The newly-formed Women’s Wealth Alliance has commissioned a landmark survey of women in personal finance.
The WWA is a working group of independent professional body the Consumer Duty Alliance.
The research, managed independently by YouGov and with the support of IBOSS, aims to provide a picture of the career journeys and lived experiences of women in a wide range of roles across the sector. This includes financial planning, mortgage and protection advice, financial coaching, paraplanning, academy members, compliance, T&C and support roles.
With only 18% of financial advisers in the UK being women, the survey is also looking specifically at whether this is a role respondents would consider in the future. For those who are advisers, it will seek to understand if they would recommend the role to other women.
Vanessa Barnes, chair of the Women’s Wealth Alliance, said: “One of the key aims of the Women’s Wealth Alliance is to help attract more women into a career in personal finance and the financial planning role in particular, helping to foster a diverse sector that better reflects the needs and perspectives of clients.
“This is especially relevant when you consider that 60 per cent of the nation’s wealth is expected to be in female hands by the end of this year, according to the Centre for Economic and Business Research.
“Before looking at potential solutions to this ongoing challenge however, we felt that it was really important to gain some proper data and insight on women’s current career journeys, looking at how they entered the sector, where they are now and what their ambitions are, along with any barriers or challenges. We can’t wait to hear what women have to tell us.”
The survey is open from 2-23 June and findings will inform the future work of the WWA, as well as enable the sector as a whole to better tackle the gender imbalance in certain personal finance roles, the group said.
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