This is an excerpt from Chapter 3 of Certified Financial Planner™ Scott O’Brien’s brand new e-book Surviving to Thriving: A Financial Resource for Divorcées and Widows. This e-book brings you in depth information from 7 experts across industries to help women manage the financial and personal elements of life’s major transitions. Download your complimentary copy today.

The Kiplinger’s Financial Advice & Investing Survey revealed that 83.8% of single wealthy women and 80.2% of widows relied on newspapers, magazines, and websites as their primary tools for learning about finances. Financial television news networks and financial advisors came in second and third.

According to the University of California-Berkeley study, “Boys will be boys; gender, overconfidence and common stock investment” by Brad Barber and Terrance Odean, published in 2001, women outperformed their male counterparts by 2.3% over a seven-year period.

One of the reasons for that outperformance was attributed to the observation that women tended to take a more patient approach. A second study from Berkeley shows that the more an investor traded, the lower his or her returns.

Despite this evidence, investors are buying and selling at a more rapid pace now than ever before. In 2015, mutual fund company MFS found the average stock was held for only 8 months — compared to an average of 8 years in 1960.

The Berkeley study found that women tend to trade 30% less than men. But the temptation to trade is clear: information is instant and abundant, trading commissions are low, and the action can be exciting.

However, Odean states that, “Trading is hazardous to your wealth.”

Surviving to Thriving: A Financial Resource for Divorcées and Widows brings you practical advice from 7 experts across specialities to help women manage the financial and personal elements of life’s major transitions. Get your complimentary copy today.