Among the myriad differences between men and women you can add this to the list: How they view finances, as well as the relationship they want to have with their primary financial advisor.

“The women I work with want to talk about their money in different ways,” said Deena Katz, a founding partner of Evensky & Katz Wealth Management and an associate professor at Texas Tech University’s personal financial planning department. She spoke today during a packed session in Las Vegas at the 5th Annual Financial Advisor Retirement Symposium, with more than 500 attendees. The conference is sponsored by Financial Advisor and Private Wealth magazines.

“Women measure success in different ways, and it isn’t necessarily about how much money they’ve accumulated,” Katz said. “The money they’ve made is a vehicle to accomplish other things in life, and it’s not the end-all and be-all. So when we talk with them, we need to be respectful and mindful of that. It’s not about ‘how much money we can make you’ or a conversation about the hot stock of the past 10 minutes. It’s about ‘how can we use this money for good.’ And it makes the conversation so much different.”

Katz’s co-panelist at the session, author and wealth management consultant Hannah Shaw Grove, noted that many of the women she’s conducted research with see financial planning as an important part of preparing for their future, but it’s not something they necessarily get excited about.

“Women as a group see finances and financial management as a necessary evil and something that provides a means to an end,” Grove said. “Because of that, a lot of them realize it’s not an expertise they have and they’re more willing to engage in specialists and experts who can provide the necessary structure and framework to get that means in place to help them.”

She added that women are more likely to establish a plan and stick with it, and to take a long view of things rather than making minor adjustments along the way. They also tend to underestimate their ability to make the right decision. “As a result,” Grove said, “there’s a lot less risk in their portfolios.”

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

But women aren’t a monolithic force, and Grove said there’s a difference between women who’ve created their wealth and those who acquired it through an inheritance.

“Those two groups have some essential differences worth knowing about,” she said. “Those who earn their wealth typically have about half of what people who marry or inherit their wealth have. They also bring their business background to the table. They’re used to making decisions and asking for information and delegating tasks they don’t want to do or can’t do themselves.

“Women who marry or inherit their wealth often haven’t been part of the wealth creation process, so they’re more risk averse and protective of their assets,” Grove continued. “But they’re also more likely to use it to help other people.”

Shaw says her research has consistently found that women—particularly those who’ve married or inherited wealth—have a strong interest in being philanthropic, socially responsible and in giving back to the community. She asked Katz what emergence of impact investing means for advisors regarding how they engage with women.

Katz noted that in her experience women are more goal-oriented and they like to have an impact on things. They also see money as a means to do something.

“When we work with women we need to be mindful of keeping those goals in the [planning] process, such as helping a charity accomplish a particular activity,” Katz said. For example, she mentioned a client who’s a great reader and that one of the activities Katz found for her was putting together mobile book units that travel around the country to places that don’t have libraries.

“This is a delight for her, and her discussions with me are very goal-oriented about how many trucks the project will need and how many books will be on those trucks,” Katz said. “That’s what gets her excited.”

Katz further explained that women don’t necessarily look at money as power. Rather, they view it as a means to an end to accomplish things.

“We don’t spend a lot of time on [performance] reporting because they’re not really interested in short-term portfolio performance,” she said. “They’re interested in the long-term effects and what that’ll mean for their ability to do things in life.”

Relationships Are Paramount

Katz noted the relationship between a woman and her primary financial advisor is paramount, and that it trumps the technical expertise of the advisor. “They realize you can apply what you know to help them, but they very much want to know you’ll be in that trusted relationship,” she said. “It goes both ways for either male or female advisors.”

Grove said that her research on why women switch financial advisors or financial institutions always comes back to the interaction they had with their primary financial professional. “It rarely comes back to the technical expertise or what designations or licenses the advisor holds,” she explained. “A lot of what they’re looking for is a relationship where they feel like they’ve got somebody on their side.

“When we ask female investors about their primary advisory relationship, a lot of them are apathetic about it,” Grove continued. “They’re not overtly dissatisfied or actively looking for another provider, but they’re underwhelmed. And that means they’re susceptible to overture, and they’re open to new ideas and relationships to people who they think can deliver what they need.”

As a result, she said, turnover is a reality for female clients and that has implications for advisors interested in building a practice around women.

Katz agreed. “All of us in the service business are selling the intangible,” she said. “Because of that, if it breaks down it always becomes personal, and with women more so than with men. So we need to be aware of making intangible things very tangible by saying, ‘here’s what we’re doing and here’s why we’re doing it.’”

To Katz’ thinking, financial advisors aren’t in the business of wealth management as much as they’re in the business of managing client expectations. “The sooner you realize that, the better the relationships with your women clients will be,” she said.