Changing the narrative for women in wealth

As a leading voice for women in wealth management, Hilary Hendershott, founder of Indiana-based Hendershott Wealth Management, is dedicated to changing the status quo in the finance world because when she first started working at her father’s firm, all she saw was the same character on repeat.

“My colleagues are all [my father’s] colleagues, so, old white men,” she says. “I’d look around me and that’s all I saw. I was thinking to myself on a continuous basis, who is going to hire me? What wealthy person is going to trust me [if I’m] the wrong gender and the wrong age?”

Hendershott had a pivotal moment when she realized that actually, some women prefer dealing with women. However, she still had doubts.

“I had had my male colleagues ask me [whether] my father lets me talk to clients. Or assume I’m probably doing the marketing for the firm.”

These dismissive comments had Hendershott concerned, wondering how comfortable female clients might feel, too. It soon became clear, however, that her instincts were correct.

“It was one of those moments you can’t turn back from because I saw something that I had never seen before. And then, of course, I could never unsee it. After that moment, my business exploded like mushrooms in terms of women reaching out to work with me. That’s how I really decided to [form a] niche working with women and how I created that voice.”

According to research from McKinsey, women’s financial assets are expected to grow by 8.1 percent by 2030, while men’s are only projected to rise by 2.7 percent. What’s more, by 2030, women’s share of investments is expected to reach a total of $10 trillion – or 45 percent of AUM. However, that’s not a reason to take our foot off the pedal just yet.

“I always say that wealth-building is the final frontier of feminism,” Hendershott says. “Women have made gains in terms of sharing household roles, in terms of being present in the boardroom, [and] we’re in the executive suite. And yet when I meet with women, a lot of times I find a fear, an avoidance. Am I actually going to put money in accounts titled to my name, and those accounts are going to grow exponentially?

“Because we fear it's not feminine, we fear [men] won’t be attracted to us.… And so we grapple with all of that with our clients. I tend to attract clients in a marital couple for whom the woman is making some of the financial decisions. It spans the gamut. Some women are very matter-of-fact about money; some women are very committed to wealth-building, too. I have seen a willingness for women to engage in these conversations [compared] to when I started in the business in 1999.”