Women require different approach

Financial advisers need to understand when working with female clients that women should be talked to and not at, adviser coach and consultant Elizabeth Jetton said at the FPA conference. “We need to change the conversation and make it a participatory process,” she said. “And I also need to say that working with women is not a niche; I get peeved whenever I hear advisers say that.” Ms. Jetton, a past president of the FPA, is co-founder of Directions for Women. Advisers need to learn new ways to communicate with women on virtually every topic involved in financial planning, she said.

"COLLECTIVE WISDOM'

“We're talking about trying to appeal to what matters to your women clients,” Ms. Jetton said. “We have to capture the collective wisdom of women and we need to make sure we are appreciating their worth.” Women are perceived to know less about money-related issues than men, she said. That isn't true, but it is fair to assume that they are less comfortable talking about money. This is due in part to the way women process and communicate information and to the role of women in many families, Ms. Jetton said. “At the heart of a lot of issues our clients have is the tension between what we need today, and what we will need and want in the future,” she said. “Part of the reason women don't get as engaged about future goals is we tend to be the ones who run the family life today. We're so consumed with making it work right now that it's difficult to focus on the future,” Ms. Jetton said. jbenjamin@investmentnews.com Twitter: @jeff_benjamin