The Gender Investing Gap: Why Canadian Women Should Consider XEQT

My sister is one of the most financially disciplined people I know.

She tracks every dollar. She has a spreadsheet for her subscriptions and cancels anything she has not used in 30 days. When she bought her first car, she negotiated the dealer down $2,800 because she had researched the invoice price and what three other dealerships were charging. She was 24.

But when I asked her last year if she had started investing, she went quiet. “I’ve been meaning to,” she said. “I just don’t know enough about it yet. What if I pick the wrong thing?”

This is a woman who could recite her monthly budget down to the cent. Who had $40,000 sitting in a savings account earning 2.5%. Who, by every objective measure, was more financially literate than most of the guys I know who have been throwing money at meme stocks since 2020.

She was not lacking knowledge or discipline. She was lacking something far more insidious: the confidence to start. And she is not alone.

The gender investing gap is one of the most expensive and least-discussed financial problems in Canada. Women earn less, invest less, start later, and live longer – a combination that creates a retirement savings shortfall that no amount of careful budgeting can fix. But here is the plot twist: when women do invest, they consistently outperform men.

This article is for every Canadian woman who has been on the sidelines. The data says you are already better at this than you think. And a single fund called XEQT can make the whole thing remarkably simple.

1. The Gender Investing Gap By the Numbers

Let us start with the uncomfortable reality. The gap between men and women when it comes to investing is not a small one – and in Canada, it is driven by a cascade of systemic and behavioural factors that compound over a lifetime.

The Pay Gap Sets the Stage

According to Statistics Canada, women in Canada earn approximately $0.87 for every dollar men earn. For women of colour, Indigenous women, and women with disabilities, the gap is wider still. Over a 30-year career, that 13% gap translates to hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost lifetime earnings. Less income means less money to invest.

Women Invest Less – and Start Later

A 2023 Ontario Securities Commission survey found that women were significantly less likely than men to hold stocks, ETFs, or equity mutual funds – more likely to keep savings in cash or GICs. Research from Fidelity shows that women tend to start investing an average of 2-5 years later than men. When you are dealing with compound growth, those years are enormously expensive.

Women Live Longer

Canadian women have an average life expectancy of approximately 84 years, compared to roughly 80 years for men. That is four extra years of retirement that need to be funded – four extra years of housing, food, healthcare, and living expenses.

Here is the cruel math: women earn less, invest less, start later, and then need their money to last longer. Every one of those factors works against them.

Career Breaks Widen the Gap

Women are far more likely to take extended career breaks for maternity leave or caregiving. Each break means less income, fewer CPP contributions, missed pension matches, and paused investment contributions. I wrote about this in Investing in XEQT on Parental Leave – pausing $500/month for just 12 months costs roughly $16,400 in lost future wealth over 25 years.

The Retirement Gap

All of this adds up. Canadian women aged 55-64 have significantly less saved for retirement than men. A 2024 report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives found that elderly single women in Canada have one of the highest poverty rates among developed nations. This is not a lifestyle problem. It is a structural one.

2. The Plot Twist: Women Are Actually Better Investors

Here is where the narrative flips entirely. Despite investing less and starting later, the research overwhelmingly shows that when women do invest, they outperform men.

The Fidelity Study

One of the most widely cited studies comes from Fidelity Investments, which analyzed millions of customer accounts over a multi-year period. The finding: women’s investment returns outperformed men’s by an average of 0.4% per year. That might sound small, but compounded over 30 years on a $200,000 portfolio, that 0.4% annual advantage translates to roughly $50,000 more in retirement savings.

Why? It comes down to behaviour.

Women Trade Less

Studies from Barber and Odean found that men trade 45% more often than women. Each trade comes with costs – commissions, bid-ask spreads, and tax consequences. More importantly, excessive trading is driven by overconfidence. The more you trade, the worse your returns tend to be.

Women, on average, buy and hold. They set a strategy and stick to it. In investing, patience is not just a virtue – it is the highest-returning strategy available.

