Regardless of how much society tries to eliminate gender differences, the fact of the matter is that men and women don’t view things the same way. Investing is no exception. While there are superior female and male investors who have vast amounts of experience and training, that doesn’t describe most of us. This article is about general investment trends of the everyday man and woman trying to reach their financial goals.The biggest distinction between men and women is how they approach investing. Generally, women tend to be less sure of themselves when it comes to making investment decisions. As a result, women will more readily attend training sessions or seek the advice of a financial consultant. In a study by Tahira Hira in 2008, 79 percent of the females surveyed wanted to “know all of the details” when learning something new about investing. The study also identified that women are less tolerant to taking risks than men.Men, on the other hand, are generally much more confident about their investing abilities and typically spend more time and money on security analysis. Men were more likely than women to enjoy investing and find it exciting and satisfying. Men generally make more transactions, rely less on financial advisers and believe that returns are more predictable than do women (Lewellen, Lease & Schlarbaum, 1977).How do these two approaches affect the investor’s ability to meet their financial goals? Well the first challenge for women is that they statistically will outlive men and consequently will need to save more. Studies have shown that women prefer to take no or below-average risks with their investments.This means they trend toward more fixed income type investments. In today’s economic environment, where interest rates are hovering just above zero percent, the outlook for bonds is not as attractive for the next decade as it has been for the last three decades. Why? Because over the last three decades interest rates have fallen from high levels and provided investors with both interest income and capital gains.With interest rates now at extremely low levels, the best case scenario is that interest rates stay flat and provide investors with low single digit returns. Eventually rates will go up, meaning the value of the bond will decline and investors will see negative returns in their bond holdings. Women will need to diversify their portfolios to ensure that they have enough growth potential to reach their financial goals.Men have a slightly different problem. Because they trade more often and take more risks, men’s portfolios tend, over the long-term, to underperform the women’s portfolios. With the volatile markets, it is much more intriguing for men to make the “quick win” by buying low and selling high. The challenge is that with the record high volatility we have been seeing, it is very difficult to correctly “time” your trade.Over the long-term, a portfolio that has diversified asset classes to protect against losses in a downward market will outperform. Just like women, men need to increase the diversification of their portfolios to meet the current challenges in today’s markets. Men also need to focus more on the long-term return rather than the short-term win.The easiest way to increase diversification is to expand the tool kit from which you can manage your portfolio. Knowing the challenges bonds will be facing in the next decade, complement your fixed income with low-volatility alternatives. These investments can have similar risks profiles to fixed income products but are not correlated to the movement of fixed income markets. On the equity side, it makes sense to compliment your equity positions with long-short equity asset classes. These positions will help protect your portfolio against downside pressures while participating in the upside gains of equity markets.The key to making your portfolio work for you is to actively manage your allocations and to tilt your portfolio to the various asset classes based upon market conditions. Many investors, however, do not want to take the time to actively manage their portfolios and this is where professional portfolio managers can assist. You should take as much care in choosing your financial manager as you do in choosing any other critical service adviser. After all, it is your financial future you are protecting.Cindy F Campbell is the chief operating officer of AFL Investments, a Bermudian financial services company that provides a range of investment solutions and financial planning advice to high net worth individuals, endowments, trusts, pension plans, and corporations. AFL Investments Ltd is regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority and has a licence to conduct investment business in Bermuda. AFL Investments is a joint venture between the Argus Group and Cidel Bank & Trust Inc. See online at www.aflinvestments.bm