Why are there so few women in financial planning?

Better expertise or baffling odds?

Being the token woman in the room at a financial advisory industry meeting is far from unfamiliar for me. It’s a routine occurrence, in fact, since there are so few women in the profession at all. But why on earth is there such a gender imbalance in the financial advisory sector?

In April 2014, the CFP Board in Washington, D.C. released a study designed to answer precisely that question as part of its Women’s Initiative. The “Making More Room for Women in the Financial Planning Profession” survey tried to ascertain why the women who took part in the study didn’t want to go into the financial advisory industry, and the findings came as no surprise to me:

• Women lack awareness of financial planning as a career path.
• Women harbor misperceptions about financial planning.
• Women’s reluctance to take professional risks may be keeping them from entering the financial planning profession.
• Gender discrimination and bias exist within the financial planning profession, likely resulting in women feeling unwelcome and unsupported.

That’s a substantial set of real or perceived barriers to entering the field, but those aren’t the only reasons. After 20 years in the profession, my observation is that the industry functions pretty much as an old boys’ club. Many men are initially drawn to financial advisory as a career because of their father or a golf buddy, who usually offer encouragement and help the newcomer establish connections in addition to serving as a model.

For women, the experience is much different. It’s a tougher initial leap for most women. As children, they rarely receive encouragement or education around financial issues and as a result, are frequently uncomfortable with the very concept of money and its management in adulthood. Add to that the very limited number of women who can serve as role models or mentors within the field, and it’s easy to see why so many women never even consider a career in financial advisory.

It was easier for me. See, I grew up with the same almost all-male environment in college. I earned a bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech, where the male to female ratio is 3:1. (The women on campus commonly described this unusual situation as one “where the odds are good, but the goods are odd.”) Since this imbalance was something that seemed normal to me after four years, going into a niche with a similar or an even starker ratio didn’t seem particularly foreign or intimidating.

While many women may have an interesting relationship with money within their own family dynamic, there are a number of sound reasons for them to consider entering the financial advisory profession. Two things attracted me to the industry, versus going into engineering as my degree might naturally incline me.

First, it offers a career path where there is an opportunity to truly make a difference in people’s lives. In financial advisory, I would be able to create a substantial impact for individuals and families. Not so much in engineering.

Second, it’s a business model that is quasi-entrepreneurial and allowed me to at least perceive that I had great work/life balance. Prior to graduating, I had always searched for the perfect industry that would allow me to push myself professionally, but also be able to have a family. A career in financial planning offers plentiful challenge along with flexibility, and success for those who excel and work hard.

That’s not to say it’s easy, by any means. While I control my calendar, I certainly don’t work any less than I would have in engineering. Typically, my weekends are consumed with work and my thoughts are consumed with other people’s financial problems. But that’s because I choose for it to be this way, because I love what I do and I genuinely care about the people who engage me.

The slim number of women in financial planning makes sense based on culture, education and tradition. But my hope for our industry is that more women will embrace financial advisory as a potential career track. I know that for me, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

Meredith Moore is a 20-year veteran of the financial advisory industry who specializes in bringing a customized approach to support the highly personal dynamics that govern her clients’ relationship with money and success. She is the recipient of numerous industry awards and a noted speaker and writer focusing on the intersection of power, money, and gender within relationships. Ms. Moore can be reached at www.artisanfsonline.com.

Artisan Financial Strategies, 1125 Cambridge Square, Suite C, Alpharetta, GA 30009 (770) 587–0281.