Women Avoid Overconfidence

Men consistently rate their investing ability higher than women do – but their actual performance does not justify the gap. Men and women score similarly on financial literacy tests, but men are more likely to say they are “very confident” in their skills. That overconfidence leads to concentrated positions in individual stocks, speculative bets, and attempts to time the market. Women diversify more broadly and produce better risk-adjusted returns.

The Behaviour Gap

The difference in returns is almost entirely explained by behaviour, not knowledge. Women make fewer mistakes, panic-sell less, chase hot tips less, and rebalance more consistently.

The punchline is worth repeating: the qualities that make someone a great long-term investor – patience, discipline, humility, and consistency – are qualities that women already demonstrate more naturally. The investing world does not need women to become more like male investors. It needs them to start investing and keep doing exactly what they are already inclined to do.

3. Why the Gap Exists (And It Is Not About Ability)

If women are naturally better investors, why are so many of them not investing at all? The answer is not intelligence or ability. It is a combination of systemic, cultural, and psychological factors that have kept women on the sidelines for generations.

The Financial Industry Was Not Built for Women

Scroll through investing content on YouTube or Reddit. The imagery, language, and tone are overwhelmingly male-oriented. “Beat the market.” “Alpha returns.” “Aggressive growth.” The vocabulary of investing sounds like a sports broadcast. Women are not turned off by investing itself – they are turned off by an industry that has not historically spoken to them or represented them.

The Confidence Gap Is Real

A 2023 Fidelity survey found that only 33% of women considered themselves “confident” investors, compared to 50% of men – even though women perform equally or better on financial literacy tests. If you do not believe you know enough to invest, you will not invest. You will wait, research more, and tell yourself you will start “when you understand it better.” The months become years while savings sit in a 2% account losing ground to inflation.

The cruel irony: the very caution that makes women better investors also makes them less likely to start.

Risk Perception vs. Actual Risk

Women tend to perceive investing as riskier than men do. From a short-term perspective, they are right – markets can drop 20-30% in a given year. But not investing is also a risk, and over the long term, it is the bigger one.

A woman who keeps $50,000 in a savings account earning 2.5% for 25 years has about $93,000 – but after inflation, her purchasing power has barely moved. That same $50,000 in XEQT at an average 8% return grows to approximately $342,000. The “safe” choice cost her roughly $250,000.

Systemic Factors Compound the Problem

The pay gap means less disposable income. Fewer pension contributions during career breaks mean smaller retirement savings. And because women are more likely to be the primary caregiver, their time and mental energy is often consumed by immediate family needs rather than long-term financial planning. None of these are excuses. They are explanations – and understanding them is the first step toward overcoming them.

4. Why XEQT Is Perfectly Suited to Close This Gap

Here is where I start to sound like a broken record on this blog – but it is because the answer genuinely fits the problem. XEQT addresses almost every barrier that keeps women from investing.

One Fund, Total Simplicity

The number one reason women I have talked to give for not investing is: “I don’t know what to buy.” XEQT eliminates this entirely. It is one single ETF that holds over 9,000 stocks across 49 countries. You buy XEQT and you are done. No stock-picking, no analysis, no “what to buy” anxiety.

Low Cost

XEQT has a management expense ratio (MER) of just 0.20% – meaning $20 per year on every $10,000 invested. The typical Canadian mutual fund charges 2.0-2.5%, or $200-$250 on the same amount. Over 25 years on a $200,000 portfolio, that fee difference costs you well over $100,000. I covered this in The 1% Rule: How Fees Destroy Wealth.

Global Diversification Built In

XEQT holds four underlying index funds spanning the entire investable world:

• ~45% U.S. stocks (S&P 500 and beyond)
• ~25% International developed markets (Europe, Japan, Australia, etc.)
• ~25% Canadian stocks (TSX)
• ~5% Emerging markets (China, India, Brazil, etc.)

