Dream teams: How collaboration helps women financial advisors thrive

Despite promising projections of a 17% bump in demand for financial advisors in coming years, today just over 27% of current practitioners are women. To close this gender gap, our industry must embrace teaming and other collaborative structures that offer women advisors the support, confidence and flexibility they need to succeed. 

I launched my career as a financial advisor 10 years ago after my infant son became seriously ill with RSV. I was years into a corporate career in financial services, but the intensity of that experience clarified my priorities. Becoming a financial advisor, I decided, would give me flexibility, align with my values and allow me to have a direct impact on people's lives. 

I was confident that the skills and disciplines I'd mastered in my corporate career would provide a solid foundation for the change. Still, stepping away from the security of a six-figure paycheck wasn't an easy decision. I vividly remember the weight of mortgage payments and day care costs. 

I considered starting out as a salaried advisor or going solo, but neither option felt right; I didn't want to replicate the corporate job, nor did I want to navigate the unknowns of a new profession completely alone. 

READ MORE: 3 ways for firms to win more female financial advisors

The power of collaboration

My solution — and my saving grace — was a hybrid "teaming" approach that allowed me to build my practice alongside a group of advisors whose values, culture and client approach matched mine. I allied myself with an established female advisor who specialized in divorce planning. I shared office space, staff resources and marketing at cost. As time went on, newer advisors joined us. 

This type of collaboration allowed me to maintain full autonomy as a business owner while softening the overwhelming challenges of starting an advisory practice. Initially, I shared a portion of my revenue in exchange for critical support in prospecting, financial planning and navigating complex client meetings. 

READ MORE: ​​For financial advisors, teaming comes with advantages: Cerulli study

This collaborative structure provided an enormous confidence boost, reassuring clients that even if I didn't yet have all the answers, my team did. 

I benefited from being a part of a community of financial advisors who genuinely cared about one another's success — which can be rare in the industry — while gaining the mentorship, shared resources, operational insights and camaraderie I would have lacked going solo. 

A decade later, I have my own team and mentor newer advisors, paying forward the same foundational guidance that shaped my career. 

Success stories

The future of our profession will be defined by collaboration. 

My teaming experience began within a broker-dealer context, but teaming boosts productivity, improves advisor satisfaction, enhances client outcomes and provides critical mentorship opportunities whether you're an RIA, broker-dealer advisor or independent practitioner. 

READ MORE: The rise of women in financial planning: Gender gap persists despite progress

The power of this collaboration and purpose is tangible at my company, Thrivent, where 60 percent of financial advisors are currently part of a team. Internal research shows that advisors working within teams here are 121% more productive than solo advisors. 

Firms can maximize teaming's potential by intentionally creating collaborative environments, offering study groups or mentoring programs and highlighting success stories that inspire new advisors — particularly women — to thrive in financial advice. 

My journey demonstrates that effective teaming supports individual success while fueling broader industry growth and sustainability. Together, let's commit to creating advisory teams in which diverse talent both gets its start and thrives.