The rise in wealth controlled by women¹ signals one of the most significant demographic shifts in the industry, yet many firms are still working to adapt to this shift happening across their client base.

The implications of this shift are important:

• Women will control an increasing share of investable assets due to earnings growth, inheritance, divorce, and longer life expectancy.
• Strong relationships with women will improve asset retention after widowhood or divorce (historically high-risk loss points for financial professionals).
• Planning-led, education-forward service models, often preferred by women, support higher-value, longer-term engagements.
• Planning for women improves the overall client experience, benefiting couples, families, and multi-generational relationships.

Financial professionals who better understand women won’t just gain a new audience, they will help future-proof their practice.

How Are Women Investors Unique?

Women of all ages are experiencing a notable rise in financial confidence.² However, fewer feel confident in their ability to manage their finances, with nearly half of women reporting being only “somewhat sure.” At the same time, 56 percent of women agree that financial planners are best equipped to help them achieve their financial priorities,³ signaling a clear opportunity for financial professionals to provide guidance that feels supportive, personalized, and empowering.

Despite this ongoing rise of female-controlled wealth, the industry has been slow to fully recognizing the unique goals, needs, and decision-making preferences of women investors.

What Financial Concerns Might You Be Overlooking?

When women talk about money, they are often talking about the broader context of their lives. It is important for planners to ask and understand, without stereotyping and without assuming, that women may be balancing a unique set of realities.

Women may have to pause their career to raise children or care for aging parents. Women have longer life expectancies, leaving many to take on new or greater financial responsibilities late in life. She may earn less over her lifetime due to wage gaps yet still be the primary financial caretaker for her family. She may anticipate inheriting wealth, or be looking to pass it on, and want clarity and control in that process.

In practice, engage in open and candid conversations on the following topics to better understand individual client needs, preferences, and priorities:

• Longevity and planning for a long life
• Caregiving roles that affect time, energy, and income
• Career breaks and transitions
• Income disparities
• Expectations around wealth transfer
• Preparing to be financially independent later in life

When advisors make space for these conversations, it can help women feel seen.

How Can a Practice Better Serve Women Clients?

Wealth management firms have long marketed to women with strategies developed primarily for men. However, women may have different planning priorities than their male counterparts. For example, according to research,⁴ affluent women tend to approach investing differently. Overwhelmingly, women prioritize fulfilling personal goals, 40 percent rank this as their top investment objective, far above market performance.

Men tend to take the opposite view, placing performance first and personal goals second. The differences continue:

• Women value planners who clearly explain decisions (27% vs. 23%).
• Women appreciate professionals who center their goals (26% vs. 24%).
• And women are more likely to trust planners who build real relationships with their families (25% vs. 20%).

How Financial Planners Can Engage with Women Clients More Effectively

For many years, married women were treated as secondary participants in financial conversations. Although awareness has grown, meaningful engagement and financial inclusion remains a work in progress. Here are ways to engage a diverse client base that every planner should consider:

Collaborate on decision-making. Today, women expect, and deserve, to be seen as decision-makers. Using this approach can strengthen trust and significantly improve long-term retention. This translates to these activities:

• Inviting both partners to meeting
• Addressing each person’s questions and goals directly
• Creating an environment where both feel equally seen and valued
• Following up when one partner misses a discussion

Build multigenerational relationships. A household-based service model creates natural opportunities to engage partners, children, and future inheritors; it also helps to create the foundation for stronger, longer-lasting client relationships.

Tailor your strategies to women’s evolving needs. Educate teams on behavioral and motivational differences between male and female investors, this allows planners to refine their outreach, planning conversations, and communication styles.

Meeting with Both Partners Is Best, But Not Enough

When clients are married or in a relationship, it’s important to meet with both partners, but it doesn’t stop there. Structure the meeting to prevent conversational imbalance. Ask questions to each partner directly rather than to the couple as a unit. When one partner answers first, intentionally return to the other: “I’d like to hear your take as well.”

Avoid letting one partner translate or summarize the other’s views; that shortcut often distorts meaning. Do this consistently and over time it retrains the room.

Understanding Women Clients Means You Serve Everyone Better

Understanding these differences is essential for designing strategies that authentically speak to women and best serve them, and in doing so, enables better service for all clients.

Here are three ways you can better serve all clients:

1. Plan proactively for life transitions
   Address longevity, caregiving, career breaks, and solo decision-making early. Data shows women are more likely to become sole financial managers later; advisors who prepare them retain assets at far higher rates.⁵
2. Redesign meeting structure for equal participation
   Ask questions to each partner individually and document priorities separately. Research shows women disengage when treated as secondary decision-makers and are more likely to leave planners after life transitions if trust is weak. Making women’s input explicit improves retention during “money in motion events” such as divorce or widowhood.
3. Lead with planning scenarios, not performance
   Anchor recommendations in tradeoffs, downside protection, and long-term security. Research finds women prefer having a plan and think long-term, with goals planning and risk tied to life outcomes rather than benchmarks or market timing.⁶

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