Empowering, Educating, and Engaging Women Clients

Journal of Financial Planning: October 2010

Executive Summary

• Today’s women are making great strides among the ranks of professionals.
• Studies consistently highlight a gap between men and women in terms of their needs and involvement in the management of their personal finances and investment assets.
• Many financial advisers do not fully appreciate the differences between the financial styles of women and men, and fail to address women’s needs or play to their strengths.
• Women have the capacity to effectively plan and manage their finances, but many lack the knowledge, skills, and experience to make decisions about their money and resources.
• They would like to find advisers who will educate and empower them, but too many distrust the financial services sector.
• As a profession, financial planners can build trust with a female clientele by a thoughtful and comprehensive review of all aspects of their practice, including their planning process, their subject matter expertise, and their relationship management.
• In their planning process, planners should provide financial education, consider their style of goal setting, and be open to providing advice, not just analysis.
• In their subject matter expertise, planners should pay special attention to the unique needs of women, who typically earn less, work in entrepreneurial and non-traditional enterprises, live longer, need more late-in-life care, and give away more of their resources.
• In their relationship management, planners should consider the collaborative and community-oriented style in which women traditionally learn.

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