A third of women separated, divorced or widowed in the past five years feel patronized by financial advisors, and 51% may not work with an advisor again. Fully 44% of professional women that represent the primary source of income for the household feel financial advisors treat women differently. And women whose primary contributions to the household tend to be non-financial feel “unconsciously excluded” in conversations with financial advisors.
It’s just a few of the findings from New York Life Investments about just how badly financial advisors are serving female investors.
Given that women control a substantial amount of wealth in this country—$14 trillion in the U.S., according to the company—and 70-80% of all consumer purchasing, it’s a problem.
It’s one of the reasons New York Life recently launched Women and Investing, a new value-add program for financial advisors.
The company spent the past year designing, developing and reimagining how advisors can engage and partner differently with their female clients to help them achieve financial independence.
The opportunity
The size of the opportunity is, of course, massive:
- 70% of women with investable household assets above $250,000 have an existing advisor, yet 38% of women are less than completely satisfied with their financial advisor and 67% of female investors change advisors as a result of poor service.
- 62% of women believe they have unique investment needs and challenges
- 55% of women share their experiences with financial advisors amongst friends and family
- 26% of women feel they have less access to financial education
“As a firm, we stand for a lot more than investing,” Yie-Hsin Hung, CEO of New York Life Investment Management, said in a statement. “We understand the importance of guidance and recognized a clear opportunity to help advisors benefit from these industry dynamics. We are providing not only invaluable information and analysis, but the actionable practice management solutions advisors need to capitalize on this massive opportunity.”
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.