Nearly 20% of American women with more than $1 million in assets say they have no intention of retiring, significantly ahead of their male counterparts, according to new research exclusively shared with Fortune.
The Goldman Sachs survey, which included more than 1,000 U.S. high-net-worth investors, found 18% of women—with an average age of over 60—have no plans to retire. The same can be said for only 11% of men.
The report, titled Opening the Door to Alternatives, found that women had three main investment goals: Maintaining their spending came first, with 48% of women saying this was a motivation, followed by 47% of women saying they want to preserve their wealth.
A further 44% said their investment strategy included planning for a comfortable retirement, with women on average saving 17% of their income each month. Of the female respondents Goldman spoke to, their average income was a little under $550,000 a year.
As well as unpacking women’s financial goals, the report also explored how their investment strategies differ from those of their male counterparts. While female investors showed a preference toward equities (40%) in their portfolio, that wasn’t as high as their male counterparts, who allocated 45% to equities.
Women held a little more in cash (21% versus 19% for men) and a little more in fixed income (25% versus 23% for men).
Female investors were also extremely focused on performance in their investment strategy, identifying it as the characteristic they look for first when entering into a new purchase. The flip side is that they are more focused on risk: 92% of the women Goldman spoke to didn’t own alternatives, with 34% saying the asset class was too risky.
Even then, alternatives weren’t ranked the most risky by female investors; they said cryptocurrency was by far the least reliable asset, compared with U.S. stocks, for example, which only 22% of women classed as “high-risk.”
But as women increasingly become power players in the economy thanks to the spousal element of the Great Wealth Transfer, this may change.
“As wealth accumulates, so too does the imperative to diversify beyond traditional markets and explore dynamic asset allocation models,” said Kyle Kniffen, global head of alternatives for third-party wealth at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He added: “This approach leverages alternative investments to seek enhanced returns and capital preservation, moving beyond conventional portfolios to optimize long-term financial health.”
Women reshaping investment
In the coming decades, women will be altering investment flows as a result of funds they inherit in the Great Wealth Transfer.
The “sideways succession” of female inheritance has been put at some $9 trillion according to studies, as part of the broader shift over the next 20 to 30 years, with some $124 trillion being passed down from older generations to their younger counterparts, with baby boomers—people born between 1946 and 1964—identified as the wealthiest generation in history.
A recent study from J.P. Morgan Wealth Management found the vast majority of women aren’t relying on the funds. And while spending the money on travel is their top choice, what they’re doing in reality is investing it: 45% of the women who have already inherited wealth have invested it, per J.P. Morgan, while 43% have used it to pay off debt.
This shift in investing power comes at a time when the market is evolving, added Goldman’s report. Authors Kniffen and Kristin Olson, global head of alternatives for wealth at Goldman Sachs, noted: “Private markets are undergoing a significant transformation, in our view, moving from an institutional-dominated landscape to one increasingly accessible to individual investors. We believe this shift is poised to accelerate, driven by the pursuit of diversification and strong returns, especially as companies increasingly opt to remain private for longer, seeking capital from alternative sources rather than public markets.”
As such, the duo highlighted, it is important to address the “perception gap” between the opportunities offered by alternatives and the assumed risk, with Olson adding: “Investors have opportunities to diversify across alternative strategies, geographies, vintage years, and managers to complement investors’ public market exposures … then fine-tune the allocation over time in line with the portfolio’s particular goals, risk profile, return targets, and liquidity considerations.”
