"The investments can be measured. The relationship can't. And honestly, that's what my clients care about most."
A wealth manager said that to me as we sat in her office, talking through her successor options. Over 40 years, she's built an enviable $275 million asset practice.
Her clients include plenty of couples and families, but women have always been a big part of her book. Executives, business owners, widows. Women who manage their family's wealth and expect an advisor who truly understands them.
We kept landing in the same place. It needs to be a woman with a similar philosophy and approach, someone her clients will trust with their most important financial decisions.
I think she's onto something. Many advisors can master the technical side. The relationship is harder to teach, and a lot of the time it matters more.
The numbers on women and wealth back her up. McKinsey projects women will control much of the roughly $30 trillion boomers hold by 2030, and about 70% of widows change advisors within a year of losing a spouse. Yet only about 24% of CFP professionals are women.
That's a real opening for women advisors coming up in this business.
For her, it comes down to choosing her successor thoughtfully, so the relationships she's built over four decades stay in good hands. That's the legacy she cares about most.
#WomenInWealth #FinancialAdvisors