As indicated by OP's statistics, the median of investment assets tips clearly in favour of men from the age of 25 onwards.
The difference is the largest among 35–44-year-olds. In this age group, the median of men's investment assets is up to 34 per cent higher than women's. In other words, women invest 75 cents for each euro that men invest in this cohort.
"People of this age are typically leading an active family life and working. The busy years of child-rearing, work and other obligations may dictate how much time and money people have left over for investment. The fact that there are more male than female investors in this age group sends a concerning message about the gender distribution of resources,” says Hanna Porkka, Director, Wealth management at OP Financial Group.
According to the Bank of Finland's statistics, the deposit portfolio of Finnish households was the largest ever at the end of June. The bulk of deposits are in current accounts and other low-interest accounts.
"To my mind, a natural time to begin investing is when you take out a home loan, for example. If you invest while repaying your home loan, you are securing your future and taking advantage of the compound interest effect. Investing can offer various types of financial security throughout life, including during unemployment, illness or other unexpected events," says Porkka.
Factors explaining why men accumulate more investment assets include pay gaps, how parents share family leave, and differences in investing behaviour.
"In Finland, the gender pay gap is 16 per cent in favour of men – more than the average for OECD countries. Since investing is based on disposable income, the pay gap also affects your opportunity to accumulate investment assets. Moreover, women may use their assets first for the family's common expenses before making investments, as men invest larger sums than women," says Porkka.
Differences even out just before retirement age
OP's statistics show that differences in the median of investment assets begin to even out before retirement age. Among the over 65-year-olds, the difference in the median has decreased to 9 per cent in favour of men.
At OP, the median of investment assets among women is EUR 7,300 and among men EUR 8,000 when taking all age groups into account. As investors, men are also in the majority in sheer numbers, including among young people.
"In the 18–24 age group, more men than women invest. However, young women's median investment assets are larger than those of young men. In other words, young women have larger investment portfolios. This is encouraging for young women considering investing. According to our data, young women have taken to investing in recent years, which is good news," says Porkka.
At OP, investment assets are considered to include assets in OP funds, unit-linked insurance, stock and ETPs. An individual OP customer's investment assets are the customer’s total assets in these investment products. The analysis was carried out based on customers' investment assets in August 2025.
The median is the middle value of the investment assets, ordered from smallest to largest, of all OP customers holding investments. In other words, half the assets in the data analysed are smaller and half are larger than the median.
Media enquiries:
OP Financial Group Corporate Communications, tel. 010 252 8719, viestinta@op.fi