Instant exposure to every major economy on earth, in one purchase.

No Need to Monitor or Trade

Remember how women outperform men partly because they trade less? XEQT is designed to be a “set it and forget it” investment. It rebalances automatically. There is nothing for you to do except keep buying it. If your natural instinct is to buy, hold, and not tinker – XEQT rewards that instinct.

Start With Any Amount

On Wealthsimple, you can buy XEQT with as little as $1. No minimum investment. No commissions. The barrier to entry is effectively zero.

5. The Cost of Waiting: Why Starting Now Matters More Than Starting Big

One of the most powerful lessons in all of personal finance is this: the amount you invest matters less than when you start. Compound growth rewards time above everything else. And every year you wait is a year of compounding you can never get back.

Let us look at what happens when a woman invests just $200 per month into XEQT at an average annual return of 8%, starting at different ages:

The 25-year-old invests only $24,000 more than the 35-year-old, but ends up with over $400,000 more at retirement. Starting at 25 with $200/month produces over $700,000 by age 65 – from just $96,000 contributed. The other $600,000+ is pure compounding. It is the closest thing to magic in personal finance.

For a deeper dive, check out The Cost of Waiting to Invest in XEQT.

6. Practical Steps to Get Started

If you have read this far and you are ready to close your personal investing gap, here is exactly what to do. No jargon, no complexity, no prerequisites.

Step 1: Open a TFSA First

The Tax-Free Savings Account is the single best place for most Canadians to start investing. Every dollar of growth inside a TFSA is completely tax-free. When you withdraw the money in retirement (or anytime), you pay zero tax. It is the most powerful wealth-building tool the Canadian government offers.

If you have never contributed, you likely have tens of thousands of dollars in available contribution room that is just sitting there, waiting.

Step 2: Set Up Automatic Monthly Purchases

Do not rely on yourself to remember to invest each month. Set up an automatic recurring purchase of XEQT on Wealthsimple – $50, $100, $200, whatever you can afford – on the same day each month. This is dollar-cost averaging, and it is one of the most reliable strategies in investing. Once automated, you do not have to think about it.

Step 3: Start With Whatever You Can

There is no “right” amount to start investing. $50 per month is better than $0 per month. $25 per month is better than $0 per month. The habit of investing consistently matters far more than the dollar amount, especially in the early years. You can always increase your contributions later as your income grows.

Step 4: Turn On DRIP

DRIP stands for Distribution Reinvestment Plan. When XEQT pays its quarterly distributions, DRIP automatically uses that cash to buy more XEQT. This means your distributions compound on themselves without you lifting a finger. You can enable DRIP in your Wealthsimple settings in about 30 seconds.

7. The Spousal RRSP Advantage for Couples

If you are in a relationship where one partner earns significantly more than the other – which is often the case in households where one partner has taken career breaks for caregiving – the spousal RRSP is a powerful tool that many couples overlook.

Here is how it works: the higher-earning spouse contributes to an RRSP in the lower-earning spouse’s name. The contributor gets the tax deduction (at their higher tax rate), but the money belongs to the recipient. When the recipient withdraws in retirement, it is taxed at their lower rate.

If a woman has taken time off for caregiving, her RRSP contributions during those years will be lower or non-existent. A spousal RRSP allows her partner to contribute on her behalf, building her retirement nest egg even during years she is not earning.

• Tax efficiency: Deduction at the higher rate, withdrawal at the lower rate
• Income splitting in retirement: Two lower-income withdrawal streams instead of one higher one
• Financial independence: The money belongs to the recipient, providing security regardless of what happens in the relationship

This is not about one partner “giving” the other money. It is about optimizing your household’s retirement savings as a team. Holding XEQT in a spousal RRSP works exactly the same as a regular RRSP – you open the account under the contributing spouse’s plan, and the recipient controls the investments.

8. Teaching the Next Generation

One of the most valuable things you can do as a woman who invests is to make investing visible and normal for the young women in your life – your daughters, nieces, younger sisters, or mentees.

