The corona pandemic leaves clear traces in the lives of many people.

Some have to liquidate their savings in order to make ends meet.

In times of home office, more or less closed shops and fewer vacation options, others hardly spend any money and save it.

With low interest rates and a growing number of institutions charging negative interest rates on deposits, many investors are increasingly investing in stocks.

This is reflected in the significantly higher share prices such as the current record hunt for the Dax.

Kerstin Papon

Editor in business.

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    Women are also more active in the capital market.

    This is the result of a survey by the investment company JPMorgan Asset Management among almost 4,000 women in ten European countries, including Germany, France, Great Britain and Switzerland.

    According to this, 29 percent of women who were already among the investors increased their capital market investments during the pandemic.

    In the male comparison group, however, 40 percent did this.

    Nevertheless, even these investors decided more often to top up their savings than to invest the money, according to the analysis.

    The survey asked women between the ages of 30 and 60 who had capital investments or savings and a certain minimum income so that they would at least theoretically be able to invest money.

    Few invest regularly

    In this group, almost two thirds of the women surveyed are now investors (64 percent). In Germany and Austria, their share is even the largest at 71 percent. Nevertheless, 79 percent of those surveyed still put too many women on savings accounts or overnight money, even though the achievement of long-term financial goals has been an increasingly unreachable distance for years, according to JPMorgan Asset Management. Not even a fifth of women invest regularly, on the other hand more than three quarters save consistently.

    Securities investments not only help build wealth, says JPMorgan Asset Management. Investing also increases financial self-confidence and self-esteem. Many analyzes also showed a connection between financial security and general well-being. In the survey, around 37 percent of women who had invested had above-average self-esteem, compared to 25 percent of those who had previously only saved. Overall, on average, every third respondent was rather self-confident. This proportion was similar in most countries. Nevertheless, two values ​​stand out: Finnish women were almost twice as self-confident as French women (share of 39 versus 20 percent). Overall, however, self-esteem was even more pronounced among men.Here this applied to around half.

    However, it is precisely a lack of self-confidence and gaps in financial knowledge that is the reason why women are less involved than men in the stock market and other financial activities to build up wealth.

    This is the result of a study by the Leibniz Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim with the University of Groningen and the Netherlands National Bank, among others.

    Women often rate their financial knowledge less than it actually is.

    Your lower financial competence is related to your own self-doubts in relation to this knowledge and also the decision-making.

    Sustainable investing as a possible key

    As various analyzes have shown, women in particular attach great importance to sustainability. This also applies to the system. JPMorgan sees this investment topic as a possible driving force to strengthen the overall lack of acceptance of securities investments. Around three quarters of women said that sustainable investing was of great importance to them, and for 20 percent it was even "extremely important". Among women with prior experience in this field, 77 percent believed that their assets were doing something good for society. Almost half see sustainable securities investments as the future of investing and intend to only invest in corresponding companies in the future. There were clear favorites. Climate change was by far the most important thing for the women surveyed. Human rights followedPollution, fair working conditions and animal testing.

    The survey carried out by the analysis company Kantar on behalf of JPMorgan Asset Management also shows that the pandemic has increased awareness of the need to prepare for future uncertainties. The most common reason given for saving was to plan for emergencies, followed by saving for retirement. However, the respondents tend to rely on the savings account. Fluctuations in value and the need to keep an eye on investments led to a feeling of lack of control - especially when compared to the flexibility and easy availability of savings books and call money accounts, it is said.