Women are inheriting the wealth.
Is the industry ready?

One of the largest intergenerational wealth transfers in history is underway, through which an estimated $124 trillion is expected to change hands. Women will be the primary beneficiary of this unprecedented transfer.¹ By 2030, women are projected to control the majority of financial assets in the U.S., directing approximately $34 trillion in capital.² And yet, the industry entrusted with helping women steward that wealth has not evolved to meet their unique financial needs.

The fact is, despite their growing wealth, women remain underadvised relative to men. And the significant advice gap between advised men and women in the U.S. has real consequences. When women are underadvised, investment outcomes can suffer — reducing the productivity of the capital deployed. Helping ensure women receive high-quality financial advice is not simply an issue of representation or fairness. It’s a structural issue that must be addressed to help ensure that capital is optimally managed both for the benefit of the individual and our society.

While women across the wealth and age spectrum require high-quality financial advice, a specific focus on women at, near, or in retirement is warranted given the difficulty of designing distribution strategies that match the reality of female longevity.

Longevity changes the math

Reforms to the U.S. retirement system, including the introduction of automatic enrollment, automatic escalation, and default investment options, have meaningfully improved participation and saving rates for all U.S. workers. But for women in particular, accumulation is only part of the equation.

Women face a distinct set of financial realities as they approach and move through retirement. Most notably, they tend to live substantially longer than men, on average nearly five years longer.³ For women, access to a retirement plan improves accumulation, but it does not solve the longevity risk puzzle.

Workplace retirement plans address savings, not income planning. Therefore, for most aging women, advice is not a luxury. It is the difference between security and uncertainty in their non-working years.

The advice gap mirrors the advisor gap

Despite women’s growing influence over capital, women represent less than a quarter of financial advisors in the United States.⁴ This mismatch matters.

Many women express a preference for working with female advisors. Shared lived experiences — navigating career pauses, balancing caregiving responsibilities, managing financial transitions such as widowhood or divorce — can foster deeper trust and allow for more productive planning conversations.

This is not to suggest that male advisors cannot serve women effectively. Many do and do so exceptionally well. But some women seek out female advisors or feel more comfortable openly sharing their financial concerns with other women. Put simply, comfort influences engagement, and engagement can drive better outcomes. Unfortunately, when women looking for female advisors are unable to find a good match, they often choose to go it alone. If we are serious about closing the advice gap, we must address the advisor gap.

Industry evolution alone will not solve this

There are reasons for optimism. The wealth management business is shifting toward holistic, fee-based advice. Moreover, increasing advisor independence is allowing advisors to offer more integrated guidance with respect to investment, tax, and estate considerations. The advisor of the future will be rewarded not for the best hot stock tip, but for long-term thinking, deep listening, and a service-oriented mindset — qualities that resonate strongly with many women considering a career in wealth management.

Fortunately, the structural shifts reshaping the advice industry should make the profession more attractive to a broader range of talent — including women. But we cannot rely solely on passive forces to correct the current imbalance between men and women among advisor ranks.

Current industry trends can serve as wind at our backs, but we must take proactive, intentional steps to retain female advisors and recruit new women to the profession. This will require that we increase the visibility of female advisors within our franchises and define much clearer career pathways for women to reach success in our industry.

Making the profession visible, and viable, for women

The first step is straightforward: Women must be visible in this profession.

Young women considering careers in finance need to see successful female advisors leading practices, building businesses, and shaping firms. If she can see it, she can believe it. Visibility changes what feels possible.

But visibility alone is not enough.

For decades, the advisory profession has relied heavily on informal apprenticeship models and self-directed career paths. Success often depends on existing networks and unstructured mentorship. For many aspiring advisors — particularly those without industry connections — our industry appears unnavigable.

A profession that relies primarily on “figure it out as you go” will not attract the breadth of talent it needs. We must create more formal educational pathways into our field by expanding the number of financial planning majors and CFP-track programs offered. Further, to support women who choose to pursue careers in financial advisory, we must establish designated sponsorship initiatives that help lead women to capitalize on appropriate succession opportunities. Only through a combination of visibility, clearer pathways, and guided succession can we create meaningful progress.

Stewarding a structural shift

Women already direct a significant and growing share of U.S. financial assets, and that share will rise meaningfully over the next decade.⁵ The implications of this extend far beyond firm growth targets or market share statistics.

This is about stewardship. Capital represents more than returns. It represents retirement security, health care decisions, intergenerational transfers, philanthropic impact, and the dignity of choice in later life.

As more of that capital is directed by women, the advisory profession carries a corresponding responsibility. The question is whether we will steward this shift in a way that strengthens our resilience as an industry and as a society.

Ensuring that women receive high-quality, professional financial advice — advice that reflects an understanding of the financial transitions many women navigate — is particularly central to the integrity of our system.

Will we be ready?

It is clear that when more women engage with advice, more wealth is thoughtfully stewarded over longer time horizons. The ecosystem becomes stronger.

The issue is not about women versus men — nor about disadvantaging men to promote women. It’s about attracting more people into wealth management and helping ensure that a larger percentage of them are women.

To effectively serve women into the future, the wealth management industry must evolve. In the past, the industry has proven its capacity to change by shifting business models, embracing new technologies, and navigating profound regulatory change. I’m optimistic it can evolve again if we embrace the calling of this year’s International Women’s Day and “give to gain.”

Let’s help women capture the financial promise of the assets they are inheriting by changing the complexion of our industry. I’m on a mission to celebrate women advisors, sponsor female-led practices looking to expand and grow their businesses, and establish clearer pathways to success for newer entrants into wealth management. Won’t you join me?

About &Partners

&Partners is a rapidly growing, advisor-owned wealth management firm built for advisors seeking greater ownership, flexibility, and community. Founded by former Wells Fargo leaders and based in Nashville, Tennessee, and St. Louis, Missouri, the firm offers a hybrid model that combines competitive payouts with equity participation, institutional support, and access to a collaborative peer network. Having quickly grown to 112 practices with approximately $52 billion in prehire assets as of March 10, 2026, &Partners provides a platform where advisors can build lasting businesses on their terms without sacrificing service, scale, or culture. Clearing and custody services are provided by National Financial Services LLC, a Fidelity company. Our mission is to change financial lives for the better by providing highly personalized advice that seeks to avoid missteps and optimize opportunities. To learn more, visit andpartners.com. 

Disclosures

&Partners is the enterprise trade/marketing name for Ampersand Partners LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and its subsidiary, &Partners, LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as a broker-dealer and investment adviser. Securities and investment advisory services offered through &Partners, LLC, member FINRA and SIPC.