Women’s Investing Style Takes Centre stage during JMMB Goal Getter Live ‘Women’s Edition’

The JMMB Goal Getter Live series has flipped the script, and for the month of October, has turned its attention to the ‘fairer sex’, delving into a range of women’s issues, coming off a month-long “Man Talk” edition. The discussion dubbed, #empowerher, kick-started with a look at women’s investing style, with Rockann Clarke-Crawlle, manager, client partnership, JMMB Haughton Terrace and Nardia James, branch operations manager, JMMB Haughton Terrace. 

In giving context to the discussion, Kerry-Ann Stimpson, chief marketing officer at JMMB Group, outlines, “This series is an extension of our Her Wealth financial package solution campaign, that was launched in 2017, in response to the perceived gap that had been identified in the market, from research, that suggested the need for financial institutions to deepen their relationship with women and better cater to their varied needs.” The JMMB marketing exec added, “This women’s series is in keeping with the core principles of the Goal Getter series - to empower, encourage and educate individuals, so that they can be more intentional about their goal achievement and tapping into their greatness.” 

Women are known for their keen eye for all things style, and may be thought as the more the fashionable of the sexes. Similarly, investing is thought by some to be a man’s game, but financial equity is just as important to women, as it is to men. Rockann noted that your investing style is an individual approach, dependent on one’s preferences, time horizon, anticipated return and appetite for risk. Investors are categorized broadly as: conservative, moderate or aggressive. Explaining further, she said, “The conservative investor is more interested in capital preservation and tends to want to see their funds grow steadily; (while) the moderate investor is willing to take some amount of risk and is an overall mixed approach; whereby an aggressive investor tends to seek out opportunities and is willing to take on the risk, with the anticipated returns.” The quote by actor, Salman Khan, “Style is something very individual, very personal, and in their own unique way, I believe everyone is stylish”, holds true as well in investing, according to the client partnership manager. Crawlle, reiterated that investors should only invest in assets (i.e. stocks, bonds, real estate, unit trust et al) that they have personal comfort and knowledge of, and not just go with a fad or trend; no investing style is inherently better, simply different. Therefore, women should find the right solution to match their investing style. 

The experts shared these three investing pointers: diversify your portfolio; try DIY (do-it-yourself) projects as a great way to carve out funds for investing; and just do it – that is, get started. 

Diversification is a critical part of investing, shared Rockann, as it allows investors to mitigate risk. “This entails having a good mix of assets, so that when one (asset) may not be doing well, another (asset) is offering great returns, which is a function of market conditions,” she noted. Some core fundamentals you should consider, in selecting assets in your portfolio, are: choose a company in an industry that is doing well or has untapped potential; strong management team; an attractive dividend policy (in the case of stocks); solid strategic outlook and growth potential; and the company’s performance, compared to peers. Crawlle, further encouraged investors to do the necessary research in order to make more informed decisions, pointing to sites such as Investopedia, JMMB’s research articles and the Jamaica Stock Exchange website, to name a few. 

For the super busy woman caught in the ‘juggling act’, she recommends a discretionary portfolio or unit trust, which has diversification at its core and is managed by a fund manager, whose job is to seek out market opportunities and maximize the return on the portfolio. 

In recognizing that some persons may have a financial crunch, Nardia outlined do-it-yourself (DIY) projects, like doing your own mani/pedicure, or a home makeover project, as excellent ways to identify extra funds to either start investing or increase investments, without compromising your chic style. “ 

The experts encouraged ladies, now armed with information, to take action and ‘just do it’, that is, get started. Rockann outlined that as part of sound financial management, individuals should ensure they have an emergency fund, which covers 3-6 months of their expenses; create a detailed budget; and get in the habit of paying themselves first; since it is best to invest funds that you would not normally need access to before at least a year. Nardia, in sharing the final nugget, said, “Ask yourself, why do I want to invest (how will this help me to realise my dreams) because once you have discovered your ‘why’, use that to motivate you to reach your goals and dreams.” To get started with opening an investment account, investors will need: one government-issued identification (ID); taxpayer registration number (TRN); proof of income (pay slips/employment letter); references and proof of residential address. 

The #empowerher version of the JMMB Goal Getter Live series of webinars will continue with special guests each Tuesday at 8:30 p.m., on JMMB Group’s social media platforms (Facebook, YouTube and Twitter), tackling a diverse mix of pertinent issues such as: relationships, drivers of success, and health and wellness.