Speaking on The Adviser’s InFocus podcast, Mr Waldron said several barriers are preventing women from entering the financial services industry.
“One of the key things is actually just the way the industry looks. The industry looks too much like me — male, stale, and pale,” he said.
“In that sort of situation, it doesn’t necessarily encourage people to join an industry, they don’t see themselves, but the reality of it is the industry needs to represent the community with which it operates and that is going to be one of our measures of success.
“It’s also an opportunity because the more we look like the communities we service, the more the community comes to you.”
According to Adviser Ratings, women made up 22 per cent of financial advisers at the start of this year, with that number declining steadily since it reached a high of nearly 25 per cent in 2018.
At the same time, the number of advisers on the Financial Advice Register has dropped to 15,911 as of 27 October 2022, down 1,258 over the last year.
“One of the key barriers to me is just also being able to see examples of people who’ve done well, being able to see real shining lights in the industry that you look up to as role models that are there,” Mr Waldron added.
In a recent blog published on ifa, Helen Baker, founder of On Your Own Two Feet, explained that while many advisers may not realise it yet, “our industry has an identity problem”.
“Many women don’t seek financial advice. Often, they simply don’t see it as being relevant to them. Some, but obviously not all — especially divorcees — say they feel more comfortable working with a woman,” Ms Baker said.
“A lack of female advisers only perpetuates this thinking in a lose-lose scenario — we lose out on potentially lucrative clients; women miss out on advice they often desperately need,” she noted.
Similarly, Sue Viskovic, managing director at Elixir Consulting, told ifa in August that women in advice just need a little more encouragement.
“I know of many women who are currently working in the back office of advice firms as paraplanners and CSOs who are keen to step up and advance into an advice role, and just need the encouragement and support to do so,” Ms Viskovic said.
At the time, Ms Viskovic suggested that advisers hold the key to attracting top talent into the industry.
We are all planners irrespective of gender. I know in our area we have a shortage of qualified and experienced planners, so regardless of whether its fulltime or part time, there is plenty of opportunity in the Central West of NSW.
Our business has transitioned to a 4 day working week for both Financial Planning and Accounting and it works well.
So anyone interested?
The headline appears to assume gender, which is a big no-no in todays woke, insipid culture
These are pretty offensive comments about the hard-working professionals in our industry. I don’t think there is any place for these types of remarks.
Just show’s that females are smarter than males, the occupation sucks and will do so for some time.
Speak for yourself Mr Waldron!
I prefer non-binary, refinery and winery.
Could it just be that fewer women than men wish to be financial advisers? And the ratio of female to male advisers reflects that desire? I know of very few terrifying male financial advisers intimidating women to stay away..
Or maybe women have been too smart to become advisers?
Showing also that women are leaving at a faster rate than men as well…
The bigger problem is whether we will have enough advisers full stop – not that they are male or female…
As a sole-parent female financial planner myself one of the biggest hurdles is actually family life. In this day when licensing fees are so high one is expected to work full time to generate enough income to be profitable to the company. I personally couldn’t care less about it being a male dominated profession. Perhaps if females were given the opportunity to job share, or work part-time you may find more entrants.
I completely agree with this comment. As a female planner, of more than 20 years, I am very saddened to see the ratio of male to female advisers has not changed. The only reason I survived is because my very supportive husband went part time, to care for our children, so I could advance in my career. Lack of opportunity outside a full time role is a significant barrier to entry (or remaining) which men (generally) simply do not understand.