Do men and women need different financial advice?

I’m a female independent financial adviser specialising in financial advice to women, particularly women going through divorce. A number of people (mostly men it has to be said!) think this is sexist and suggest it’s unnecessary since women do not need different advice to men. Most of the females I talk to think it’s a great idea that someone specialises in this area.

So luckily the people who think it’s a great idea tend to be the people I would target as my ideal clients.

Financial advice is financial advice regardless of whether you are male or female. It’s not gender specific. But what may be different is the approach women want.

A number of women (very smart women) feel a bit uncomfortable with finances, and are lacking in confidence. If I had £1 for every female who said “I don’t do maths” I’d be a millionaire. I exaggerate of course because I haven’t yet met a million women, but I would be very rich since I hear this so often.

Women will often need a little bit more hand holding than men. This is especially true of women going through a divorce or separation where their husband/partner has dealt with the finances during their period together. These women need to feel they’re in a comfortable environment and able to ask any question without feeling it’s a foolish question.

Women will often feel uncomfortable with jargon and want things explained in a very down to earth way in terms they are more used to. Again, she needs to be able to say she doesn’t understand and be given a less technical explanation in day to day language.

Frequently women are more risk averse than men and their main concern is often to safeguard themselves from the downside risk rather than chase for upside gain. For a women going through a divorce who hasn’t been a major earner during the marriage her main concern is to protect any settlement from the downside risk rather than get double digit returns.

So all in all, investment advice and pension advice is not gender specific. But….males and females will often want a different approach. Sometimes women feel more comfortable with a female adviser.

The typical IFA is male, middle aged, grey hair and grey suit. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this, but if that’s not the person who you’re going to feel most comfortable with, have a look around and talk to a female adviser. Only about 10% of advisers are female. But we are there. You’ll recognise us since we look so different to the typical IFA!

We all work very hard to earn money. Make sure you are doing the most with that money so that the money’s working hard for you.

If you haven’t yet signed up for a free copy of my book “The Wealthy Woman: A Man is Not a Financial Plan” click her to get your free digital copy.

Do let me know what you think. I’d love to hear from you.