"Financial advisers need to be engaging with both partners in a couple when discussing the household wealth to ensure both feel informed and valued."
According to the IFAs surveyed, there were a number of reasons why this happened. The most common was that the client did not want to continue receiving financial advice (49%), while other clients wanted the opportunity to choose their own financial adviser (45%) and 38% said cost was an issue.
40% of IFAs said that their client preferred an adviser of a different sex.
The research also found that in older generations it was more common for the man in a heterosexual partnership to look after the finances, meaning the woman would not necessarily have formed a relationship with the adviser before their partner’s death.
However, Fidelity also found that more needs to be done to attract young women to financial advice. Its report found that young men were twice as likely to seek support from a financial adviser for their overall well-being (21%) compared to young women (12%).
Jackie Boylan, head of FundsNetwork for Fidelity International, commented: “The days where the man looked after the household’s finances have largely past, but there’s still a discrepancy when it comes to financial advice. Financial advisers need to be engaging with both partners in a couple when discussing the household wealth to ensure both feel informed and valued.
“Financial advice could play a significant role in helping more women get invested but currently too many feel like advice is ‘not for them’. Fidelity’s latest Women and Money Innovation Lab, which brought together experts from the industry, media and policy, discussed how to encourage more women to receive financial advice. Rebranding financial advice was a key takeaway, with attendees pointing out that a woman’s goals for advice may be different to a man’s. Easier said than done but looking at how we talk about advice is an important factor here.”
