For years, the financial advice industry has been trying to attract more women and minorities. The numbers are still lacking.

No one is ready to admit defeat, however. Everyone involved with the effort to diversify the field knows that systemic changes take time. But they also know that more progress is needed and that it needs to be faster.

“We need to create new social networks that allow more people to explore opportunities in financial fields,” says George F.A. Parnell, founder of Parnell Law in New York City and chief administrative officer of Ellavoz Impact Capital. “The financial industry has gotten better, but we need to change the way jobs are sourced so that those without extensive networks of well-off associates” can get a start in the business.

“What you have seen historically is that the people who have gone into the financial business have connections” with those who can invest, he adds.

Providing more diversity in the financial industry will benefit clients and advisors alike, Parnell notes. “The numbers tell us what exist but they do not tell us why it is so difficult” to diversify. “It is because many people do not have the networks necessary” to succeed in the financial industry.

Shundrawn A. Thomas, president of Northern Trust Asset Management in Chicago, has written extensively about racism and the need to include all members of society in all industries. That means women and minorities need to have equity in a profession to have influence, he says.

“People are getting more comfortable talking about inclusion, or the lack of it. If you don’t address the issue head-on, you cannot make progress,” he says. “We have fallen short of our goals—sometimes well short—when promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. We have to change the nature of the dialogue to be successful.

“Firms also have to start at the top to successfully diversify,” Thomas says. “An organization has to start at the board level and senior leadership in order to have the moral authority to talk about diversity.”

In that vein, Northern Trust has committed to increasing its trade execution services to include work with broker-dealers owned by minorities, women, veterans and people with disabilities. The execution target for its Minority Brokerage Program is increasing from its previous goal of 10% to 15% of firms.

There is still a lot of work left to do. Women now make up nearly 51% of the population, Hispanics 18.5%, Blacks 13% and Asian-Americans 6%. And yet according to some statistics, women make up only about 20% of financial advisors, while Blacks and Hispanics together make up only about 6%.

There have been some increases in the number of certified financial planners. Nearly 89,000 advisors have earned the CFP designation; 23.3% of those are women, as of the end of 2020. The number of Black and Latino CFP professionals grew to 3,688, an increase from 2019’s 3,274.

The CFP Center for Financial Planning was created in part to promote diversity in the field. The center recently appointed Dawn Harris to the newly created position of director of diversity and inclusion to direct the center’s diversity expansion efforts. “The increase in the number of CFP professionals of color reflects the strong efforts by CFP Board and the Center for Financial Planning to create a more diverse and sustainable financial planning profession,” says Kevin R. Keller, the CFP Board’s chief executive officer.

D.A. Abrams, managing director of the center, says the goal of expanding financial firms to include female advisors and advisors of all races is “strictly a matter of good business for the firms. Personally, I work with a large financial advisory firm, and I would not work with one that did not have a diverse workforce, and a lot of others agree with me.”

“The number of women and members of diverse races is growing but too slowly,” says Skip Schweiss, president of the Financial Planning Association. “As a profession, we need to put our foot on the accelerator to draw in a more diverse population. The white males who dominate the field will be retiring over the next decade, and the industry is going to need new blood. More people are looking for financial help, and many want advisors who look like them.”

The perception of the industry is one of the barriers to diverse members: Many potential advisors still feel financial planning is all about Wall Street rather than about helping individuals, Schweiss says. “It is going to take a lot of time to bring in a more diverse population of advisors. And I am not just talking about young people but also about women who are coming back into the workforce, ex-military and career changers.”

He says the FPA is working with schools, colleges and military organizations to try to draw a more diverse group of people to the profession.

Despite the many efforts by organizations and firms, “the numbers are still abysmal,” says Christopher Woods, chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee at the FPA. “It is so hard to make progress. Every firm is handling the issue with varying degrees of success. If you did an examination of every firm, you would find different holes in each of their efforts.

“It comes down to recruitment, retention and promotion,” he adds. Once a woman or minority candidate is hired, he or she needs to see a path forward in the firm and needs to feel included and valuable. “Unfortunately, the numbers have not moved much. Employees also need a safe path for reporting incidents that make them feel uncomfortable or not included,” Woods says.

“You still do not see a lot of diversity in senior positions. Mentors and sponsors can help,” he adds. People need to be supported while they build networks to draw clients from, and they need a financial safety net while they are getting started, especially in an industry that often operates on commissions at first.

Angela Holliday, president of Frost Brokerage Services and Frost Investment Services in San Antonio, feels “progress is being made but incrementally due to the long-standing nature of our social and cultural issues. The difficulty attracting women and people of color are deep-rooted issues that are complex and multifaceted,” she continues. “The financial services business model was built on attracting wealthy individuals as clients, usually white males, who could afford products and services. Unfortunately, wealth inequality in the United States has continuously increased. Aspiring to a profession where you’ve seen someone who looks like you has only served white males as women and people of color have been minimally a part of the picture.”

The industry cannot continue to let older, white males dominate the profession, she says, because those firms that fail to work with diverse communities will miss opportunities and suffer competitive disadvantages. “As for employees,” she says, “diversity has consistently proven to increase the financial performance of the firm, as well as fostering creativity through a greater variety of problem-solving approaches and ideas.”

Moneta Investment Group Advisors, a fee-only financial services firm with offices in Denver and St. Louis, has succeeded in recruiting and retaining women advisors says Bethany Wilkinson, chief talent officer, and Anthony Palazzolo, director of strategic planning and performance management.

Fifty-four percent of Moneta’s total staff members are female. In the management level, 62% of the members are women. “We have made diversity part of our decision-making process,” Wilkinson says.

“Once we have a diverse advisory base, we can better serve a diverse client base,” Palazzolo adds. “This is not a project for us; it is an ongoing process and it is done intentionally.”

The advice and assistance of women financial advisors is often sought out by both female and male clients. Firms also are finding it easier to hire women, according to Nina O’Neal, investment advisor and founder of the Female Advisor Network, a national organization of female financial advisors. “But firms find it hard to keep women advisors because they quit when they do not receive the support they need inside the firm,” she says. O’Neal participated in a recent webinar, “Closing the Gap: Women in Financial Services,” sponsored by FMG Financial Services, which is based in Worcester, Mass.

FMG produces a guide on how firms can provide more help for female advisors, including everything from providing equal compensation to improving the workplace culture. A workplace welcoming to women has not always been available at financial firms.

“Historically, the industry has not taken the steps necessary to intentionally address the woman’s experience,” says Sandy Botcher, head of field talent and leader of the women’s initiative at Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual. “Women need to be supported to stay at a firm and grow.

“Women are taking more control of the family finances, and [including women advisors] is essential for a firm to grow,” Botcher says. “The effort to diversify the industry is a marathon, and sometimes progress is not seen overnight.”