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At the core of it, every advisor is an entrepreneur. I love seeing successful female advisors because they have the potential to change the world. Here are the three most important ones that I’m celebrating on International Women’s Day.
1. Your success will inspire women who are trapped
Teaching women how to invest their 401(k) is one way to empower them financially, but how about the women who are struggling to make a dime? They need your help, too. The solution to women being trapped in dead-end jobs isn’t IRAs or 401ks or the stock market; it’s entrepreneurship.
I had an experience at the supermarket when I inspired the cashier to start a side gig and abandon her demeaning job after I saw someone speak disrespectfully to her. You can read the full article here.
Every advisor started at ground zero. To have built a practice in an industry dominated by men is no small achievement. Talk about your successes and use them as tools to help other women. Enlighten them about what they need to do to get there, and show them the way to control their income. Blog about it, post it on Facebook and speak about it in your community. Do whatever you need to do so that other women hear your story because it is rare, it is valuable, and it can and will change other people’s lives for the better.
Most of all, stand by them and tell them, as I did to the cashier, that they shouldn’t be afraid to take a risk. If I did it, then so can she.
2. Your credentials make you a role model
I didn’t realize how important it is for women to be role models for other women until I created a YouTube video about my journey to get the CFA designation.
I shot the video from my home with one of my babies crying in the background. In a very candid way I talked about the adversities I faced and the challenges I had to overcome. I talk about how people thought I could never become a CFA® charterholder because I was “just a marketing girl” at that early point in my career. People bet against me passing the exam and told me I had to verify my results when I passed level one because they thought I was lying.
Not only did I pass the exam, but I went on to work in equity research at Lehman Brothers and held several portfolio management roles on the buying side.
Here’s the video link. Over 51,000 people have watched this video and I’ve heard from so many women who said that it has changed their lives and their careers.
Not every advisor has letters after his or her name, but many hold the CFP® designation, MBA degrees, or credentials from the American College. While I’m way too jaded to believe that impressive educational background is your meal ticket, I do strongly believe that there is brand value.
At the very least you are saying to the world that you have invested your time and money in a field you are committed to, and you have elevated your ability to think about these subjects. That’s worth something. Even if you think nobody is noticing or a lot of other people have those degrees, in finance it is still rare to see visible women. These titles fulfill the mission of making us less invisible and, even if you think nobody is watching, you’d be surprised about how much you are probably inspiring other women by your example.
One of the things that I despise is how women are often convinced by marketers that we need to buy products to make us look younger or thinner or make our lips plumper. Or to succumb to the pressure of having plastic surgery, which is dangerous emotionally as well as physically, so much so that some women have died or become mutilated for life. That’s where we are encouraged to direct our money, our hard earned thousands of dollars – to something destructive.
Educated women, let’s fight this. Let’s have the message come from other women that we are all fine and worthy to look just as God made us and let’s invest our money developing our minds instead of our bodies.
3. You are a symbol of female financial independence
I’m going to be careful with this one.
When I was a financial advisor, I had mixed experiences working with other women. While some women and I totally clicked, others clashed with my personality.
Not every woman is going to prefer to be counseled on her finances by another woman, but there are certain aspects of money that sink in deeper woman-to-woman. For example, when talking about inheritance, wills, prenuptials, elder care or when one single mother is talking to another single mother about sending kids to college. Personal anecdotes can be very powerful when one woman opens up about her life to another woman.
Not every woman is going to relate to you just on the basis of being female. But when it does click, the ability to deliver the message can be so strong and your impact can be amazing.
Let’s celebrate International Women’s Day
Female financial independence is something I really take seriously. If there are any other women reading this who feel the same way, please send this article to another woman who you think needs to read it.
Sara Grillo, CFA, is a top financial writer with a focus on marketing and branding for investment management, financial planning, and RIA firms. Prior to launching her own firm, she was a financial advisor and worked at Lehman Brothers. Sara graduated from Harvard with a degree in English literature and has an MBA from NYU Stern in Quantitative Finance.
Read more articles by Sara Grillo
