.
The findings reveal what women are working to achieve, how they’re investing, where they see opportunity and where they face challenges.
Questions this study answers
- Who’s making the investment decisions?
- How are women approaching risk and growth?
- What matters most in their investment strategy?
- How much will they need for financial security?
- Where are women investing today?
- How much are they investing outside public markets?
- Where have they seen their greatest success?
- What are they interested in exploring next?
- Why are women investing beyond public markets?
- What do investors find most complex or challenging?
- Which tax-advantaged accounts are they using?
- How confident are they that their setup is tax-efficient?
- How confident are they in their investment decisions?
- What resources do investors value most?
- What would help non-accredited investors most?
- What are non-accredited investors interested in next?
- What have women learned from their biggest mistakes?
- Key Insights: What are women investors telling us?
- Opportunities & Implications: From Insight to Action
- About the Women Investor Study
These are experienced, active investors.
The Women Investor Study was designed to hear from women across age groups and investment experience levels. Respondents ranged from age 29 through 64.
61.5%
identify as accredited investors
48.1%
have been investing for more than 10 years
57.7%
identified as self-employed or business owners
48.1%
identified as W-2 employees (respondents could select more than one employment status)
And women in the study are taking the lead on their investment decisions.
67.3%
either make investment decisions independently or primarily lead them with input from a spouse or partner.
Here's how those decisions break down:
- 36.5% Make investment decisions independently
- 30.8% Mostly lead with a spouse or partner's input
- 13.5% Primarily rely on a financial advisor or wealth manager
- 9.6% Spouse or partner mostly leads, with their input
When asked what she learned from her biggest investing mistake, one woman told us:
"Now I fully drive strategy, ensure I have the right advisors and let them drive execution."
Women Investor Study respondent
TAKEAWAY
These aren't women sitting on the sidelines. Many are experienced investors actively making decisions about where and how to put their money to work.
And what they're trying to accomplish with that money is equally important.
They are investing for growth, income and financial security.
67%
describe themselves as moderately or highly growth-oriented investors.
When asked what matters most in their investment strategy:
- 75.0% Long-term growth
- 67.3% Generating income or cash flow
- 55.8% Minimizing taxes
- 28.8% Capital preservation
- 17.3% Maintaining liquidity and flexibility
- 15.4% Reducing investment risk
- 11.5% Aligning investments with personal values
Their financial targets help put those priorities into context.
72%
estimate needing at least $2.5 million invested or saved to feel financially secure or retire. 35% estimate needing $5 million or more. Only 4% estimate needing less than $1 million, while just 6% haven't calculated the amount yet.
TAKEAWAY
Their financial goals help explain why long-term growth, income generation and tax efficiency rank so highly among their investment priorities.
So where are they putting their money today?
Their portfolios already extend well beyond public markets.
Public equities are nearly universal among respondents, but they're only part of the investment picture.
And among accredited respondents asked how much they had personally invested outside traditional publicly traded stocks and bonds:
81.6%
had already invested outside traditional public markets.
TAKEAWAY
Alternative investing isn't hypothetical for many of these women. They already have capital at work beyond public stocks and bonds.
But where they invest and where they've had their greatest success aren't necessarily the same.
Where have they seen their greatest investment success?
Among accredited respondents asked where they had experienced their greatest investment success or ROI:
55.3%
Public equities
23.7%
Direct real estate
Then the percentages drop considerably:
- 5.3% Real estate funds or syndications
- 5.3% Private equity or operating companies
- 2.6% Venture capital, startups or angel investing
- 2.6% Commodities
Women are exploring beyond public markets, but public equities and direct real estate are where accredited respondents most often report their greatest investment success to date.
Where they want to go next tells another part of the story.
TAKEAWAY
Their strongest reported historical returns remain concentrated in public equities and direct real estate, but their future interests are expanding further into private and alternative markets.
Why?
They are looking beyond public markets for returns, diversification and access.
Among respondents asked what initially motivated them to invest outside traditional public stocks and bonds, three reasons tied at the top:
53.3%
Higher potential returns or capital appreciation
53.3%
Greater portfolio diversification
53.3%
Access to unique opportunities unavailable in public markets
Many women in the study are already investing beyond public markets. They want to continue exploring. But that appetite comes with an important tension.