Why Early Exposure Matters

The investing confidence gap does not appear overnight. It is built over years of subtle cultural messaging. By the time young women reach adulthood, many have absorbed the implicit message that investing is “not for them” – even if nobody ever said it out loud. You can break that pattern.

Practical Ways to Start

• Open an in-trust account: You can open an informal trust account and invest in XEQT on behalf of a child. Even small amounts – $25 a month – can grow into a meaningful sum by the time they turn 18. I wrote about this in detail in Investing for Kids: XEQT in a Trust Account.
• Show, don’t just tell: Pull up your Wealthsimple app and show your daughter or niece your XEQT balance. Show them the growth chart. Explain that those numbers represent ownership in thousands of companies around the world. Make it concrete.
• Start a birthday investing tradition: Instead of (or in addition to) a birthday gift, invest $50 or $100 in XEQT in their name. By the time they are an adult, they will have a real investment account to take over – and more importantly, they will have grown up seeing investing as normal.
• Normalize the conversation: Talk about money and investing at the dinner table. Not in a stressful way, but in a matter-of-fact, “this is what we do” way. The goal is to make investing as unremarkable as brushing your teeth.

The women who invest today are not just closing their own gap. They are making it less likely that the next generation of women will have a gap at all.

9. A Note on Getting Started After 40 (Or 50, Or 60)

If you are reading this and thinking “I’ve already missed the boat,” I want to be direct with you: you have not.

Yes, starting earlier is better. The compounding math favours youth. But the second-best time to plant a tree is today, and the same is true for investing.

A 45-year-old woman who invests $300/month into XEQT for 20 years at 8% will accumulate approximately $178,000 from just $72,000 in contributions. A 55-year-old investing $500/month for 10 years will accumulate roughly $92,000 from $60,000 contributed. That is real, meaningful money.

You also likely have more resources than you think. If your mortgage is nearly paid, your children have left home, or your income is at its peak – this might be the time you can contribute the most aggressively. I wrote a full guide for this situation: Investing in XEQT After 50. The worst thing you can do is nothing.

10. The Bottom Line

The gender investing gap in Canada is real, it is expensive, and it is driven by systemic factors that have nothing to do with women’s ability to invest. The data tells a clear story: when women invest, they are better at it than men. Women trade less, panic-sell less, diversify more, and stick to their plan. These are the exact qualities that produce the best long-term returns.

The gap is not about ability. It is about participation. And participation starts with one decision: open an account, buy XEQT, and set up automatic contributions.

Here is what I told my sister: “You already have every skill you need. The only thing you are missing is the first purchase.”

She opened her Wealthsimple account the next day. She set up $200/month into XEQT in her TFSA. She texted me a screenshot with the message: “Done. That was way easier than I expected.”

That was eight months ago. She has not touched it, she has not panicked, and she has not tried to time the market. She just lets it run. Her portfolio is up, and more importantly, she is up – in confidence and in the knowledge that she is building something real.

You can do the same thing today. It takes ten minutes. The best time to start investing was years ago. The second best time is right now.

Related Reading

• What Is XEQT? Everything You Need to Know – The complete guide to Canada’s most popular all-in-one ETF
• XEQT for Beginners: Everything You Need to Know – A plain-language starter guide for new investors
• The Cost of Waiting to Invest in XEQT – The real price of every month you delay
• How to Automate Your XEQT Investing on Wealthsimple – Set it and forget it with automatic contributions
• Investing in XEQT on Parental Leave – How to keep building wealth when income drops
• XEQT TFSA vs RRSP: Where Should You Hold It? – Choosing the right account for your situation
• Investing in XEQT After 50 – It is never too late to start

XEQT (iShares Core Equity ETF Portfolio) is a long-term investment. Returns are not guaranteed, and past performance does not predict future results. This article is for educational purposes and is not financial advice. Always consider your personal financial situation before making investment decisions.