John Swolfs, CEO of Inside ETFs has an important announcement to make. For too long, lip service has dominated the conversations around diversity in the investment management industry. It's time for real action.
As an industry, we’ve done plenty of talking about diversity and inclusion. It seems like every day there’s an industry news headline, podcast discussion or conference session discussing the latest study on the benefits of a diverse, more inclusive workforce. Yet the fact remains that we’ve yet to see real change in these areas.
I’m not pointing fingers, since, for so long, we at Inside ETFs have been guilty of 'talking the talk, but not fully walking the walk' too. But it’s now time to move from discussion to action.
Making the change now
According to the 78 Cents Project, “While exact statistics vary, it’s been shown that when you compare the earning of all full-time working women in the U.S. to all full-time working U.S. men, women earn 78 cents to every $1 that men earn.” (https://www.78centsproject.com/the-gender-wage-gap)
"...We at Inside ETFs believe the future of wealth management is diverse and inclusive."
In 2019, how is this even possible? As a father of a young daughter, I cringe at the thought of her growing up in a world where this is her reality. How could I look into the eyes of the 22-year-old version of my daughter and say I didn’t do my part in addressing this issue? I cannot. I will not.
Doing my part
Our initial goal in building Wealth/Stack was to design a platform that helps to shape the future of the wealth management industry. And we at Inside ETFs believe the future of wealth management is diverse and inclusive. For example, Jennifer Wappaus can be seen speaking about diversity in the ETF industry here.
While we would love to snap our fingers and have the gender pay gap issue fixed instantly, the reality is it will take some time before we see any impactful change at scale.
So, in an effort to raise awareness of the gender pay gap in the U.S., today, we have announced that we will be allowing all women to register for Wealth/Stack at 78% of the current registration fee.
If you’re a woman who would like to take advantage of this promotion, you can register here or you can use VIP code “EQUALITY” during your registration process.
We’re always looking for female financial advisors to join our sessions too. If you or someone you know has an interest in speaking at our conferences, please contact me directly.
Here’s to creating the future of our industry and a better future for our children.
Thank you,
John Swolfs