However, younger women do have a bigger need to look after their financial future as they will need to set themselves up correctly for all the life events that may come that might have a bigger impact than they would for men.
Maternity leave, part-time working and even long-term care needs, as women typically live longer, to mention just a few.
This can seem daunting at first, thinking about care homes before you even reach your 20s, but just getting customers to consider these things means they are armed with the information they need, before they need it.
FTA: Are there any particular soft skills that matter more to female clients than male clients?
EV: We are starting to move away from the stereotype that men are the main breadwinners and women are the main caregivers for a family, however that mindset still remains for a lot of people.
Advisers need to be sensitive to every customer that they work with and have a range of soft skills that they can utilise for male or female customers, old or young.
The best thing they can do is understand that customer’s individual values, work out what they need and offer them the appropriate solutions.
FTA: What sort of differences are there between advising men and women (ie pay and pension gaps)?
EV: There are quite a few differences between advising men and women. Women may want to take maternity leave or they may want to share this with their partner.
Women may also want to go part time to have children, and this means that their savings may need to be higher than their male counterparts to accommodate this change in circumstances.
Even giving up work completely means they will still need support if they are unable to take care of the family. For example, having income protection for homemakers because someone will still need to do all the ‘super hero’ jobs like school runs, food shops and changing the beds.
Being off long term could also lead to gaps in their pension provision, so care needs to be taken that they plug this accurately so there are no shortfalls when reaching retirement age. Women also, typically, live longer than men so long-term care needs to be considered for their later years.
FTA: How can technology help bridge the gap between traditional advice and the younger generation?
EV: We have already seen online tools where quote and apply services are offered, however, we need to take a step back and start targeting the younger generation before we get to that point.
Social media is still a massive platform that hasn’t really been tapped into by the majority of financial services and, if we want to reach younger people, then we need to start communicating as they do. Facebook and TikTok are great places to share good news stories about our industry.
