Verve Super launches ethical investing app

Verve Super has launched a new investment app with three ethically curated portfolios tailored around the needs and desires of women investors.

Australia’s first superannuation fund tailored for women, and founded by women, Verve Super said the launch of the app is a “logical next step.”

“Virtually every day women were asking us when they could invest with Verve outside of super, so we knew there was huge demand,” explained founder and chief executive, Christina Hobbs.

“We were passionate about building a thoughtful investing platform that solved the problems of underserved women investors and allowed us to truly partner with women along their wealth building journey.” 

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The latest ASX Investor survey found women were lagging behind when it comes to investing to built long-term wealth, making up just 42 per cent of people in Australia investing outside of super and a primary place of residence like an owner-occupier property.

Women investors also had smaller portfolios on average ($413,000) compared to the average male investor ($667,000).

A quarter (31 per cent) of female investors have balances under $50,000 compared to 21 per cent of their male peers.  

Hobbs said it’s understandable that women don’t invest at the same rate as men. 

She explained: “Historically women haven’t been invited into conversations about investing, it hasn’t felt like a space for us, and when you look at the products in market, they don’t meet the needs of many women looking to invest for the first time.”

Offering fixed income, balanced, and high growth portfolios, Verve Money has some 25,000 community members and $270 million in investments. Twenty per cent of every Verve Money portfolio invests in climate solutions.

According to the firm, not only is this inspiring for many new investors, but the inclusion of non-listed investments also increases diversification and can decrease risk, which has been highlighted as an important feature for women investors by Verve’s own survey of over 500 women. 

Verve Money is available in the Google Play and Apple Store. It is free to download and does not charge account fees for balances under $1,000 to prevent small balances from being eroded by fees. 

Hobbs added: “We’ve created an app that has 100 per cent ethical investments, that supports people to invest in line with their goals, and that is super simple to use but sophisticated behind the scenes and that seems to appeal to underserved women investors but also a broader community including men and non-binary investors who are looking for this service and couldn’t find it in market.”