Biography
Barbara Stewart, CFA, is a researcher and author on the issue of women and finance. She recently released the seventh installment of her “Rich Thinking” series of monographs. Previously, Stewart worked as a partner and portfolio manager with Cumberland Private Wealth Management. Stewart is a frequent interview guest on TV, radio, and print, both financial and general interest, as well as a former columnist for Postmedia newspapers in Canada and the Mrs. R website.
Knowing our clients is the best way to retain them, especially when it comes to women and millennials, who together represent over 60% of the adult population, says Barbara Stewart, CFA.
The global narrative about women and money is changing significantly and for the better. Two major factors have helped to shape this, according to Barbara Stewart, CFA.
Regardless of their age, profession, geographic area, or cultural background, smart women deal with money one way or another everyday, reports Barbara Stewart, CFA. Learn more about her latest research, “How Smart Women Are Managing Their Money in 2017.”
The biggest factor in attracting female customers involves building trust, says Barbara Stewart, CFA. To do that, leaders need to understand new forms of technology, customized communication, consumer behavior, and also, privacy.
As advisers, our job is not to judge the reasons why our female clients don’t invest — our job is to get them started, says Barbara Stewart, CFA. Why? Because cash is among the lowest performing asset classes over time, and the average female retiree needs to have saved and invested well over $100,000 more than the average man.
Women and men want to invest in causes and concerns that matter to them, says Barbara Stewart, CFA. The big opportunity for the financial industry will be to understand these value preferences and to offer the best advice as to how clients can allocate some of these "value investments" via traditional equity markets.
If we do not understand how women think about investing, our client conversations may be completely wrong and lead to dramatically different portfolio decisions, says Barbara Stewart, CFA.
Some people view the term “diversity” in a negative way. It has also become highly politicized. By definition, diversity means “being composed of differing elements or qualities.” How does this apply to the financial industry? Barbara Stewart, CFA, continues the discussion.