There are two big reasons why minority women are vastly underserved in the financial planning industry: Advisors haven’t done a great job seeking them out in the places they’re likely to be found, and very few advisors look like them.

Less than 3.5 percent of the nation’s 82,000 CFP professionals are black or Latino, according to self-reported data provided to the CFB Board. That’s far below the percentage of blacks (13.3) and Latinos (17.8) across the U.S. population. Just 23 percent of CFPs are women.

According to a 2017 study commissioned by the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning, white financial planners said their clientele is 83 percent white and 8 percent black. Client demographics differ greatly for black financial planners (64 percent white, 28 percent black) and Latino financial planners (67 percent white, 19 percent Latino).

Reshell Smith, MBA, CFP, the founder and CEO of AMES Financial Solutions in Ocoee, Fla., is reaching out to encourage more minorities to join the client and advisor ranks.

“I think there is this edge when people can relate to you,” she said. “I also think that African American women like success stories” and measurable results.

Smith (who joined Charles Schwab as a customer service rep and worked her way up there to financial planner) tells potential clients she’s a divorced, single mom. She also informs them that she has shown her clients how to build wealth and that they’ve been able to afford to send their children to college.

Advisors can help minority women, many of whom are single parents, said Smith, “make better money decisions and help them break some of the generational mismanagement habits” around finances. Many lack adequate life insurance, wills and powers of attorney.

African American women who are wealthy and married could also benefit from more financial education. They often let their spouses handle the finances (like many wealthy, married women) so a death or divorce may “leave them open to vultures,” she said.

(You can meet Smith and hear more about her practice and how to serve minority women during the “Underserved Females” session at FA’s Invest in Women conference.)

Smith has spoken many times at churches. Minority women can also be found at women empowerment events and festivals geared towards them, she said. “There isn’t a large percentage of minority women who golf,” she said, or who belong to fancy clubs.

She has appeared on an NBC affiliate and hosts “Reshell’s Money Minute” on a gospel radio station.  She uses these segments to boost financial literacy, to validate she’s an expert and to get her face out there, she said. She also suggests partnering with attorneys and with groups that serve minority women, such as local chambers of commerce.

Smith views “middle-market entrepreneurs” -- women who aren’t just starting out but who aren’t yet super-successful -- as a good target market. She charges hourly fees for “money coaching” services, which include helping clients create a budget and making sure they’re properly insured. Advisors interesting in helping underserved minority women could also start with some pro bono work, she said.

She speaks to students at historically black colleges and universities and attends the schools’ financial literacy days that welcome financial planners, bankers and insurance agents. She has also spoken to students at the University of South Florida.

Smith tells students, “It would be great to have you right here by my side -- as a female or as an African American or a minority -- because that’s what we need in our community.”