93% of female financial planners would recommend the role to others

93% of women surveyed who are currently or have previously been in the financial planning role would recommend it to other women, according to initial findings from the Women in Personal Finance survey. More widely, the research reveals a very positive picture of personal finance as a sector for women to succeed in their career journeys, with high average levels of satisfaction around flexibility, support and career opportunities.

Commissioned by the Women’s Wealth Alliance (WWA), a working group of independent professional body the Consumer Duty Alliance, this comprehensive research was managed independently by YouGov, with the support of IBOSS, LV=, Royal London and Quilter.

Experiences of the sector

Women surveyed who currently or previously worked in a wide range of roles* across personal finance reported high levels of support in the workplace, with the majority saying that they feel/felt supported by their colleagues (86%), the company/firm they worked for (79%), and their boss/manager (74%). 

Furthermore, 88% of women surveyed currently working in the personal finance sector reported that there is a great deal/ fair amount of job flexibility in their role and similarly, the majority (82%) think that they have a good work-life balance.  

Career mapping

When asked about opportunity to progress within their current role, 80% said there was a great deal /fair amount of opportunity and encouragingly, 71% said they have no plans to leave the personal finance sector.

In terms of what would be useful to women to develop or further their career, around half (51%) said coaching or mentoring, followed by 38% who said management and leadership courses, and 37% said training on technical skills.

Financial planning specifically 

An overwhelming 93% of women surveyed who are currently or have previously been in the financial planning role would recommend this role to other women. However, this positive outlook is not mirrored by women looking in from the outside, with over half who have not worked in this role saying they would not consider it in their future career (56%). Only 36% indicated they would consider it in the future.

Barriers

When asked about the biggest barriers preventing more women from entering the personal finance sector, 84% cited it being seen as a male dominated sector. Following this, 49% believe that there is a lack of education/knowledge of the sector amongst women, and 47% said women not thinking a career in finance is for them. Yet it appears that once women enter careers within personal finance, the majority feel supported by their company, manager and colleagues, see plenty of opportunity to progress and are able to achieve a good work-life balance. That is not to say that it’s a sector without its issues and open-ended responses in the survey showed experiences of feeling overlooked in favour of male colleagues, lack of flexibility around childcare and even harassment, which the WWA is keen to tackle, but these experiences do fortunately seem to be in the minority, according to the feedback from over 500 women.

Download the report here.

Chair of the Women’s Wealth Alliance, Chartered Financial Planner, Vanessa Barnes, comments:

“We are really pleased to see such positive overall results, in terms of how women across a wide range of roles experience the personal finance sector as a great place to succeed and feel supported in their careers. This is particularly evidenced by the strong endorsement of the financial planning role for women, yet over half of those outside this role said they would not consider it, so it will be interesting to explore this disconnect in more detail.

The Women’s Wealth Alliance strongly believes data-led responses are vital to attracting and advancing more women within personal finance. This is echoed by the FCA’s latest data request, where it has added questions on percentages of women in specific roles and of female clients, in recognition that we need an advice sector that is representative of the clients it serves.

Although this research was initially aimed at women in personal finance, it’s really important that the sector acknowledges that this data is not just relevant to the development of women’s careers but shines a light on the huge value of a diverse, healthy and future-fit personal finance profession that can respond to the Government’s growth objectives.”

Next steps

A White Paper will be published in the autumn, offering an in-depth review of the data and qualitative research taking place over the summer, including case studies and mapping out future workstreams and recommendations.

The WWA will be appointing a Board, as well as engaging with government, the regulator, qualification providers and a range of other working groups across the sector to help develop meaningful strategies to attract and advance more women within personal finance careers.

The working group is made up of:

Vanessa Barnes, Chartered Financial Planner at Hannay Wealth LLP and Chair of WWA

Anna Sofat – Chair of One Loud Voice for Women 

Ranila Ravi-Burslem – previously Intermediary Distribution Director, Scottish Widows and Embark Group 

Ruth Handcock OBE – Chief Executive Officer, Octopus Money  

Simoney Kyriakou – Editor, FTAdviser 

Emma Bull – Head of Engagement, Consumer Duty Alliance

Research included women who currently or previously worked across financial planning, mortgage and protection advice, financial coaching, academy members and apprentices, paraplanning, compliance, T&C and support roles