The untapped potential of women’s wealth

Our research shows women are under-advised and under-engaged with investing compared to men. This is despite the fact that over the coming years, women are likely to control greater proportions of UK wealth.

Yet, advice is still largely characterised by a majority of male advisers* dealing with mainly male clients or male-introduced couples.

Engaging greater numbers of women is a significant opportunity for advisers looking to build their business with the wealth ‘growth’ clients of the future. The challenge is to proactively engage with women and understand their different needs and pain points.

Our survey reveals:

• Investing: women are more conscious than men about losing money and pay more attention to negative outcomes
• Advice: women want advice but are less trusting of it than men and have greater initial concerns to overcome
• Inheritance: women want advice on passing on wealth but are less likely to have spoken to an adviser

The ‘wealth transfer’ has been mostly defined as the passing of assets from the old to the young. Less attention has been paid to the critical role women play in managing family wealth, given their greater longevity. Before advisers learn to connect with the ‘Tik Tok’generation, the urgent unmet need is to build greater engagement with women.

The wealth pendulum is swinging towards women. The pressing challenge for advisers is to reflect on the balance of their client books and do the same.

*Alina Khan from the Financial Times reported that just 18% of UK advisers are women - Number of advisers grows by just 2%