Adult daughters, building financial confidence, in spotlight at Women Advisor Summit

The critical role played by adult daughters in clients’ financial planning is firmly in the spotlight at the InvestmentNews Women Advisor Summit in New York City Thursday.

Speaking during a panel discussion, Arvette Reid, healthcare planning strategist at Signature Estate & Investment Advisors highlighted adult daughters as key players when it comes to families’ financial plans. “We all know that adult daughters, we bear the weight of it all,” she said. “They are coming to us and asking question about their parents … they need confidence that they are doing the right thing.”

“When you start having these conversations with the adult daughters or daughters-in-law, you build trust," Reid added.

Read more: More women embracing family CFO role – but still feel financially insecure

Suzanne Siracuse, founder and CEO of Suzanne Siracuse Consulting, who created the concept of the Women Advisor Summit more than 10 years ago, told InvestmentNews that advisors’ work with adult daughters is extremely important. “I think that, as advisors need to make sure that they are a central figure in the relationship with the primary clients, it’s also important to establish the relationship with the heirs and the next generation,” she said. “If the female client is not as involved in the meeting as they want to be, it’s a great way for the advisor to say let’s have a planning conversation.”

This, she explained, is not only a big piece of the holistic planning provided by an advisor, but also creates a forum for a family’s children to be involved in open dialogue.

The need for financial advice is playing out against the backdrop of an aging population where Americans are living longer. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, one in six people in the U.S. were 65 and over. Census data also show that the U.S. population aged 65 and over grew between 2010 and 2020 at the fastest rate since 1880 to 1890, reaching 55.8 million, a 38.6% increase in just 10 years.

Shifting demographics in wealth were also front and center at the Women Advisor Summit. Speaking during the panel discussion, Marianne Caswell, president of Park Avenue Wealth Management, explained that women are now controlling the financial decisions, citing data from the CFP Board that 69% are the primary decision makers in their households. “You can’t make assumptions about the woman sitting across from you,” she said, adding that there is no single profile for female clients.

Read more: Women investors aren’t a homogeneous segment. They’re a Mosaic

Caswell also noted that just under a third of women say they have financial confidence. Research released earlier this year by Beacon Pointe Advisors found that only 31% of women feel highly confident managing their finances.

In 2022 the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center said that, worldwide, 30% of women are financially literate, compared with 35% of men.

Set against this backdrop, the ability of advisors to give women clients confidence is key, according to Caswell. “It’s helping to give them confidence … what you have to do as a financial advisor is to give them that confidence.”

Lisa Roberts, head of wealth management at Wilmington Trust, urged advisors not to make the mistake of seeing things purely as an asset transfer. “It’s a relationship transfer,” she said, during the panel discussion, and urged women advisors to really “lean into” the relationship, which she said will boost client confidence.

The Women Advisor Summit features more than 20 speakers across more than 10 content sessions at Nov. 5 at 583 Park Avenue on Manhattan's Upper East Side. The Women Advisor Summit will conclude with the Women to Watch Awards, which honor the most influential women in wealth management. Prudential Wealth Advisors is the headline partner for the events.