Investing 'With' Her and Her $28 Trillion of Wealth

Invest With Her - because by 2030 Women will control 2/3 of the Private Wealth in the US

By Gloria Nelund, Chairman & CEO of TriLinc Global, LLC

In 2001, at the age of 40, I became the CEO of Deutsche Bank’s $50B North America Private Wealth Management division, where among 200 executives across the Bank, I was the only woman. As I had done for the majority of my career on Wall Street, I found myself focusing on finding underlying commonalities with my male counterparts – shared values, a strong work ethic, judiciousness – rather than on gender differences that separated us. I worked hard, loved my job, and was rewarded well for my success. So, when asked about how I overcame gender inequity in the workplace, I have to honestly say, that with one exception early on in my career, I never really experienced it. That being said, the facts are that until very recently, in the finance industry, you would find very few women in executive positions, and there were generally big differences in pay for men and women.

I find the new trends in finance encouraging, and I believe that the boundaries historically faced by women in finance, will soon be a part of our past. Women in the US have made substantial economic gains as a result of increased access to education, widening income generation opportunities and significant policy developments that have reshaped the trajectory for women in society. Today, approximately 60 percent of all college graduates are women, and, upon graduating from college, women now tend to out-earn men – according to some estimates – by eight percent.

Never in our history has the time been so ripe and the opportunity so great for women to chart their own destinies, lead the way, and be the flag bearers – both with their professions and their pocketbooks – of a new era of capitalism.

We often hear about the intergenerational wealth transfer on the horizon as the largest wealth transfer in history (widely cited to be around $41T). What is often less talked about, however, is the amount of wealth women stand to gain within the next four decades. Around 70 percent of the generational wealth transfer – a resounding $28.7T – will be transferred to women.

It’s not just that women are coming into wealth. Women are increasingly creating wealth of their own. In one study by the Task Force for Talent Innovation, 63 percent of women respondents said they were the source of their household’s assets. This vibrant growth in personal and inherited wealth is leading to a seismic shift in our financial landscape. By 2030, two-thirds of all private wealth in the US will be held by women; within just over a decade, women will control more aggregate wealth in the US than men.

This rise in wealth has consequently led to the emergence of a more aspirational and sophisticated woman investor. Women no longer serve as the passive bystanders of their household’s accounting and finances but rather are transforming into active managers of their household’s wealth. An estimated 66 percent of women today serve as the primary driver and influencer of their family’s wealth management.

Despite the apparent emergence of the woman investor, the financial services industry – wealth managers, planners and advisors – has not yet evolved to meet the needs of this new investor group.

The modern woman investor is increasingly forming her investment decisions based on her own financial acumen rather than the expertise of a financial professional. Almost 70 percent of women in the US do not currently retain the services of a financial advisor – and for women under forty this figure is closer to 75 percent. Perhaps most concerning to the financial services industry is that these numbers are declining. While 48 percent of women engaged the services of a financial advisor in 2008, only 31 percent do so today.

Read Gloria's Full Article with the footnotes and her Bio at- 
http://www.greenmoneyjournal.com/november-2015/investing-with-her/