the411

Women and Wall Street: How the Conversation Has Changed

When Emerson wrote: “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience “, he could hardly have foreseen how true those words would ring with respect to women being recognized by Wall Street as the most powerful  economic demographic to be reckoned with. 

Thirty years ago when I first started practicing as a new financial advisor at one of the most venerable firms on “The Street", I remember my astonishment that women were barely recognized as decision-makers in their marginal role as "the wife of the client".  I immediately set about changing that by creating and presenting financial education seminars exclusively for women.  Management thought I was crazy when I suggested that we should initiate a women-centric financial education program.  Needless to say, I continued on my own to reach out to female audiences as a band of one. 

“And the Spring comes slowly up this way. “ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Last week a major milestone for women was reached as a substantial presence in financial services (a subsidiary of BNY Mellon Bank) published a report calling out the import of women as the most significant consumer entity ... and one not to be ignored: “Women Are Not a Niche Market; They Are a Significant Business Opportunity “.  Acknowledging women’s vast economic power, the real watershed achievement reflected in the report was the first-ever  recognition by the "The Street" that there are significant differences in working with women clients, which financial advisers will need to fully understand in order to meet - and exceed - women’s unique needs and expectations. No longer is it something that is said with a slight smirk and a sly wink.  No less, a leading financial institution calling out to its peers that: 1) this is a real phenomenon and 2) that it's time to look at seriously changing sales and marketing strategies, if they expect to maintain and grow their presence with this newly identified buyer. 

This is indeed momentous for it legitimizes in the most credible way what has been bubbling for a long time beneath the surface. It radically changes the conversation. Those firms I work with who have been early adopters are well on their way to a paradigm shift that isn't all that hard to deploy, but they recognize that there is more to it than just talking more with women clients and making sure to ask how the kids are doing at school. 

There are many layers to the behaviors, attitudes, and roles that comprise the unique differences of women as investors.  It goes deeper than the Men Are from Mars and Women Are from Venus rubric.  Antiquated presentation methods aren't effective and the selling style that has always worked with men is a turn-off for women.  Women may have a long way to catch up, but different doesn't mean dumb.  Understanding the Why and the How of approaching them differently is crucial.

Finally the gap that has divided women and the financial world for so long closes markedly. And I say:  It’s about time you two should meet.

 

Women and Finance Do Go Together

Came across this today: WHY P&L JOBS MATTER (for women) from the President of  the National Association of Female Executives, Betty Spence, in which she emphasizes the importance of women in profit-and-loss (P&L) positions as the pipeline to top management.

Excerpt: " The gender gap, which persists across all corporate functions--including "staff" positions in finance, legal, communications, human resources--remains widest on the "line" side (previously explained as those jobs responsible for both top and bottom lines of the business) among those running businesses."

President Spence's position runs parallel to mine, as I recently advocated for entrepreneurial women to step up and add more financial literacy to their overall game savvy.  You can read my monthly byline:  "Getting Down with the Numbers - Women and Finance Do Go Together" on the Women 2.0 Blog.

Behavioral Finance: New Year; New Habits

Lose Weight ... Work Out More ... Cut Back on Spending ... Get a Financial Plan – Sound familiar?

We all start with strong resolve and we are determined to crack the nut this time. But then what happens?

The Willpower Trap

Funny that this runs contra to everything we’ve previously been told: If we just have enough willpower we’ll be able to make that change … almost overnight. And yet that’s not the typical result.

Are we really that weak in our resolve? Behavioral science says “No”.  

Willpower alone is not the key ingredient, and our thinking that it should be often creates a new dilemma, instead of getting us to our goal.  So best to avoid that trap.

Women In The Bulls Eye: The Good, The Bad, and The ...?

The Good:The Age of Women Is Now Fully Recognized

Well, finally, some 40 years after Gloria Steinem and other feministas did those unthinkable things to bring on the revolution, they are noticing. "They" being everyone from Madison Avenue marketers to Wall Street ... and even more recently from the heights of the president of the World Bank. The demographics - and actuarial tables - are finally indisputable.

Meanwhile women are rockin' it, and "They" know we're going to bring it.

The big questions are: Do we know? ... Are we prepared? ... and, as importantly ... Have we stepped up to full ownership?

New Neuroscience Study Says Women Make Better Investors

Neuroscience Says Women Make Better Investors, But Why?

"Women are better wired than men to avoid emotionally driven investing mistakes." Women's more highly developed emotional processing capabilities make it possible says the latest from neuroscience research. Neuroscience Tells Us So While our general tendency of "risk-aversion" continues to leave too many women at impasse regarding investing, those who have taken the plunge seem to actually have an advantage over men according to the findings of Richard L. Peterson, psychiatrist and author of Inside the Investor's Brain (Wiley Trading, 2007) and co-author of MarketPsych: How to Manage Fear and Build Your Investor Identity (Wiley Finance, 2010).  Peterson points to women's higher levels of oxytocin and a thicker corpus callosum (fibers connecting the two halves of the brain) as likely reasons for the differential between the sexes and the basis for his survey results showing women as:

Warning: Is Your Financial Adviser An Authentic Women’s Specialist?

It’s a tough economic environment and that means shrinking revenues for all manner of financial advisers as well as the rest of us.  Searching for new clients is increasingly difficult.

By now it’s well-documented through academic studies that women as a buying group have the majority of the clout and that they control the majority of financial assets in this country.  They are also known within the financial services industry to be largely inexperienced and, to some with predatory instincts, this makes them a highly desirable target.  More so, it’s understood that women especially in divorce are highly vulnerable, impressionable, and since significant dollars are changing ownership, they can be ripe for the picking.