Four distinct investor types emerge from the 2007 TD Waterhouse Female Investor Poll, a comprehensive annual study of Canadian women’s attitudes towards investing.

“Successful investors are usually confident investors, and vice versa,” says Patricia Lovett-Reid, senior VP, TD Waterhouse. “And so this year, we decided to use our Female Investor Poll to map women’s levels of confidence in investing and understand what’s going on in Canadian women’s minds when it comes to their investments.”

Researchers used a simple formula (Engagement + Satisfaction = Confidence) to analyze responses to two specific questions: how engaged are you in investing, and how do you feel about your investments. From the data gathered, they arrived at a ‘Confidence Map’ of the Canadian female investor.

The poll, conducted by TNS Canadian Facts among 995 Canadian women, found four investor personality types: Panicked Paula (36% of respondents), Blissful Betty (34%), Sleepless Sally (11%) and Confident Kate (19%).

Panicked Paula is disengaged from the process of investing, paying little or no attention to what goes on in financial markets, yet is still worried about the state of her investments. This investor type tends to be younger (33% are age 25-35) and less than one-in-ten have a financial plan. Not surprisingly, most (62%) have a low tolerance for risk, and, at $55,400, they have the lowest average household assets among the four personality types.

Blissful Betty, like Panicked Paula, is detached from the investment process and pays little or no attention to it. Yet unlike Paula, this doesn’t worry her. On the contrary, she is feeling confident. Blissful Betty comes in all ages and has average household investment assets of $107,500. She is twice as likely as Panicked Paula to have a financial plan (one in five vs. one in ten) and has a low risk tolerance (57% define themselves as low risk).

Although Sleepless Sally is knowledgeable, diligent and engaged in investing, she still worries about her investments. She is somewhat older than Panicked Paula (more than a third are age 36-45), and has, on average, more household investment assets ($137,200) than either Panicked Paula or Blissful Betty. One-in-four Sleepless Sallys have a financial plan.

Confident Kate is engaged in the world of investing, has taken action to ensure her financial security, and is happy about what she has achieved. She is typically older (four-in-10 are age 56-69) and has more than four times the household investment assets as Panicked Paula ($240,900 vs. $55,400). Half of this group has a financial plan and they have the highest tolerance among all groups for assuming a medium level of risk (57%).

“Confident Kate is at a place all female investors should strive for: she’s interested and engaged, confident and successful,” says Lovett-Reid. “My only concern is that I would have liked the Confident Kates to get here sooner.”