Biography
Barbara Stewart, CFA, is a researcher and author on the issue of women and finance. She released the ninth installment of her “Rich Thinking” series of monographs on International Women’s Day, 8 March 2019. Stewart uses her proprietary research skills to work as an Executive Interviewer on a project basis for global financial institutions seeking to gain a deeper understanding of their key stakeholders, both women and men. She is a frequent interview guest on TV, radio, and print, and she is a columnist for Golden Girl Finance. Stewart is on the Advisory Board for Kensington Capital Partners Limited in Toronto. All of Stewart’s research is available on Barbara Stewart.
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.