More opportunity also brings more complexity.
As investment choices expand, investors are navigating complexity beyond investment selection alone.
TAKEAWAY
Experience hasn't eliminated complexity. The challenges extend beyond evaluating investments to tax strategy, finding expertise investors can trust and fees.
Taxes may be the clearest example.
Women are using tax-advantaged accounts. But many still question whether their overall strategy is tax-efficient.
Women in the study reported using a range of tax-advantaged accounts:
- 71.2% Roth IRA
- 69.2% Employer retirement plan
- 57.7% Health Savings Account
- 53.8% Traditional IRA
- 34.6% Former-employer retirement account
- 13.5% Self-Directed IRA
At the same time, 75% identify tax implications and strategies as complex or challenging.
53.8%
are not confident or only slightly confident that their current investment and retirement setup is tax-efficient.
17.3%
are very or extremely confident that their setup is tax-efficient.
When asked what they wish they had done differently, one woman told us:
"Considering tax efficiencies earlier."
Women Investor Study respondent
TAKEAWAY
Using tax-advantaged accounts doesn't necessarily mean investors feel confident that their investment and retirement strategies are working together tax-efficiently.
That uncertainty extends beyond tax strategy.
Experience doesn't mean knowing everything.
Nearly half of respondents have been investing for more than a decade. Yet they describe their investment decision-making posture in different ways:
- 11.5% Confident and in control
- 30.8% Comfortable, but continuing to build their knowledge
- 25.0% Careful and measured
- 19.2% Still refining their investment strategy
- 13.5% Uncertain and concerned about making mistakes
An experienced public-market investor may be evaluating her first private company. A real-estate investor may be considering venture capital. An accredited investor may encounter a structure she's never seen before.
Experience in investing doesn't make someone an expert in every investment.
"Trusting someone I knew and trusted to do ethical things with their capital. After a group lawsuit, I received 100% of my capital back plus more. But it was a process and learning experience regarding due diligence."
Women Investor Study respondent, 10+ years of investing experience
TAKEAWAY
The opportunity isn't simply to make women more confident. It's to help investors become better equipped to make informed decisions.
So what do women say would actually help?
What would actually help?
The answer isn't simply more financial education. When asked which resources would be most valuable at this stage:
Among non-accredited respondents shown a separate question about what would help most right now:
- 85.7% Learning about tax-advantaged investing
- 57.1% Connecting with other female investors
- 42.9% Learning how to evaluate investments
- 28.6% Building confidence in investment decisions
- 21.4% Finding trusted educational resources
One distinction stands out:
Learning how to evaluate investments ranked above building confidence.
Women aren't necessarily trying to become professional investors. They want to understand their options, know which questions to ask, determine whom they can trust and make informed decisions.
Better information + better questions + shared experience = more informed investing.
That interest continues: among non-accredited respondents asked about the future, 85.7% were interested in connecting with other female investors, while 71.4% were interested in investor education and 71.4% in participating in future research.
TAKEAWAY
Women aren't simply asking for more information. They value resources that help them evaluate opportunities, navigate complexity and learn from credible expertise and one another.
And some of the clearest evidence comes from women themselves.
Sometimes the best investment lessons come from experience.
The numbers only tell part of the story. Women also told us what they wished they'd done differently.
"Not enough diligence."
"Considering tax efficiencies earlier."
"Don't liquidate emotionally."
"Having the wrong financial advisors for my needs, missed opportunities, too high of fees, wrong investment vehicles. Now I fully drive strategy, ensure I have the right advisors and let them drive execution."
"Not starting earlier, too scared. So, I started with just $5,000 back in 2009, and my confidence (and investments) grew from there."
Women Investor Study Respondents
These experiences reinforce several of the quantitative findings: diligence matters, tax strategy matters, advisor selection matters, and experience itself can be a powerful teacher.
These stories aren't investment advice. But another investor's experience can help someone recognize an issue, ask a better question or investigate something she might otherwise have missed.
We learn from our investment wins and perhaps even more from our mistakes. Why not learn from one another along the way?
What women investors are telling us
The findings reveal something more nuanced than a simple education or confidence gap.
- Experience doesn't eliminate complexity. Investors can have years of experience without being experts in every asset class, structure or opportunity.
