RECAP: 2019 FOX Wealth Advisor Forum

The Growing Power of Women Owners

Presenters:
Deborah Jackson, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Plum Alley Investments
Andrea Turner Moffitt, Author, Harness the Power of the Purse: Winning Women Investors and Co-Founder, Plum Alley Investment
Avril Westerman, Director of Investments, Westerman Interests, Inc. | Westerman Family Office

Session Description: 

Women have become financial powerhouses exercising decision-making control over $11.2 trillion of investible assets. Women investors from inheritors and spouses to wealth creators and wealth owners are taking a more significant role in managing their family’s investments in addition to their philanthropic endeavors. We are also in the midst of a significant demographic shift with dramatic growth of women wealth creators given the entrepreneurial nature of the rising generation. In fact, women are starting early stage technology and healthcare companies at the fastest pace in history. Many of these companies are looking to solve some of the greatest challenges we are facing as a society. With these forces at play, the wealth advisor industry has a huge opportunity to better serve women investors while also ensuring women business owners are positioned to succeed. This session explored the opportunity to better serve women investors and hear directly from women who are taking leadership roles within their family offices. We also heard how they are considering investing in the future, having agency as an investor and advancing gender parity.

"There is a sea change going on around women investors, and great upside for advisors if you are positioned to take part in it."
- Deborah Jackson
Key Takeaways: 
  • Women have tremendous economic power. Globally, women control $20 trillion in wealth, and in the U.S., women are decision-makers for over $11.2 trillion of investable assets. Yet, an estimated $5 trillion of assets go unmanaged and 51% of women feel misunderstood by their advisors. 
  • Women are as financially literate as men, but less confident. Their risk tolerance varies depending on their generation and the source of wealth, with inherited wealth owners the least risk averse at 26%, and women wealth owners with spouse-created wealth the most risk averse at 38%. 32% of women who have created their own wealth reported being risk averse. 
  • Women want agency as investors; 90% of women want to invest in companies that promote social well-being and believe making a positive impact when investing is important. 77% want to invest in companies with diverse leadership, but women investors under-invest in women. 
  • Plum Alley was founded to support women and men who are interested in investing in women founders “making a difference in the world.” One of their members, Avril Westerman, described how investing through Plum Alley helped her learn about early stage investing and the engagement it brings with founders. She described how exciting it is to hear from these founders about their work and how it made investing a more engaging experience.
     

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(FOX Members only)