Don't condescend to Gen Y women

Advisers who can show how they can make a person's financial life easier — without coming off as condescending — will find an enthusiastic audience in Generation Y women, experts said. Women in Gen Y, who range in age from 13 to 33, have experienced or witnessed unique financial pressures in their lives that contribute to a generally conservative fiscal approach, Christine Gaze, director of practice management for TD Ameritrade Institutional, said during an InvestmentNews webcast on Tuesday. Many of them are old enough to remember the bursting of the Internet bubble, and all lived through a financial crisis that may have affected their college opportunities and a recession that for some hit just as they were entering the job market — and may have forced them to move back into their parents' homes, she said. (Don't miss: Cam Marston on Connecting with the younger crowd) At the same time, Gen Y women grew up with the expectation that they can “have it all.” They are feeling stressed and exhausted as they try to perform at work and at home, Ms. Gaze said during the “Women and Investing: Reaching Gen Y” webcast. “This group, more than any other cohort, appreciates the value of a professional who can synthesize things and apply it in a custom way to their life and their situation,” she said. Linda Leitz, co-owner of It's Not Just Money Inc. and Divorce Solutions Inc., pointed out that Gen Y women are different from her own generation of female baby boomers, who “felt like we were fighting for a place at the table.” Gen Y women, in comparison, grew up confident in their capabilities and they will not tolerate any kind of condescension, she said. “It's not going to work with a confident group of people like the Gen Yers,” Ms. Leitz said. “We have to treat them like a peer, as opposed to someone we would feel like we want to mentor.” (Also: Adapt or die: Attracting Gen X and Gen Y clients) Financial adviser John Picone, president of Picone Financial Partners, said he doesn't target Gen Y women as clients but works with a group of them who've been referred to him, often by their parents. He doesn't earn much by working with these clients, but he does it as a service to give back to the community. And it can pay off nicely, he said. Thirty years ago, Mr. Picone helped the young daughter of a client invest $5,000 and she ended up working for a company where she earns $3 million a year — all of which she invests with Mr. Picone today. “You never know when that kind of thing will happen,” he said.