The ability to keep hold of clients has become a powerful tool in the financial advice industry over the last few years, however some firms need to improve on this when it comes to women.
Fidelity International surveyed 406 independent financial advisers for its ‘Unlocking the Power of Advice’ report and found half of IFAs (50%) have lost a female client’s business once their partner has passed away.
According to the advisers, there were a number of reasons why this happened.
The most common was that the client did not want to continue receiving financial advice (49%), while others wanted the opportunity to choose their own financial adviser (45%).
More specifically, 40% of IFAs said that their female client preferred an adviser of a different sex, while 38% said that cost was an issue.
Improve female investor relations
Fidelity International’s report pointed out that in older generations it was more common for the man in a heterosexual partnership to look after the finances.
This would mean that the woman would not necessarily have formed a relationship with the adviser before their partner’s death.
The report suggested that as women become more empowered financially and start to benefit from financial advice from a younger age this attrition rate would drop naturally.
However, more needs to be done to attract young women to financial advice.
One finding from Fidelity’s survey of 2,000 Brits was that young men were twice as likely to seek support from a financial adviser (21%) compared to young women (12%).
Changing world
Jackie Boylan, head of FundsNetwork for Fidelity International, said: “The days where the man looked after the household’s finances have largely past, but there’s still a discrepancy when it comes to financial advice.
“Financial advisers need to be engaging with both partners in a couple when discussing the household wealth to ensure both feel informed and valued.
“Financial advice could play a significant role in helping more women get invested, but currently too many feel like advice is ‘not for them’.”
