We would love to hear from you. Click on the ‘Contact Us’ link to the right and choose your favorite way to reach-out!

wscdsdc

media/speaking contact

Jamie Johnson

business contact

Victoria Peterson

Contact Us

855.ask.wink

Close [x]
pattern

Industry News

Categories

  • Industry Articles (21,155)
  • Industry Conferences (2)
  • Industry Job Openings (35)
  • Moore on the Market (414)
  • Negative Media (144)
  • Positive Media (73)
  • Sheryl's Articles (800)
  • Wink's Articles (353)
  • Wink's Inside Story (274)
  • Wink's Press Releases (123)
  • Blog Archives

  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • August 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • November 2008
  • September 2008
  • May 2008
  • February 2008
  • August 2006
  • True grit

    July 30, 2013 by Liz Skinner

    For female advisers, getting ahead takes grit, grind and goals

    Female financial advisers stand out in a crowd of their colleagues because of their small numbers in this male-dominated field.

    More importantly, they stick out because they often are the most dynamic people in the room.

    In a field where men often are taken more seriously than women, female advisers face more challenges and must be ¬technically savvy — as well as mentally tough — to break into the business and grow. The result is often an exceptional financial ¬professional.

    “Women have had to work harder and have had to be tremendously resourceful and exhibit true grit to survive not only the entry process into this industry but also the promotion and growth process,” said Cecile Munoz, ¬president of U.S. Executive Search LLC, a recruiting firm. “At the end of the day, you end up with

    executive leadership and female talent that is extremely competent, extremely talented and able to make very difficult decisions.”

    Many successful female advisers admit that it hasn’t been easy dealing with male managers, and sometimes clients who have the cultural bias that women don’t belong on Wall Street or in any other part of the financial services industry.

    Women — especially those of a younger age — have to demonstrate their intelligence and maturity first, then prove their skills as an adviser, said Heather Locus, a principal at Balasa Dinverno Foltz LLC.

    “When women start in this industry, they have to be really good,” she said. “A man with the right look, they assume he knows things.”

    The extra scrutiny that women in this business face pushed Ms. Locus early on to pay attention to details and be especially diligent on the job.

    Low numbers

    The obstacles women face from the get-go contribute to the low number of female advisers.

    Only about 8% of client-facing financial advisers are women, according to the most recent research from Cerulli Associates Inc.

    Erin Botsford, an adviser for 25 years, recalls a former branch manager in Panama City, Fla., who sent her off to broker training with the warning: “Honey, I don’t want you to be disappointed when you fail. You are young, female and in the South — that’s a recipe for disaster.”

    Ms. Botsford, founder of The Botsford Group, which manages about $613 million in client assets, said that she made sure to send that manager a copy of the many awards and accolades she has received during her career, up until he died five years ago.

    “I worked harder to prove him wrong,” she said.

    ‘Someone’s assistant’

    Before Jane Williams became the first female adviser candidate hired by Merrill Lynch Royal Securities Inc. in Ottawa, Canada, in 1974, a manager told her that the firm was afraid to bring a woman on staff because they weren’t sure how clients would react.

    “They kept asking me how fast I could type and telling me that a good way to get in would be as someone’s assistant,” said Ms. Williams, co-founder of Sand Hill Advisors Inc., which manages $1.1 billion in client assets.

    “I knew that wasn’t what I wanted to do. And I was incapable of typing well,” Ms. Williams said.

    She recalls feeling fortunate when she was given a chance. She built a strong business for herself there and later did it again when she moved to a Merrill Lynch office in Palo Alto, Calif.

    Ms. Williams and three male partners started Sand Hill in 1982, and even then she was initially given a “junior share” before becoming a full partner.

    “Getting in the door is where the screen is the tightest for women,” she said.

    For Melissa Motz, an adviser since 1996 and an accounting professional for more than a decade before that, the challenges of being a woman in the financial services business are still apparent.

    Last month, the founder of Motz Wealth Management attended a golf event sponsored by a wholesaler, and she was the only female player on the course. After spending 18 holes with her colleagues, Ms. Motz discovered that she couldn’t make the final move to the 19th hole — the clubhouse — because the private club doesn’t allow women.

    “Things have definitely changed for the better,” she said. “But it’s still an old boy’s network in a subtle way.”

    Amy Sturtevant, now an RBC Wealth Management branch manager, said that at other firms, she felt she was at a disadvantage as a woman in situations where there was a conflict with a male broker over how an account was given out or who owned a particular relationship. Those conflicts always seemed to fall in favor of the male adviser, she said.

    Going independent

    Kimberlie Sonnenberg, who runs an eponymous firm, worked as an adviser for a large insurer before going independent four years ago.

    At her former firm, she had to deal with a district manager who once publicly questioned her ability to understand a sports analogy — suggesting that he could craft a “cooking analogy” just for her.

    Life on the independent side of the business is better for female advisers, Ms. Sonnenberg said.

    “In the independent world, there is no hierarchy to get through,” she said.

    Adviser Kassi Hyde said that older men and women typically don’t take her as seriously as they do male advisers, especially those on the older edge of the baby boomers and above.

    “The older generations are not used to working with women in this industry,” said Ms. Hyde, who is with Independent Wealth Advisors Group Inc. “They are used to dealing with women in administrative roles, not sitting across the table from them.”

    But members of the younger generations don’t seem to care that she is a woman, and Ms. Hyde hopes this signals an eventual leveling of the playing field for female advisers.

    Originally Posted at InvestmentNews on July 28, 2013 by Liz Skinner.

    Categories: Industry Articles
    currency