- Access isn't the same as understanding. More opportunities create more choice, and more to evaluate.
- Growth and diligence need to coexist. These women are growth-oriented and increasingly interested in alternatives. They also want better ways to evaluate opportunities.
- Tax strategy deserves greater attention. Women are already using tax-advantaged accounts, yet taxes remain their most frequently identified area of complexity.
- Trust matters. Half identify finding trustworthy advisors as challenging.
- Shared experience has value. Community and peer learning ranked as the most valuable resource among respondents answering that question.
The opportunity isn't to tell women how to invest.
It's to give investors the information, resources and support to make informed decisions.
Opportunities & Implications
From Insight to Action
What can the financial industry learn from these findings?
The findings offer practical considerations for organizations serving investors, from financial platforms and advisors to investment firms, wealth managers and retirement companies.
The goal isn't simply to market differently to women.
The opportunity is to better understand, inform and support them as investors.
EQUIP | Help investors ask better questions
Move beyond explaining what an investment is to helping investors understand what questions to ask.
In practice: question guides, comparison frameworks and asset-specific checklists.
ENABLE | Make investment evaluation easier
Help investors understand what to examine, how to conduct diligence and where to look more closely.
In practice: diligence frameworks, document guides, evaluation tools and explanations of factors investors should consider or independently verify.
INFORM | Make important information easier to understand
Present the information investors need to evaluate decisions clearly and transparently.
In practice: explain risk, fees, economics, assumptions, compensation, incentives and potential conflicts in clear, understandable terms.
CONNECT | Improve access to credible expertise
Investors don't need to become experts in every investment category.
In practice: connect investors with relevant specialists and credible educational expertise, with transparency around roles and compensation.
SHARE | Make investor experience easier to learn from
Community and peer learning was the most frequently selected resource.
In practice: create appropriate ways for investors to exchange experiences, ask questions and learn from successful and unsuccessful investments.
LISTEN | Understand what women investors actually need
Women investors aren't a single behavioral segment.
In practice: use investor research, customer panels and ongoing listening to understand needs across experience levels, investment categories and stages of the investor journey.
COMMUNICATE | Keep investors informed after they invest
Informed investing shouldn't end once capital is committed.
In practice: establish expectations for ongoing communication and provide meaningful updates when performance, timelines, strategy or the original investment thesis materially changes.
Looking Ahead
The Women Investor Study provides new data and direct investor perspectives on how women invest, where they face challenges and what they value when making investment decisions.
For investors and the financial industry, these findings can help identify where information, resources and support can better meet investors' needs.
Partnership Opportunities
The Investor Collective Women Investor Study is one part of a broader platform bringing together investor research, community, content and meaningful conversation. Organizations can explore opportunities to gain investor insights, contribute relevant expertise and participate in conversations and experiences investors value, including supporting the expanded 2027 Women Investor Study. Partnerships span research, community, content, programming and investor engagement, with different ways to participate based on an organization's priorities and objectives.
Stay Connected
Join our list to hear about future Women Investor Study findings, investor conversations and opportunities to participate in upcoming research.
About the Women Investor Study
The Women Investor Study is a U.S. quantitative survey conducted by Investor Collective from March through May 2026.
The study was designed to hear from women across age groups and investment experience levels. Respondents were recruited primarily through women's investor groups and professional networks, with a smaller portion recruited through the Investor Collective network. No respondents were compensated for participating.
The survey used a mix of single-select, multi-select and open-ended questions. Survey logic included branching based primarily on accredited investor status; percentages reflect respondents shown each question where applicable.
61.5% of respondents identified as accredited investors, and 48.1% had been investing for more than 10 years.
* Anonymous respondent quotes have been lightly edited for spelling and punctuation where necessary without changing their meaning.
About Investor Collective
Investor Collective is a curated community built around a simple idea: investors often learn best from other investors. We bring together accredited investors to exchange ideas, share investing experience and build trusted relationships through events, research, content and ongoing conversation.
The focus is on investor perspectives: how opportunities are assessed, what risks matter, where investments fit within a portfolio, and how thoughtful investors make decisions. Investor Collective also brings in experts and organizations to share relevant expertise, perspectives and investment opportunities for members to explore and evaluate.
