Financial Advisors: Understand What Women Want.
By Erica and Karen
We are a new breed of women. For the first time in history, there are millions of us who are in charge of our own finances. We will live healthy lives for decades after we retire from our careers. And we have ideas about post-career life that are often different from those of the many men who have preceded us. We need our resources to last as long as we do.
So far, so good. But we need advice about how to deploy our assets. Most of us are not particularly interested in managing our money directly. For us, the appeal of a financial advisor is powerful. A financial advisor spends her time keeping up to speed on information we don’t have, and uses her broad expertise to give us the best financial health possible—something that is more important than ever.
There are of course plenty of financial advisors out there, and a few institutions, like Bernstein and Morgan Stanley, advertise an interest in women clients. But not many. Most advisors are men. In fact, only about one third are women, and many aren’t staying in the profession very long.
Part of the problem is an industry so predominantly male, with 85% of financial industry executives and 74% senior managers being men, doesn't understand how to support women throughout their careers, according to Katie Burke, co-founder of Equita Financial Network.
"These men can't relate to the challenges that women planners face, because they have never experienced them," she says. "They have been paid fairly; many of them have been promoted into the higher ranks at their respective firms; they have not had to choose between family and career; and they have had the resources they need to succeed.
So what, you might say. After all, the main point of a financial advisor is to make the most of your money. That should not be a gendered issue. But for many women, it is, at least in part, a gendered issue.
First, many of us made less money than men, and therefore start our retirements with less money than men. Some of us retire earlier than men, with the same result. At the same time, we will likely live longer than men. Good advice can help us plan for the future. But male advisors do not always know how to speak to women, and may not even try to when a woman’s male partner is present.
Second, not all advisors recognize that our financial objectives might be different than they imagine. Do you dream of launching a spa out of an Airstream trailer in Albuquerque? Do you think a woman might understand that better than a man?
Third, some of us want to spend, or give away, our assets as we see fit, right now, rather than allowing the next generations to make decisions, and we would like to talk through those issues with people we relate to.
There is a certain level of wealth at which the conversation with an adviser becomes less about having enough and more about what it’s all for. This is not an easy question to ask, nor is it simple to answer. But in that uncomfortable space lies the most important aspect of how I can bring value to clients. Can a male adviser do this? Of course. But women seem to be naturally suited with certain skills to have these deep and meaningful conversations.
Women advisors, working with men, would advance these conversations. The lived experience of women is different from that of men. Women who have had careers and families might be better able to understand how women think, and to convey our thinking to their male colleagues.
So let’s find advisors we like, and discuss with them our vision for the next decades. They can then put together the appropriate financial model. We want to be sure we have the foundation to live our best post-career lives. The input of professional women is essential to that objective.