The rationale for a female-focussed investment service is clear. Already 52 percent of the wealthy population in Britain are women and there are more female millionaires than male aged between 18 and 44 years.
This increasing financial independence is being achieved through business success, entrepreneurship, family bequests and, sadly, divorce – factors which have collectively put £293 billion into the hands of women.
In each of these areas, the picture is radically different from that in the 1970s when women accounted for 2 percent of managerial jobs. Today that figure stands at one-third. More women are opting to work on their own terms and now account for over one quarter of the self-employed workforce. In family businesses, it is now not unusual to find a woman at the helm, even in a firm with a historically strong male lineage.
With the UK divorce rate at a seven year high, many women are finding themselves, when they are on average aged 40 years, in the position of having to manage finances for the first time. During what is often a very traumatic experience, the added burden of assuming financial responsibility can be daunting. Bramdiva aims to help to smooth that transition.
What is interesting is that female influence is growing on many levels. This is reflected, for example, in Pinky Lilani’s Asian Women of Achievement Awards, currently in their sixth year. It is reflected in business start-up statistics which show, despite women generally securing only one-third of the capital than a man to finance a new enterprise, that women who go it alone are making a fantastic job of it.
Successful female entrepreneurs are peppering the country from Michelle Mone, creator of the Ultimo bra in Glasgow, Christian Rucker founder of The White Company and Celia Atkin founder of Cannon Avent in London, and Jo Fairley, founder of Green and Blacks, who is now on to her next venture, Judges Bakery in Hastings. Demand from women for start-up capital is propelling entrepreneurs such as Gita Patel who has set up Trapezia Capital to invest in companies where women have a major influence. More women are being encouraged to return to work after maternity breaks or career sabbaticals, a trend that has been seized upon by Kate Grussing and Shirley Soskin of Sapphire Partners and by Karen Mattison of Women Like Us.
All of these factors are fuelling some explosive figures. By 2025, women are expected to control 60 percent of the UK’s personal finances. But it’s not just the UK that is witnessing this phenomenon. The growth of female wealth is well established and addressed by the wealth management industry in the US. In Australia women are becoming wealthier at a faster rate than men. In Dubai, as reported by WealthNET at the end of October, an Edinburgh-based firm, Independent Woman, opened a presence in Dubai to respond to demand not just from British and Commonwealth expatriates, but also from locals. Despite the progress women have made in accomplishing business success and narrowing the pay gap, the fact is that they will still earn on average 18 percent less than a man during their working lives and even though two-thirds of pensioners are women, their average income is only 57 percent of the income retired men have to live off. They will also live longer than men, on average four and half years longer to 80.7 years. Having earned less and being likely to live longer means that women do have subtly different requirements of their capital and this is something we will address with Bramdiva.
The wealth management market is changing. Research conducted earlier this year by MDRC showed that a key change in the high net worth marketplace is the emergence of a more demanding client interested in private equity, absolute return portfolios and hedge funds. This evolution is forcing wealth management bankers to segment their products further in order to address this. At Bramdean, we have established links with some of the industry’s most recognised practitioners and highly talented investment specialists to ensure that Bramdiva investors have access to the range of products and services that they seek or that their specific requirements demand.
Even before we have officially launched Bramdiva, the response and interest has been extraordinary. Any market trend deserves a considered and well positioned response and this is no different. I hope that Bramdiva will serve a market that I believe is currently insufficiently provided for.
Article published in the WealthNET, November 2005, all rights reserved.