Hey Financial Industry. It's not us, it's you.

Just in this last week, I have talked to 5 women who have left advising because the industry hasn’t been supportive of her. 5 smart, capable, strong women who wanted to be advisors, studied for years to be a quality advisor, carry licenses that qualify them to provide high quality financial advice; Yet, instead of embracing her and her talents, her way of thinking, and her perspective, she was told to get in line and push harder because it’s a competition.

           When estimating the number of Americans withOUT a financial advisor, I have seen stats that range from 60%-99%. But all can agree that a majority of Americans are deciding to try it on their own without consulting a financial advisor. So why do advisors have such a scarcity mindset? Why is it such a competition to convince clients to move their money away from another firm or to stop working with an advisor they’ve had for years? Why are we telling each other that we are competing for business when we are fighting over only 40% of clients that could exist?! That’s mind boggling and small minded.

I am anticipating I will receive comments along the lines of “well, Abby, advisors are fighting over high net worth clients and there are a limited number of those. Or, it makes more sense to sell someone who is already convinced they need an advisor, instead of convincing someone to engage one in the first place.” My response is sure; I can see in your limited business model how that might be the case. However, if you take this challenge to be more creative and find new ways to serve clients, we might all bring more clients to the table. Based on the numbers, advisors could double their businesses without taking one client from another advisor. DOUBLE!

I bring up this dichotomy because it’s this same small business mindset that is keeping women from fully engaging as advisors. For sure, there are women advisors who are wildly successful; I know many and I applaud them and all their hard work. But what I also need you to recognize is these women went out on their own, so they could design their own businesses and create their own rules. The rules they were originally forced to live under were too restrictive and they had to make too many compromises to continue. Some, it was family issues with an inflexible work place that didn’t understand the demands on a mother or a daughter. For others, it was strict sales quotas that forced them to sell like a man, work with clients she didn’t want to work with, and sometimes endure pressure and abuse from those clients. For others, it was classic workplace stereotypical role placement, such as in addition to full time sales duties she’s responsible for communication, organization, coffee, printing, supplies, etc. And for too many, it was workplace harassment: comments on how she’s dressed, jokes about her body or how clients look at her differently, and even some that have had to endure abuse.

The financial advising industry needs women. We need women to be independent thinkers in advising and planning because, statistically, women perform extraordinarily well. Women need to be given the freedom to have a voice; their perspective needs to be heard and their direction needs to be followed. If you’re wondering why women are leaving your firm and you’ve comforted yourself that it was some excuse of spending more time with kids or heading in a different direction in her career, it’s time to realize that it’s not her, it’s you. There’s something happening at the firm that is causing women to leave this wonderful profession and you are missing out on a huge opportunity to support these outstanding people.

I did want to add a note at the end to recognize that I didn’t speak and haven’t spoken much about minorities or racial issues in the workplace and I wanted to address it. I am a white woman and I primarily work with and have spoken to white women in the industry. I have organically made connections and this is how it’s happened. I speak from the white woman perspective because that’s what I know well. However, it must be said that I am in the process now of learning and engaging with individuals who can help me change the face of my firm as well. I want black, Hispanic, Asian, LGBTQ+, etc. leadership in my company and I’m learning how to make that possible. I think it’s a conscious choice to engage in diversity and inclusion and I am choosing it.