Why I'm focusing my financial services on women
After some professional soul searching and years of experience working primarily with women as clients, I have decided to focus my business, Brooklyn Plans, on serving today's women specifically. I thought a lot about the clients I resonate most with and who resonate with me, and that's women. When I think about who needs financial planning the most, it's women. We still earn less for the same pay, we work less because of time off for family, and we live longer, so financial planning is even more crucial and more complex for us. When I think about who make the best candidates for financial planning, it's women. My women clients are go getters, good listeners, collaborators and planners who take my expertise under advisement and get the most out of the process.
There have never been more choices available to women to design and define their life’s contents. The need for financial planning has never been more urgent.
When I think about who I'm most inspired by, it's women. My women clients are out there, shattering glass ceilings, redefining what it means to be a woman and what a career looks like. They're changing the supposed order women traditionally followed, which was college, career, marriage, kids, and retirement, in that order. Some of my female clients are taking extended time off work now while they can to travel the world. Others are not married and having kids anyway. Others don't know if they ever want to have kids. There have never been more choices available to women to design and define their life’s contents. The need for financial planning has never been more urgent. Yet I work in an industry that is stubbornly dominated my men. Although the number of certified financial planners has grown significantly in recent years, we make up just 23% of the planners who can say they are certified. Women make up 51% percent of the population, so shouldn't there be more of a focus in the planning industry on the financial needs of women?
Maybe women wouldn't need dedicated financial planners, Apps, investment platforms, etc. if they were more involved in the design and development of these products, but until they are, I'm passionate about serving this underserved group through my services.
This goes far deeper than which gender your financial advisor is. In 2011, women made up just a quarter of senior management in the financial services industry. This means the financial products and services we all use are designed primarily by men. Which products and services? Your bank accounts, your finance Apps, your investment platform, your 401(k) options (and the way they're communicated to you), pretty much everything available to you was conceived of by men. Maybe women wouldn't need dedicated financial planners, Apps, investment platforms, etc. if they were more involved in the design and development of these products, but until they are, I'm passionate about serving this underserved group through my services. With all the recent negativity towards women exposed in the highest of offices of our country, it seems there's no time like the present to get started. This month is a month of fresh starts and renewed focus and I'm celebrating this new year with a commitment to creating financial solutions for women, by women.
