Unfortunately, that’s not always the case in the financial services industry. Women executives have recounted their exasperating conversations with other advisors to Danielle Blunt, president of Brea, Calif.-based Blunt Wealth Services, an independent firm affiliated with Raymond James Financial Services. “They tell me, ‘Can’t they see I have a brain? This is just not what I studied, I studied something else,’” she says.
Blunt spends a lot of time educating female clients about inflation, interest rates, the economy and other factors. “Education is the key with managing expectations,” she says. She frequently reminds clients that the market corrects at least once a year by 10% and she encourages them to focus on ascending to the top of the hill instead of getting distracted by the “yo-yos” the media focuses on.
In general, she finds women executives to be very conservative investors. When they tell her they’ve worked hard for their money and don’t want to lose it, she says, “I tell them, ‘We need to make sure we’re planning for all of your life, not just today.’” She reminds them they’re likely to outlive most men.
Blunt, whose clients range from their mid-40s to their late 70s, finds women frequently put themselves last, especially those in the sandwich generation. Borrowing a safety procedure from the airline industry, she reminds them to put on their oxygen masks before helping others—whether it’s their young kids, parents or adult children who’ve moved back home.
Most important, she recognizes that successful women don’t want to be told what to do but want to be given knowledge that will empower them to make their own decisions. So she tells them, “I’ll be your training wheels, I’m not going to let you fall—you’ll be OK and then I’ll watch and wave from a distance.” Nothing makes her happier or more excited, she says, than to see female clients blossom with financial knowledge and confidence.
Sounding Board
Women breadwinners often get advice from multiple professionals, including their accountants, investment and insurance experts and attorneys, says Stewart, of BNY Mellon Wealth Management. To ensure clients are interpreting all these messages cohesively, she says, “We become a sounding board to guide them.”
An internal networking group at BNY Mellon Wealth Management brings together clients and centers of influence, including CPAs, appraisers and attorneys, she says. She also benefits from being a member of the Pittsburgh Professional Women, a cross section of women from different industries.
Stewart, who holds business and law degrees, spends a lot of time helping women entrepreneurs figure out their business succession plans and how they dovetail with other planning.
Women often get too caught up in the day-to-day issues of running a business to think ahead, but it’s critical to put a well-rounded plan in place, she says. She has seen businesses devastated when someone passes away and an unexpected partner steps in. Powers of attorney and funding for buy-sell agreements are important.
Stewart also helps some clients communicate with their children about succession planning and she sometimes acts as a sounding board here, too. Women may be concerned about giving their children a handout, she says.
Rhonda Ducote, the president/principal of Apriem Advisors in Irvine, Calif., started her firm’s Women of Wisdom (WOW) program in 2014 to help educate, empower and encourage all women to get more involved in their financial lives. Breadwinners and housewives “have a lot more in common than you think,” she says.
She tells career women, “You want to run your finances the way you run your business, and you want your finances to work as hard as you do.”
Ducote helps her clients’ advisors work together as a team and she tries to prepare clients for all those “what if” scenarios. She readdresses planning with clients every year, partly because, she says, “Women can change their minds a lot.”
She also talks to her clients, 75% of whom are female, about diversifying their portfolios. Commercial real estate and rental properties can be great diversifiers to replace income after someone retires or sells a business, she says.
Male advisors can learn a lot about working with female breadwinners by observing how female advisors interact with them.
Bill Pugh, a CFP and vice president of wealth management at Apriem Advisors, had advised women clients before joining Apriem nearly three years ago. But he picked up more nuances while shadowing Ducote during the firm’s three-month training program for new hires.
“I was impressed by the bonds she built, personally and professionally,” he says, and the way in which she asked the right open-ended questions about clients’ businesses, kids and health.
He has helped organize some women-specific events for Schwab, which has a relationship with Apriem Advisors. And he’s still improving his own skills. With women clients in particular, he says, “I feel like I have to be a listener first.”