New female investors would make £15,000 less on their investments than their male counterparts by 2030 if they started investing in 2020, according to new analysis.

Freetrade found that women in the UK would expect to make £2,152 returns on their investments this year, based on industry recommendations to invest 10% of your salary and an average ROI of 4.9%.

Male investors, however, could expect to earn £3,299 this year because of the gender pay gap, which sees them earn nearly £11,000 more than women on average.

By 2030, with men able to invest much more than women due to their higher annual returns, the difference becomes staggering. The research estimates male investors will have made £44,123 by the turn of the next decade. For women, however, this figure is just £28,786. Overall, this means there is a £15,337 discrepancy.

Using the same methodology, researchers at Freetrade have analysed how much men can make from their investments compared to women in each UK city.

The city with the highest gap between men and women is Lichfield, Staffordshire. The current gender pay gap is £17,531 there, according to the ONS, with men earning £39,910 per year and women earning £22,379.

Because of this, female investors stand to make £24,599 less than men by 2030. Men will have made a £56,001 return on their investments compared to £31,402 for women.

Just behind Lichfield are cities such as Brighton (where the gender investment gap is £18,946), Lancaster (£17,297) and Derby (£17,297).

The city with the smallest difference is Nottingham where the investment gap will be £7,211 by 2030. Men are expected to have made £34,663 compared to women at £27,452 by 2030. Closely behind Nottingham are Dundee (£7,301), Swansea (£7,638) and Westminster (£7,743).

Dan Lane, sennior analyst at Freetrade, said: “This discrepancy highlights just one of the many reasons why it is imperative for employers to continue their efforts to equalise the gender pay gap.

“These figures should not discourage women from investing as figures show the gender pay gap is closing every year. As it does, we hope women will eventually be able to see equal returns from investment in monetary terms as men, so now is a perfect time to start building your portfolio”.

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