International Women’s History Month: Women in SMAs
Women will be the largest beneficiaries of the wealth transfer and control much of the $30 trillion in financial assets. So, do financial advisors need to take this demographic power shift seriously?
It’s well known that we are embarking on an estimated $70 trillion generational wealth transfer that is sure to impact the financial services industry, and wealth and investment industry especially. According to a McKinsey & Company report women will be the largest beneficiaries of the wealth transfer and control much of the $30 trillion in financial assets. According to the report, women live five years longer than men, are expected to make more financial household decisions, and 70% of women change advisors within one year of their spouse dying.
So, do financial advisors need to take this demographic power shift seriously? Absolutely. Separately
Making the most of the new opportunity
From the above stats, it’s easy to see why it’s important to understand how to cater to and capitalize on women’s investment objectives and goals and understand how they may differ from men’s. Studies show that women may be more risk-averse when investing and invest less – but also are likely to be more mindful about ethical and impactful investing – including investing with more women-owned or lead funds and SMAs.
In this market environment, all investors are increasingly likely to look to diversify their assets outside of the traditional U.S. and foreign equities, fixed income and alternatives. And against this backdrop, one way to add diversity into an investment portfolio may be to consider adding more women-owned asset management firms and women-managed investment strategies to their list of approved managers to better align their investments with their values and beliefs, and increase return on investment.
Financial advisors looking to stay competitive and leverage this new opportunity should start thinking now about how to meet changing expectations and diversified demands from new clientele.
Luckily, the Zephyr platform can help financial advisors be better equipped to assist their clients who wish to diversify their investments across genders when building investment portfolios.
No detective work needed: Finding top tier women-owned SMAs
It’s no secret that the financial services and investment management industries are dominated by men. In fact, women make up between 25% to 30% of all U.S. financial advisors, despite being the majority of the population at nearly 51% (U.S. Census Bureau).
Against this backdrop, one way to add diversity into an investment portfolio may be to consider adding more women-owned asset management firms and women-managed investment strategies to their list of approved managers to better align investments with client values and objectives, and increase return on investment.
There are more than 2,800 SMA providers within Zephyr’s PSN SMA database. Of those 2,800 firms, 54 of them are majority women-owned (% ownership > 50). Table 1 highlights some investment management firms that are majority owned by women and offer investment strategies that have been awarded as PSN Top Guns*.
In addition to top-level searches for women-owned asset management firms (and checking which offer top performing SMAs), the Zephyr platform also lets you conduct the same filter on women-managed SMAs strategies. Table 2 showcases some women-managed SMA strategies that have recently been recognized as PSN Top Guns.
Women are on the cusp of controlling the majority of financial assets by 2030, which makes it very important for financial advisors to understand how to best cater to a rising number of potential new clients. To help women (and all clients) achieve their investment objectives, financial advisors should consider separately managed accounts, which can provide enhanced transparency, control and flexibility to better align your clients’ investment objectives to their values and beliefs.
PSN Top Guns are an important reference for plan sponsors, financial advisors and asset managers, showcasing the best performing separate accounts, managed accounts and managed ETF strategies each quarter. Find out more about how we select PSN Top Guns winners, or how you could get involved in submitting data and being up for selection!
