Consors Study: Women invest more successfully than men

An analysis of Consorsbank customer portfolios over the period from 2021 to 2025 shows the following:

The share of female investors in securities has steadily increased over the past five years, particularly among younger investors. Women hold more broadly diversified portfolios than men. Over the five-year period, women’s portfolios have, on average, performed better than those of men.

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On International Women’s Day, March 8, which focuses on gender equality, many institutions publish observations on how women and men are treated and how they act differently. As the Fondsfrauen network, we found a study by Consorsbank particularly interesting. It examines how women invest differently from men. The findings can be summarized as follows: although women have less capital to invest, they are on average slightly more successful in investing.

Significant differences in wealth still exist

First, regarding differences in wealth: according to a study by Oxfam, the gender wealth gap in financial investments is 35%. This means that, on average, women have about one-third less wealth invested than men. When considering all types of assets, including real estate and business assets in addition to financial investments, the gap is smaller but still significant at 27%.

We now ask: how exactly do women invest in securities? Which age groups are driving this development? Which investment products do women primarily choose? And how has their wealth developed compared to that of men?

To answer these questions, Consorsbank analyzed anonymized portfolio data from around 1.86 million customers between 2021 and 2025. While the study is not representative of the entire population, the large sample size provides a reliable insight into the investment behavior of private investors.

Age structure: young female investors are catching up significantly

The proportion of female investors has steadily increased over the past five years. In 2021, women accounted for 26.4% of investors, rising to 29.6% by the end of 2025. This growth is mainly driven by younger age groups. Among investors aged 18 to 25, the share of women increased by 8.5 percentage points to 42.0%, approaching near parity.

In the 26 to 35 age group, the proportion of women rose by 7.6 percentage points to 37.1%. Despite this positive trend, men still make up the majority across all age groups.

Wealth: women still lag behind men

By the end of 2025, female customers at Consorsbank held an average securities portfolio worth approximately €69,200. This is about €39,800 less than male customers. Although women’s portfolio values increased by €25,700 (or 59.0%) from the low point in 2022 to the end of 2025, men saw a larger increase of over €41,400 (or 61.3%) during the same period. As a result, the wealth gap remains substantial despite increasing participation in capital markets.

Quelle: Consors

Diversification: women invest more broadly

Stocks represent the largest share of assets in both women’s and men’s portfolios. However, men had a higher allocation to stocks at the end of 2025 (55.5% vs. 47.3% for women). Women, on the other hand, invest more frequently in ETFs and managed funds. As a result, their portfolios are more diversified, at least in terms of investment vehicles. The study did not examine in detail how diversified these investments are geographically or thematically. However, the higher allocation to ETFs and funds suggests broader diversification. Bonds, certificates, and other securities play only a minor role in the portfolios of both genders.

A notable trend is the increasing importance of ETFs: For women, ETF allocation rose by 13.0 percentage points to 35.9% between 2021 and 2025 For men, it increased by 9.5 percentage points to 30.2% Although bonds and certificates also saw relative growth, their overall importance remains low.

Quelle: Consors

Women and men have different favorite stocks

Shares of the defense company Rheinmetall and the chip manufacturer Nvidia were recently at the top of both women’s and men’s shopping lists. While there is still some agreement in ranks three to seven, the rest of the ranking of stocks with the highest purchase volume in 2025 shows clear differences in preferences. Among women, six stocks made it into the top 20 that were not represented among men: Siemens, DroneShield, BYD, Munich Re, Apple, and Covestro. Conversely, compared to men, women showed less interest in shares of Commerzbank (men rank 10), BASF (men rank 15), Thyssenkrupp (men rank 16), Newmont (men rank 17), Strategy (men rank 18), and Alphabet (men rank 19).

Savings plans: women rely more on ETFs

Securities savings plans are more popular among women than among men. In 2025, 46.7% of women and 40.8% of men with an active portfolio invested regularly in ETFs, stocks, funds, or certificates at Consorsbank. Compared to 2021, the share of savings plan users grew more strongly among women than among men.

Savings amounts also increased. Both women and men invested noticeably more money into savings plans in 2025 compared to 2021. However, with an average of just under €3,900 per year, women invested significantly less via savings plans than men (around €5,500).

ETFs are by far the most popular savings plan product for both women and men. Among female investors, they are even more in demand: nearly three-quarters of all women’s savings plans are invested in ETFs, compared to about two-thirds for men.

A noticeable trend over the past five years is the decline in fund-based savings plans, although they remain the second most commonly used product after ETFs. Stock savings plans, like ETFs, have gained importance over time, but have not yet overtaken fund savings plans.

Quelle: Consors

Performance: women achieve higher returns

Who had the better investment performance over the past five years (2021 to 2025)? With a slight advantage in portfolio performance of 33.6% versus 31.4%, women achieved better results on average.

This is based on a simplified performance calculation comparing portfolio balances at the beginning and end of the observation period, excluding inflows and outflows such as transfers or interim purchases and sales. Dividend payments, unless reinvested, and fees are also not taken into account. Therefore, these are approximate values, but they still allow for a reliable comparison.

Looking at performance over the past five years, annual results for women’s and men’s portfolios are relatively close. Only in 2022 is a larger gap visible. During that year, the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant turbulence in the markets. Women may have been more resilient due to their more diversified portfolios, recording a loss that was 2.5 percentage points lower than that of men. This advantage likely played a key role in their overall higher performance across the full period.

Quelle: Consors

Encouragement for women to invest in securities

“I would like to see the performance results of our female customers’ portfolios encourage even more women to start investing in securities,” says Svenja Weith, Head of Brokerage at Consorsbank. “The growing share of especially young women among investors shows that society is moving in the right direction, but we are still far from the goal. The gap compared to men, both in terms of participation in capital markets and accumulated wealth, remains too large. Financial independence should be a given in 2026. However, this also requires changes in structural conditions, such as income disparities between men and women. Ultimately, the decision to become a shareholder is strongly linked to individual economic circumstances,” Weith explains.

Fondsfrauen share this view: equal pay for equal or equivalent work should be standard. Ultimately, men also benefit from financially independent women, as it relieves them of the burden of being primarily responsible for the family’s financial stability. Partnerships on equal footing, including financially, should be the goal.

Foto: Canva (2026)

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