How To Develop More Female Advisors, Improve Opportunities - Study

Editorial Staff

12 July 2021

Female wealth advisors want enhanced training programs to help them break into the industry and ascend the ranks, a study that highlights the remaining hurdles for women in the sector, says.

Advisors want guidance that concentrates on building relationships, financial planning and operational excellence and mentorship programs with more female leaders available to mentor, Carson Group and Hidden Insights Group said in a new report.

Although they make up more than half the population, fewer than 20 per cent of financial advisors are women, the organizations said.

To compile the report, the groups carried out a quantitative and qualitative survey of female wealth advisors and financial planners from around the country, most with more than a decade of professional experience and more than 50 clients.

The report chimes with research from this publication showing that women - increasingly important holders of wealth - aren’t as widely represented in the sector as they could and should be. FWR has also been told that there are female inheritors/entrepreneurs who think that traditional advisory houses don’t take them seriously enough.

"Women account for an increasing amount of wealth in this country, and it's imperative that we tap their unique perspective as we reinvent the advisory profession and financial services in general," Teri Shepherd, co-president of Carson Group, said.

"One of the things we learned is that women perform more effectively with a concept called 'teaming' - a functional structure that supports and highlights each member of the team for the specialties and skillsets they bring to the client experience, rather than the more traditional practice we've seen for decades, where a single advisor, primarily male, is solely spearheading the direction of the firm."

Other themes that emerged across both the quantitative and qualitative portions of the study included:

-- Nearly 60 per cent of participants mentioned "firm culture and leadership" was their top hurdle when joining the industry;

-- Balancing the needs of career and family has led to the perception that female advisors are less committed or engaged than their male counterparts;

-- Hybrid compensation models are the most attractive to women because they provide some level of security and support a team-based structure;

-- More than 55 per cent of participants said mentoring and coaching were critical to their development; and

-- Forty-seven per cent of respondents said "client referrals" was a cornerstone of their practice, clearly making it the most effective sales approach for women.

Company differences
The primary reason for becoming an advisor for almost three-quarters of Carson's female advisors was to help people with their finances compared with just over half from other firms. While compensation was the main driver for more than 3 per cent of non-Carson advisors, it wasn't even mentioned by Carson advisors.

While advisors in other firms said they had seen progress in support for the growth and development of women increase only moderately, Carson advisors noted that they had seen a lot of progress.

The biggest hurdles currently for Carson advisors are practice management and administration and work/life balance , while for advisors with other firms they include selling and practice management and administration .