Episode Summary

Dr. Karen Altfest, executive vice president at Altfest Personal Wealth Management, discusses the history of women in financial services and whether or not there has been meaningful progress. She, Jeff and Bruce look back at her extensive career to gain perspective on where things have improved for women, and where they still fall short. They also go into the importance of involving women clients in the family finances, and the often surprising results of doing so. Jeff and Bruce then quickly touch base on the breaking news that Dynasty Financial is filing for an IPO.

Episode Notes

In this episode, you'll hear about: 

• History of diversity in wealth management.
• Karen’s background and the story of Altfest Wealth Management.
• Women in financial planning.
• Widowhood planning.
• Getting wives involved in family finances.
• How many women in financial services is the ‘right amount’?
• Fathers and financial advice.
• Karen’s thoughts on RIA aggregators.
• Are the industry’s diversity programs working?
• The news that Dynasty Financial has filed for an IPO.

Related Article: Kamila Elliott becomes first Black chair of CFP Board

Guest Bio: 

Karen Caplan Altfest, Ph.D., CFP®, is a principal advisor at Altfest Personal Wealth Management. She helps many of the firm’s clients on a variety of investment and financial planning issues, and specializes in helping women clients and widows. Karen’s Financially Savvy Woman® programs, including the Women’s Financial $pa®, are popular with clients. Her focus is to educate and empower women.

Karen is frequently a speaker on the subject of women and money, and conducts educational seminars for recent widows and people looking to retire. In 2017, Karen’s article, “Life After Loss: 6 Smart Steps for Coping with Widowhood,” was published by the American Association of Individual Investors Journal.