An American university study revealed that women investors gained bigger returns than men over the long term. In Britain, many leading investment houses now recruit men and women in equal numbers. Economics expert Professor Cary Cooper at the University of Manchester believes women are calculated risk-takers. If they applied this trait to money management, he says, they would do better than men in the long term. Bradshaw believes education is at fault and that the financial services industry has much to answer for.
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Vivienne Starkey of Equal Partners, in the City, is another independent adviser with many female clients. Like Cooper, she believes that men are sometimes foolhardy. Last year, he invested in a range of funds through Fidelity's online funds supermarket. At one time he held three technology funds - all of which tumbled when the dotcom bubble burst. His other holdings, a European-based fund and a smaller companies fund, were also hit.