Feeling some distance from the female investor you are pursuing? Mind the gap — the experience gap, that is.
While improved client experience can benefit the financial services industry across the board, the opportunity to grow is particularly significant among female investors. Women are often disengaged or underserved in their financial experience.
Despite the fact that women now control the bulk of personal wealth in the United States (Source: BMO Wealth Institute report, “Financial Concerns of Women.” U.S. Edition, March 2015), their position of influence is undermined by misperceptions around how they invest and what motivates them. The result? Few women feel understood by the financial services industry, and this disconnect is likely harmful to women’s financial wellness.
If we don’t change the conversation and engage women in ways that matter most to these investors, lost opportunities will continue to grow — for both financial advisors and female investors.
Her Path To The Bottom Line
The women’s segment isn’t a niche; it’s a driving force.
To be fair, the disconnect isn’t about the advisory community being oblivious to women. Quite the contrary. Female investors as a group are recognized as a priority. But actually pursuing and retaining women has all too often been reduced to a tick-mark item in the marketing activity box. Not surprisingly, that has left women feeling short-changed.
61 percent of women feel misunderstood by financial services – and 62 percent are walking away from their financial advisor upon the death of their spouse (Source: State Street Global Advisors’ survey, “Assessing the Landscape: Female Investors and Financial Advice.” 2015).
62 percent of women are willing to consider switching to another wealth manager, compared with 44 percent of men (Source: Roubini ThoughtLab report in conjunction with Bank of Montreal, Broadridge, CFA Institute, Cisco, eToro, Schroders, SEI and State Street, “Wealth and Asset Management 2021: Preparing for Transformative Change.” December 2016).
59 percent of self-guided female investors do not see a need for a financial advisor because they don’t see the value (Source: State Street Global Advisors’ survey, “Assessing the Landscape: Female Investors and Financial Advice.” 2015).