By Barbara Walshe

Ylva Baeckstrom, Coutts' head of investment client management, likens how some women approach investments to how they might fall in love.  "Research says that men fall in love quicker than women.  Women take a bit longer.  They test the situation and do some proper research first and tend to be more committed.  This is how I've found women tend to approach investments," she said.

"They might come to a presentation such as this, listen and understand more about investments and then go back and do some further research before making decisions on whether they want to go there or not."

"If you take the view that women take a longer time to make investment decisions, it goes with it that they are more prepared to look at them longer term."

With that philosophy in mind, Ylva focused on the type of investment information women are interested in hearing during the seminar she gave to delegates recently, explaining Coutts & Co's investment approach. 

Starting with the Coutts Wealth Advice Model, which pinpoints where you are in your wealth lifecycle, she said: "There are four main approaches to investment. You're either looking to preserve your capital, enhance it or grow it significantly. Equally you may have a portion of cash that is simply for spending on whatever you want - from fast cars to charitable donations. Or, you may divide between all four.

"With some of your cash you may pay your mortgage and your school fees, and so you need to preserve that because you cannot lose that money," explained Ylva.  "There may also be a pot that you want to secure your financial future, that you want to enhance without a great risk to the capital. Then on the other hand you may have some 'fun' money, where you are prepared to take a greater risk for the potential of greater returns. We try to understand where clients are in that wealth lifecycle to establish their financial priorities first, so that we offer what's right for them as individuals, regardless whether they are men or women."

"Then on the other hand you may have some 'fun' money, where you are prepared to take a greater risk for the potential of greater returns."

According to Ylva, the most important thing for the success of a portfolio at Coutts, is strategic asset allocation - bonds, equities, property, hedge funds and commodities. "It's about getting the mix right between all of them because they will be successful at different times, so balancing them out ensures overall portfolio success," she insisted.

"If you take the view that women take longer to make an investment decision, it goes with it that they are more prepared to look long term at them once they do invest.  Once committed, women tend to be prepared to take a bit of trouble and a rocky ride to see things through to the end. I find this is mainly because they tend to have had a better idea of what they were getting into in the first place. This doesn't necessarily make them in general more high or low risk investors than men, I just find that women are better prepared to ride any storms," Ylva commented.

Coutts & Co's discretionary portfolio proposition has proven popular in this case, where money is invested on behalf of clients for a term that's anything between three and eight or more years.  "The length of time goes back to what you want to achieve with your investment - whether you are at a stage where you want to preserve wealth or significantly generate more," she said.

If clients are looking to generate wealth, Ylva and her team recommend the eight-year-plus timeline.  "You have to be prepared to take the pain and the more testing times because this is what comes with higher risk attached. But there is the potential for much higher returns."  Preserving wealth tends to be a less risky business with a three-year timeline as this money is invested for a very different purpose.

Summing up, Ylva insisted: "Women are becoming increasingly wealthy and evidence suggests they will be even more so by 2020.  These seminars are about educating women and preparing them for that time, and creating a wealth vehicle that provides the best investment proposition around."

Sound interesting? To find out more about investments and investing with Coutts & Co, or to attend a Coutts Investment Seminar why not contact Ylva direct on 020 7957 2240. Or to visit Coutts Investment Services online, please click here.