More women advisors equal more clients

If your success can be credited to a woman, be sure to thank them Friday, which is International Women’s Day. At some point, the world will take a moment to reflect on the women who have shaped us, molded us and supported us in this journey that we call life.

Despite recent studies showing women are lacking confidence when it comes to investing or that women advisors aren’t feeling as supported as they should be, there’s still the argument that they make terrific financial advisors.

Several women advisors talked about the experiences they’ve had the industry and the advice they have for the future leaders in the wealth management space.  

Chevonne Farler, a wealth management advisor at TBH Advisors, says she was inspired to be a financial planner after witnessing the hardships her mother struggled with when it came to managing her money.

“I wanted to help people,” she says. “I never wanted another woman or child to feel the way that my mom felt. I have a passion of really wanting women and all my clients to know wherever they are in their journey, that they have somebody who's looking at all the different sides of it and who’s really just in their corner.”

Among the challenges that have come with being a female advisor, Farler says, was dealing with sexism in the workplace early on in her career. Although there’s been an industry shift in the last five to six years, she just “learned to know how you're going to answer it,” she says.

“Right, wrong or indifferent. It's just the way the world is. You have to work twice as hard to be considered half as good but that's okay, because I like to work,” Farler says.

Kelly Regan, vice president and wealth advisor at Girard, says since she started working as an advisor, the industry has become more client-focused rather than one that’s solely focused on getting results.

“You've really started to see [female] advisors build a deeper relationship with their clients that are beyond investments and more of a holistic approach,” she says. “You're getting a lot more bang for your buck as a client as well, too.”

Regan added that historically, a man would be the one talking to the financial advisor or making investment decisions, and “that's rapidly changed.”

“In my book, I have a lot of female decision-makers, some married and some not, but I think that the primary person on the account has switched as well, too,” she said. “I've noticed a lot more female decision-makers when it comes to financial advisory.”

Farler noted that not only are women living longer than men are, but they may also be in a long-term care facility for a longer period.

“From a financial perspective, that can have a really big hit on a portfolio,” she said.

That challenge involves organizing meetings with clients’ older children, Farler said, to keep them involved in the financial planning process when their parents are placed in long-term care.

To help solve that, she said that when women are working, they should be taking advantage of any employer benefits, such as 401(k)s, and that “they really need to have a tight budget, know where their money's going, and really save for when they can't work.

“It’s hard because they may have even been later in entering the workforce to begin with,” Farler said. “They may have taken time off to have children so their trajectory may be a shorter time frame. Taking advantage of when they are working to put as much money aside for later on, [will really benefit them].”

Jennifer Storey, principal at Atlanta-based Homrich Berg, compares the success of women in leadership roles, such as those at JPMorgan, which, she says, has “amazing, brilliant females that are running different divisions of that company.

“Seeing that progression of females moving into higher roles, and being a role model, is amazing,” she said.

The industry is moving forward, Regan says, with more female clients wanting to work with female advisors.

“We're starting to close the gap a little bit, but as a minority in the financial advisor space, you're a commodity, so treat yourself like it,” she said. “I wish we got more resumes across our desk of female advisors, because there's certainly a need in our practice for that as well, too.”

As for those up-and-coming future female advisors and leaders of wealth management, Storey is both optimistic and enthusiastic about the future.

“Full steam ahead,” she says. “This is such an amazing opportunity and a great business, especially the fee-only world, for women. We’re natural problem-solvers.

“You want to be that person who opens the door for younger generations to come in and go, ‘The world is your oyster,’” Storey added. “It’s a great career path and I really love what I do.”