6 Smart Takeaways From Women Advisors Forum California
Images: Southbay Studio
<b>1. Dont assume all women are the same.</b>
Just because they’re all women doesn’t mean they’re sharing the same life experience,said Laura Kogen, vice president of practice management and consulting at Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services. Kogen provided tips for advisors working with married women, widows and divorcees and female executives. Advisors who work with married women, for example, may have trouble engaging them in the financial planning and decision-making process. Kogen suggested that advisors recruit husbands to be part of the solution by pulling them aside and asking them for their cooperation.
<b>2. Recruit & mentor others.</b>
We have to take responsibility for reshaping who is in this industry.Owens urged the audience to help escort the next generation of advisors through the
great hall of professional and character development,adding that character was the single most important criteria for letting people through the door.
<b>3. Teach your (clients') children.</b>
The biggest opportunity to distinguish yourself from your peers and competitors is how you teach your clients today,said Darla Sipolt, regional director of Institutional Sales at TD Ameritrade. Sipolt urged advisors to teach the children of their high-net-worth clients, saying that
matriarchs and patriarchsof wealthy families worry that their children won’t know how to handle the money they’re going to inherit.
<b>4. Set up group learning opportunities.</b>
For example, for the past 25 years the two have held a popular monthly networking event for women going through divorce.
<b>5. Check out AIER.org.</b>
very digestableresearch reports, she said, along with a slew of economic metrics, that advisors can share with clients.
<b>6. Consider a new asset class.</b>
Other forums are on tap for 2014, with events slated for Dallas, New York, Chicago and California. For more details, visit womenadvisorforum.ning.com and join the Women Advisors Forum community.