What Women Want

What do women want? There are obvious shallow things like great hair and lots of shoes, but women want much more important things like equal pay, success, and respect. It’s pretty clear that the feminism movement over the past decades has paid off and is continuing to pay off. Despite the fact that offensive things are still said and maternity leave in America isn’t as luxurious as in other countries, women have it pretty good, we’d say. Yes, there’s still a “wage gap” but it’s shrinking and as young women, we’re very proud to make our living in an industry that is dominated by men. Today, women are doctors, engineers, politicians, and financial advisors which was unheard of a hundred years ago. Are we still missing something? What do women really want (and deserve) when it comes to financial and family planning, respectively?

Women want to be decision-makers. More than ever before, women are the decision-makers when it comes to household financial choices such as picking a mortgage lender, which credit card to choose, and what the budget should be for things like groceries and vacations. Women are taking charge and it’s working.
Women want to be independent. Today’s couples are keeping separate accounts. More often than not, our married clients come to us with only one or two joint accounts such as a checking account and a brokerage account for investing, then keep their other accounts solo. He may have his 401k invested how he likes, and she’ll have hers invested completely differently to match her more conservative or aggressive comfort level instead of simply following her counterpart’s strategy. There may also be accounts outside of employer-sponsored accounts that they each manage differently to match unique goals.
Women want to plan for ev-ery-thing! Not to stereotype, but we’ll just say that in most cases we’ve come across, guys who we meet tend to stress less about the short-term and simply focus on the big picture. Our female clients think about all the “maybes’, “what ifs”, and “just in case” scenarios. She prefers to invest in various places for things like her child’s college fund, her daughter’s imaginary future wedding, maybe a vacation fund, retirement planning, and even think about what will happen after she dies to make sure money is there for her beneficiaries no matter what.
Women want meaningful relationships. This doesn’t just apply to friends and family, women want a personal relationship with the person managing her investments. There are countless online banking and investment websites that allow you to invest and trade on your own (if you’re savvy and confident enough to take on this challenge – good for you) and there are also online advisors (aka robo advisors) who will choose investment portfolios for their clients without ever actually having a conversation or meeting. The women we know prefer to have a personal contact instead of just an 800 number to a call center.

A lot has changed over the past fifty years. Women have not only joined the workforce in outstanding numbers, but we are leading in our fields and managing highly successful organizations. With all this production, money is piling up and women need investment advice, too. The good news is, there are now more women financial advisors than ever before and these numbers are growing. With enough research and digging, you can find a female advisor you like and trust in your area or can work with us remotely if you’re distant. Technology makes all of this possible.

If you're interested in learning more about our initiative to support women, check out our website here: For Women. We are helping women manage their wealth and we want to help you, too.

Investing involves risk including the potential loss of principal. No investment strategy can guarantee a profit or protect against loss in periods of declining values. Please note that individual situations can vary. Therefore, the information presented here should only be relied upon when coordinated with individual professional advice.