If you’re a woman advisor looking to support other women, Sharon Hayut says the Women Advisor Summit is the event you’ll want to attend.
“You’re going to have a room full of really wonderful women who are there to help empower each other and make our industry, which is mostly dominated by men, more unified,” she said. “Women helping other women and learning from other women’s struggles would really help advance your own career.”
Hayut, who’s the senior managing director at New York City-based Magnus Financial Group, will be one of many women leaders speaking at the Nov. 8 event. Hayut’s panel will discuss “maximizing the potential of wealth management business models.”
Kate Healy, CEO and founder of AdvoKate IQ, who will lead the summit, says one of the innovative approaches and opportunities that women are bringing to the wealth management space is just being themselves.
“It’s just them and their personality and all that they bring,” she said. “Women are historically relationship builders, they’re multitaskers. They reach out to women in their community, they have events that bring women together, and they really prospect in many ways.”
Healy added that there are a lot of opportunities for women advisors to discover. Sometimes, all it takes is looking within your community.
“Women have this unique ability to just be in their community and meet and talk to people. Look in your natural market, look at your LinkedIn. Look at who you live near. That’s how they can find those unique opportunities,” she said.
One of the other factors affecting the wealth management industry is a shortage of women advisors. However, women are controlling most of the wealth in the country. As Healy also says, women inherit most of the wealth from their families and outlive their spouses, which means they’re inheriting twice.
“Women have been decision-makers in a family household’s financial decisions. And I think the world is starting to wake up to that,” she added.
Both Hayut and Healy say it’s important for women to support each other and mentor the up-and-coming female leaders of the industry.
“I worked at a bunch of different firms, and I think I was one of the only young women on the floor of maybe 90 men at one point,” Hayut said. “Go to your alma mater’s career nights and talk to the women there. I think that helps to sort of bridge the gap and get more women interested in becoming advisors.”
“The community of women advisors is so powerful,” Healy says. “Whether it’s just lifting each other up, whether it’s mentoring younger women, spreading the word about this profession … the best part of this industry is those connections and the collaboration that we have. Working together to solve the problems that we have in the industry, but to really start to empower more women to pay attention and take care of their finances.”
For more information on the Women Advisor Summit or to register, click here.