New Scholarship Celebrates 10 Years of Making More Room for Women in Financial Planning

Ten years ago, under the leadership of then-CFP Board Chair Nancy Kistner , CFP?, a group of female CFP? professionals, experts in women’s issues, and the heads of several financial planning firms and CFP Board Registered Programs came together to address a major issue: the underrepresentation of women in financial planning.

At the time, CFP Board had seen several years of impressive growth in the number of CFP? professionals. However, the percentage of women certificants remained flat. Nancy and her team set out to identify the challenges women face in pursuing financial planning careers and recommend research-based solutions. Thus, the Women’s Initiative (WIN) was born.

This week CFP Board Center for Financial Planning recognized WIN’s achievements to date by announcing a new endowed scholarship program to support the next generation of female financial planners. The WIN Endowed Scholarship program will ensure talented and motivated women have the support they need to pursue a career in financial planning and attain CFP? certification. It also represents the next step in WIN’s critical work.

Since 2013, WIN has consistently pushed to increase the number of women entering the financial planning profession, including the number of women CFP? professionals. Shortly after the creation of the initiative, the founding members formed the WIN Council , a panel composed of women leaders from across the financial planning ecosystem who provide guidance and feedback on the initiative’s programs. WIN’s groundbreaking research and early work provided a foundation for the 2015 launch of CFP Board’s Center for Financial Planning and its efforts to create a more diverse and sustainable financial planning profession. WIN is now a pillar of the Center’s diversity-focused programming, which includes our outstanding network of WIN Advocates . This group of nearly 500 volunteer CFP? professionals works in their communities to raise awareness of financial planning as a rewarding career opportunity for women. Our popular CFP Board Mentor Program also originated from WIN.

As I said when WIN launched, achieving gender parity within the financial planning profession is a marathon, not a sprint. But there are promising signs that we are moving the needle. In 2022, the number of women CFP? professionals increased to 22,446 (23.6% of all CFP? professionals) — an increase of 4.4% over 2021. Women made up nearly 30% of new CFP? professionals last year.

We know we still have a long way to go, and we remain committed to growing that percentage further. In addition to WIN, the Center currently administers 18 different scholarship programs that help awardees complete the education and exam requirements for CFP? certification. To date, about two-thirds of Center scholarship recipients have been women. We also use the Center-published Guide to Careers in Financial Planning to generate interest in the profession by providing students, recent graduates and career changers with information on starting and sustaining successful financial planning careers. And a forthcoming initiative will involve extensive outreach to college-bound high school students and college underclassmen to increase their awareness and perception of financial planning as an attractive career choice. Both seek to attract younger, more diverse talent to our profession.

Of course, drawing more women to financial planning is only half the battle. The other half is providing female financial planners with the support they need to stay in the profession. Here again, our WIN Advocates play an important role. Many of our volunteers support female financial planners along their educational and professional journeys by sharing knowledge and guidance, including through CFP Board-hosted webinars and events. Our mentor program and Candidate Forum also help connect female candidates for CFP? certification with experienced CFP? professionals and their peers.

We will continue developing bold new programs that encourage more women to enter and grow within the financial planning profession. Success will have considerable benefits for firms, clients and individual advisors. Female advisors bring unique knowledge and skill sets to the profession, including direct experience with the financial challenges and inequalities women often face. Some female CFP? professionals have established women-focused practices that hire more female financial planners and serve an all-female client base, enabling the profession to reach more of the 85% of women who control their family’s daily finances. And the more women see themselves reflected in the profession, the more likely they are to consider financial planning as a viable career option.

As we celebrate 10 years of WIN — and 50 years of CFP? certification — we invite all financial planning firms and other stakeholders to join our efforts to build a better future for our profession. Together we can make the next 10 years even more impactful.?