Investing works the same way for everyone. What the ASX Australian Investor Study 2026 found to differ is confidence and information. Women planning to start were more likely than men to say they were not confident in their knowledge, and more likely to say they did not know which product to start with. Both are gaps in information, and both close with a few hours of reading.
With inaam the minimum to invest in the fund is $100. The subscription is $10 a month, $120 a year, separate from the money you invest. Sign-up happens in the app. General information only, not financial advice.
what ASX found
Every three years the Australian Securities Exchange surveys how Australians invest. The 2026 edition, run by Investment Trends, asked 4,495 adults in January and February 2026. Of the people planning to start investing in the next 12 months, 61% were women, the first time the study has found women clearly ahead. ASX estimates that is about 580,000 women, against 370,000 men.
| women | men | |
|---|---|---|
| what people planning to start think they need | $520 | $860 |
| planning to start, and not confident in their knowledge | 40% | 26% |
| planning to start, and unsure which product to start with | 36% | 20% |
| investors whose first investment was a term deposit | 17% | 11% |
| investors who prefer guaranteed or stable returns | 78% | 68% |
| investors who feel their portfolio is diversified enough | 42% | 58% |
| the median portfolio of investors | $100,000 | $150,000 |
Two more findings are worth knowing. Women and men invest in ETFs at almost the same rate, unlike most other products in the survey. And women who invest on the share market rely on family and friends for information more than men do, 46% against 37%.
This guide uses ASX’s findings about women because they are new and clear. Everything in it applies to anyone starting out.
confidence is an information gap
Nobody is born knowing what an ETF is. Confidence follows information, and ASX found the same: 51% of everyone planning to start said they would begin once they knew more about investing, far ahead of waiting for calmer markets (16%). Four words cover most first investments.
- A share is a small piece of one company. Its price moves every day the market is open.
- An ETFExchange-traded fund. A fund that holds many companies and trades on the share market as a single investment. holds many companies at once and is bought and sold on the share market like a single share.
- A managed fundA fund where your money is pooled with other investors and run to a set strategy. You hold units. also holds many investments. You buy units from the fund rather than on the market, often through an app.
- A term depositMoney left with a bank for a set time at a set interest rate. You get it back, with the interest, at the end. is a savings product. It pays a set rate for a set time and does not own any companies.
Our guide to starting goes further on each, and a simple guide to ETFs covers the most common first investment for people under 30.
the order matters
start with what you want the money to do
Choose the product last. Once you know what the money is for and when you need it, most of the choice makes itself.
five decisions, in order
- Keep emergency money in cash first. Investing is for money you will not need at short notice.
- Give the money a job and a date. A house deposit in two years and a cushion for twenty years from now need different homes.
- Pick an amount you can add each month. A regular amount you will not miss builds a habit and a balance at the same time. ASX found women put the starting amount at $520; many products start lower.
- Decide how much of a fall you could sit through. ASX asked investors what they would do if their balance fell by 20%. If a fall like that would mean selling, the money belongs somewhere steadier.
- Then choose the kind of product. The table below sets the usual first choices side by side.
| what you own | how it moves | getting money out | |
|---|---|---|---|
| a term deposit | Nothing. The bank owes you the money and the interest. | It does not. The rate is set at the start. | At the end of the term. Breaking it early usually costs interest. |
| an ETF | A slice of every company the ETF holds. | With the market, every trading day. | Sell on the market through your broker. |
| a managed fund | Units in a fund that holds the investments. | With what the fund holds. | Ask the fund, on its withdrawal terms in the PDS. |
steady, or growing
ASX found 78% of women who invest prefer guaranteed or stable returns. That is a sound instinct for money with a near date. A term deposit gives certainty, and the price of certainty is that the money only earns the rate it was set at.
Shares and share funds offer no guarantee. They rise and fall, sometimes for years, and you can get back less than you put in. They suit money you can leave for a long time. Many people hold both: steady money for the near job, growing money for the far one. Spreading money across many companies, which a fund does for you, means one company’s bad year matters less. What is a portfolio explains how that works.
who to ask, and how to check
Family and friends are the most common source of investment information in the study, and the most trusted names were the regulators and professionals. Use both, and check what you hear.
- Check the provider. Moneysmart’s check before you invest page shows how to look up a licence on ASIC’s registers.
- Read the PDSProduct Disclosure Statement. What you are investing in, what it costs, and what can go wrong. and the TMDTarget Market Determination. Who a product is designed for, in writing.. They say what the product is, what it costs, what can go wrong, and who it is designed for.
- Get advice when it is about you. A licensed financial adviser can look at your situation. A guide like this one cannot.
- Treat AI tools as a starting point. ASX found men almost twice as likely as women to say they would turn to an AI tool for advice (29% against 15%). They can explain a term quickly. They do not know your situation and can be wrong, so check anything they say against the PDS.
before any first investment
two minutes on the register
Every legitimate provider in Australia can be looked up. If you cannot find the licence number, stop there, whoever recommended it.
where inaam sits
inaam is the impact investing app that makes your money meaningful. The minimum to invest in the fund is $100, as a lump sum or a monthly amount. You pick five impact themes and customise them yourself, and every company the fund holds is named in the app. It is a registered managed investment scheme that holds listed shares, so it rises and falls with them, and its TMD describes a holding period of three to seven years. The subscription is $10 a month, $120 a year, separate from the money you invest. Sign-up happens in the app.
If you are not sure what matters most to you, the money values quiz takes two minutes, and how much you need to start covers the starting amount in more detail.
sources
- ASX Australian Investor Study 2026, research by Investment Trends. Online survey of 4,495 Australian adults, January and February 2026. Intending investors by gender in figure 34; barriers in figure 35; the gender differences in table 1; ETFs by gender in figure 45; what would get people started in figure 36.
- Moneysmart, how to invest and check before you invest, both by ASIC.
