Anyone might be hesitant if it's their first foray into investing--and women often receive even less guidance and encouragement than male investors when starting out. Dubai-based portfolio manager and wealth management consultant Maleeha Bengali has advice for first-time women investors about the amount to invest, adviser, navigating markets, misconceptions about investing and more. thenational.ae - While women have the know-how to make sensible and profitable investment decisions, they are hesitant about doing so. These are the findings made in The National’s Money section this week.

According to a Fidelity Investments study carried out last year, 72 percent of women don’t feel confident about selecting financial investments on their own. With this in mind, here Dubai-based Maleeha Bengali, a portfolio manager & wealth management consultant and founder of MB Commodity Corner, a trading and investment newsletter, reveals how novice women investors can get started:

How do I know how much to invest?

If you need cash in the next two months, don’t invest it. If you have about one year, that’s a great start. You first need to ask yourself "how much liquid wealth do I have today?" Outside of your daily expenses, how much of that liquid wealth is spare? How much are you willing to invest?

Now you ask yourself ‘how old am I?’ ‘When do I think I will retire?’ Say to yourself ‘I want to have x amount of dollars every month when I retire’, and then start working your way backwards to determine how much you would need to invest today and what sort of return you would need to generate each year to reach that amount for the future. It’s important that you have an expectancy of when you will need that nest egg back. What are your obligations? Once you answer these questions, you can then decide what product matches your investment needs.

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