Women investors drive new advisor training from Amplified Planning

Amplified Planning, the financial-planning education company founded by Hannah Moore, has launched a new specialized course aimed at helping financial planners work more effectively with women clients.

The course, built on the well-supported premise that the industry's technical training has outpaced its relational skills, is being rolled out just as trillions of dollars begin moving into women's hands.

The Women & Wealth Masterclass, an eight-module continuing-education program, was built in partnership with Cary Carbonaro, managing advisor and Women and Wealth Ambassador at Ashton Thomas Private Wealth. It draws on more than 25 years of Carbonaro's client work to give planners frameworks for understanding how women make financial decisions and for navigating conversations around major life and wealth transitions, including widowhood, divorce and inheritance.

"The goal is to change how advisors think about serving women by becoming better at understanding the person sitting across the table from them," Carbonaro said.

Read more: DEI trailblazer says women aren’t a niche — they’re the market

Cerulli Associates projects that $124 trillion in wealth will change hands in the U.S. through 2048, with $54 trillion of that first moving between spouses. More than 95% of those inter-spousal transfers are expected to land with women, and Cerulli estimates nearly $40 trillion will come under the control of widowed women in Baby Boomer and older generations.

A recent Vanguard study suggests advisors may be under-equipped to help women navigate that wave of wealth. It found that the industry's long-standing assumptions about female clients – that they lack confidence, delay decisions out of anxiety and need empathy above technical expertise – largely do not hold up. Among other findings, 76% of women in the Vanguard survey described themselves as confident financial decision-makers, and only 14% ranked empathy among their top two preferred communication traits, well behind educational and collaborative interactions.

A separate 2025 research report by CFP Board found that nearly 70% of women identify as their household's primary investment decision-maker, and a majority see financial planners as the best resource for reaching their goals. Another survey conducted by Beacon Pointe Advisors found just 31% of women describe themselves as highly confident managing money on their own, but that figure roughly triples among women who actively lead their own financial decisions – and jumps even further among those working with an advisor.

Read more: Active decision-making, not wealth alone, drives women's financial confidence, study finds

"Women are poised to control an extraordinary amount of wealth, but this course isn't really about statistics; it is about whether our profession is prepared to serve those women well," Moore said in a statement on Wednesday. "Technical knowledge alone isn't enough. Great planners need to know how to listen, communicate, build trust and understand the experiences their clients bring into financial conversations."

Carbonaro, who has distilled her work with women clients into a book geared toward financial advisors, said the course grew out of the everyday moments that shape whether a client stays or leaves.

"Women want to be heard. They want to understand the 'why' behind the advice. They want an advisor who recognizes that money is connected to family, independence, security, identity and the life they are trying to build. Advisors who learn how to have those conversations will not only serve women better; they will become better advisors."

Notwithstanding the women's wealth focus of the masterclass, Carbonaro emphasized that it's open to advisors of all genders including men, who also have a stake in the issue.

"Serving women well isn't a women's issue; it's an advisor issue and a business issue," she said. "The skills we're teaching, such as listening, empathy, asking better questions, and communicating in ways that build confidence, make you more effective with every client."