Are female fund managers a dying breed? A new report from Morningstar doesn’t paint a particularly encouraging picture.
The study shows that women are scarce among United States fund managers and underrepresented relative to other professions.
It found that less than 10% of all U.S. fund managers are women. Women exclusively run about 2% of the industry’s assets and open-end funds. By contrast, men exclusively run about 74% of the industry’s assets and 78% of funds, with mixed-gender teams accounting for the balance.
But it isn’t an issue of performance, according to the Chicago-based research firm.
“Though the sample is relatively small, performance of exclusively women-run funds rivals that of men-run funds, even though women tend to manage smaller, pricier funds in niche areas,” it notes. “There are far fewer women in U.S. fund management than there are women doctors (37%), lawyers (33%), or accountants and auditors (63%).”
However, the coming wealth transfer to women may ultimately prompt more women to become fund managers.
“More women in the U.S. are making their own investment decisions than ever before. In one recent study, 19% of women reported being a primary decision-maker for couples’ long-term retirement savings –a figure that has doubled since 2011. The numbers of U.S. women financial advisors also are on the rise, with women now comprising more than a fourth of a growing profession.”
Yet the ranks of professional money managers who are women remain exceedingly small. The firm examined the gender of U.S. open-end fund managers in our database and found that only 9% are women. Women exclusively run only 2% of assets under management in the $12.6 trillion U.S. open-end mutual fund universe. The likelihood that a woman is managing a core multi-asset allocation fund is even lower.
Overall, about 7,700 individuals are named portfolio managers of U.S. open-end mutual funds as of March 31, 2015. This number includes portfolio managers who run funds exclusively and as members of teams. Of these, 9.4% are women. Women exclusively manage 184 funds, representing about 2% of the industry’s funds and assets.
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
