Ahead of the Women Advisor Summit, Cathy Curtis has a message for women advisors: Start your own RIA

Cathy Curtis has a simple pitch for women weighing whether to break out on their own: don't wait. The founder of Curtis Financial Planning will make that case Nov. 5 at InvestmentNews' Women Advisor Summit in New York, where she'll join AE Wealth Management president Shannon Larson for a fireside chat on building a career "the long game" way.

Curtis, who was named an InvestmentNews Woman to Watch in 2020, said that she wants to see more women-owned businesses in the RIA industry.

“I'm a huge advocate for more women in the financial services industry, in particular being investment advisors and financial advisors, so being client-facing advisors, not staff, not supporting role, but lead advisor,” she told InvestmentNews. “And even taking a step further, not being afraid to start their own RIA.”

“That's my strong feeling because it's an industry where you can become an independent business person and really thrive,” Curtis added.

Built around the theme of "the long game" Curtis' fireside chat with Shannon Larson of AE Wealth Management at the Women Advisor Summit will focus on leadership, resilience, and building a meaningful career over the long term. 

“Truly, the long game is what has happened to me - that you need to live through all the challenges and changes and decide who you want to be in this business,” Curtis told InvestmentNews.

Curtis founded Oakland, Calif.-based Curtis Financial Planning “from scratch” in 2001 after a 20-year career working in sales and marketing management in the packaged food industry.

“I was in another industry completely, but my passion was always personal finance, investing - I started investing in stocks when I was really young and watching the stock market, and it always fascinated me,” she said. “And so it was a dream for me to be a financial advisor.”

However, she learnt valuable skills in her earlier career, that have proved immensely useful to her as a financial advisor.

“I learned to be a good business person, for one, which is really important when you're starting your own business, but I also learned really good marketing skills from that industry,” she said.

“I, on purpose, marketed to a women clientele … at that time there wasn't hardly any advisor doing that - now there's tons of advisors that market to women, but it was sort of a new thing and it really paid off for me,” Curtis added.

The financial advisory industry has long been dominated by men. Women represent 26% of practicing financial advisors according to research released earlier this year by AdvizorPro, although this representation varies dramatically depending on where advisors work. Broker-dealers, for example, have approximately 31% female representation, while wirehouses are at 30.6%, and hybrid advisors are at approximately 25%. RIAs lag behind those other parts of the wealth management industry, with roughly 18% to 20% female representation, according to AdvizorPro.

InvestmentNews’ Women Advisor Summit will conclude with the Women to Watch Awards honoring the key women in the wealth management industry. 

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to attend the Women Advisor Summit. Register now.