Women tend to seek financial advice when they are faced with some kind of triggering life event, which makes it difficult for them to make logical decisions.

That was one of the findings of research conducted by myWorth, a media company that provides financial education to women, according to Ande Frazier, who heads the company.

These triggering events are not necessarily negative; they could be anything from expecting a child to launching a business to the death of a spouse or a catastrophic illness, Frazier said. She said they serve as the launching pad for women to get knowledgeable and educated about their money.

Frazier, along with Christine Palmer Hennigan of Divorce Wealth Strategies and 1847Financial spoke on a panel entitled, "What Women Want" at the 5th Annual Invest in Women conference in Atlanta. The three-day event, which has attracted nearly 500 attendees, is being sponsored by Financial Advisor magazine.

Hennigan, whose practice deals mainly with divorce and females, pointed out that almost everyone who comes to her has some kind of crisis or urgent matter they are dealing with, and they come with a range of emotions.

“But what’s really tricky about that is you don’t have the time to work through what you normally would and you don’t necessarily have the time to establish long relationships with all the professional involved,’’ she said.

This is particularly true with women who are dealing with life after a divorce, she said.

"I am seeing high-net-worth women who have never touched the finances and have very little knowledge, so they are diving into an unfamiliar world,’’ she said.

Hennigan added that it’s hard not having all the pieces of the puzzle until the 11th hour, “but for these women going through crises, we need to let them know that we have their backs,’’ she said.

Frazier said women want to feel that their advisors have empathy. “We shouldn’t have to dumb down the language, but in speaking to women we need to be careful that we are speaking in a way that it’s not ‘let me help you, you need you do this, you need to do that,’" she said. "We need to recognize that women need to be our partners in this journey."

Hennigan added that advisors need to know who they are working with so they can emotionally handle the situation. “But I think when you are focusing on empathy, you are really abandoning the traditional financial planning process. It’s very different how we practiced 20 or 30 years ago,’’ she said.

“It’s really a discovery process. ... You kind of have to dive deep and let them understand,’’ Hennigan added.

The myWorth study also uncovered that many people grew up with beliefs about money, including the notion that "money is the root of all evil," Frazier said. 

Hennigan said she has worked with a lot of clients who are forced to make the financial decisions in their household for the first time. In one case, she said, a husband controlled all the finances and didn't allow his wife to even ask questions. Hennigan likened the situation to the movie, "Sleeping With The Enemy."
    
“The problem is you really need to be dialed in, because if you don’t know what’s there, you don’t know what’s missing,’’ Hennigan said.

Frazier added that the myWorth survey showed that women need advice that goes beyond just investments, and delves into areas such as insurance and estate planning issues.

When asked, ‘what does financial success mean to you?’ Frazier said the response by women in the survey overwhelmingly revolved around “I want to know that I will be OK, I will not be forgotten, or that I will not be put in a nursing home where nobody changes the sheets,’’ she said.