Another challenge firms could assist advisors with marketing themselves and attracting new clients, according to the study.
“There are some really innovative firms out there who are doing excellent, innovative, and effective marketing on behalf of their advisors and their advisors love them for it and they are successful because of it,” she said.
The center has said its goal is to increase the number of women in the financial advisor profession to 25% by 2025.
That effort has been made more difficult the pandemic has forced women to assume more responsibilities at home, according to Fiorella. At the same time, she said, the rise of remote work arrangements has made it easier for women to work and maintain a balance with their responsibilities at home.
In fact, the study found that the second-largest reason why advisors got into the advisory industry was because it allows this type of flexibility between work and home life.
“You could create a lifestyle that not only had some financial flexibility, but also allowed for you to create a lifestyle with that flexibility,” said Kaylee Ranck, the center's research director.
Asked for the top three factors that attributed to their success, advisors cited trust with their clients, followed by individual effort and specialized knowledge.
Ranck said 72.5% of women surveyed defined themselves as successful, compared with 71.7% of men.
There was, however, a schism between men and women when it came to their success in their early years of being an advisor. Only 57% of men serving as new advisors considered themselves successful. For women, it was 72%.
“Women are coming and they’re powering through those early tough years and we as an industry are just trying to make sure that we retain them,” Fiorella said.