PARTING SHOT

How the industry can evolve and let females move up the ladder , according to the Carson Group .

T ’ S NO SECRET THAT WOMEN ACCOUNT FOR ONLY 23.7 % OF CFP PROfessionals ( up just 0.01 % in 2023 from the year before ) despite women making up 50.4 % of the U . S . population . Underrepresentation is even more pronounced at the top of the industry , where women represent just 18 % of partners at wealth management firms .

Now two women executives at the Carson Group , an Omaha , Neb . -based RIA that manages $ 35.5 billion in assets for about 50,000 families , think they may have cracked the code on recruiting , retaining and promoting women advisors . For this they used insights from the firm ’ s second annual survey of women advisors — the “ State of Women in Wealth Management Report 2023 .”

The study is a “ call to action ” for firms that want to shift practices and mindsets “ that hinder women who have chosen to enter the industry . It also identifies better ways to empower and elevate women ,” said Dr . Julie Ragatz , vice president of next gen and advisor development programs at the Carson Group . She made the comments during Financial Advisor magazine ’ s recent “ Invest In Women ” conference .

The study is also designed to “ explore more aspects of the persistent problem of the underrepresentation of women in our industry ,” Ragatz said in a separate interview . These were the takeaways from the survey : Women are under-sponsored and over-mentored . Mentorship has helped women rise in the ranks , but female leaders are still critically under-sponsored , said the respondents to the Carson survey . While mentors give mentees tools to find opportunities for themselves , sponsors actively advocate for women

The study is a “ call to action ” for firms that want to shift practices and mindsets “ that hinder women who have chosen to enter the industry .

and provide them with actual opportunities .

A good sponsor is “ someone who is creating opportunities for me and saying my name in rooms I may not be allowed in ,” Ragatz said . Ensuring your firm has a culture that encourages active sponsorship of women is critical to changing underrepresentation , she added .

Women are still struggling against their second shift . Women are still providing a disproportionate amount of time to home duties and caregiving . The only time this is different is in marriages where the female is the primary breadwinner , and in that case , they provide a roughly equal amount of time on home duties and caregiving , Carson found .

Such responsibilities can stymie a woman advisor ’ s ascendance within a firm if her managers are the sort of timekeepers who reward attendance over performance , said Samantha Allen , senior vice president of marketing strategy at Carson .

“ Women in the study rejected performative culture , where supervisors do bed continued on page 58

60 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | MAY 2024 WWW . FA-MAG . COM