“If you check the net worth and income stats of African-Americans, that’s not where they are,” said Brewer. Today, many firms only take new clients with substantial amounts of investable assets (often a minimum of $250,000 or $500,000). So what could be done to increase the number of minority financial planners, other than to make the industry more welcoming? The following are ideas I heard from Mohrman-Gillis, Brewer, Smith and Deborah Owens, a financial educator and former Fidelity vice president who calls herself “America’s Wealth Coach.”Ĭhange compensation practices in the financial planning industry. How to Raise the Number of Minority Financial Planners It’s not very easy.”ĭespite the problems, the survey also found that people of color were more satisfied in their careers as CFPs, and more likely to recommend the profession, than whites, Fondulas said. “We need to pay attention to the fear of not fitting in within a largely white profession,” said Mohrman-Gillis.īrewer, who has an MBA from MIT, told me that when he was entering the business, he was asked to take a math test (which he passed) and an employee at a big financial firm where he applied said to him: “The guy in the corner office said ‘They won’t buy from you.’” As Brewer also told me about breaking into the industry: “Look at all the hurdles and sometime pole vaults to be interviewed. By contrast, 58% of CFPs who aren’t black or Latino said “people of color are reluctant to pursue” jobs in the industry.Ĭompared to all the survey respondents, black financial planning professional prospects ranked “prejudice from firms,” “firms’ beliefs about clients and ethnicity,” “firms’ assumptions about lack of cultural fit” and “fewer opportunities” as higher than average when asked about causes for the underrepresentation of blacks and Latinos in financial planning. Some 27% of black CFPs and 29% of black and Latino business prospects cited “companies reluctant to hire or promote” people of color as the broad reason. The study also found stark contrasts between what black CFPs and prospects said about the underrepresentation of people of color in the profession and what white CFPs said. The researchers conducted focus groups, phone interviews and an online survey of black, Latino and other CFP professionals consumers who work with planners as well as black and Latino business professionals and students open to considering a career in financial planning.ĭifferences Between What Black and White CFPs Said The CFP Board Center for Financial Planning - part of the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards - deserves credit, I believe, for conducting the survey that it knew wouldn’t reflect well on the industry. Diversity was weighted in the rankings, but only slightly, said Matt Sirinides, Investment News’ senior research analyst. One sad representation of the paucity of minority planners: Investment News’ recent inaugural ranking of “The Best Places to Work for Financial Advisers.” Many of the photos of these 50 firms didn’t feature a single black face. Interestingly, the survey also found that consumers who are 55 or older and work with Certified Financial Planners “are generally less likely to be concerned about the personal background of the financial planner and more concerned about things like experience and knowledge,” said Peter Fondulas, president of the firm that conducted the study, Fondulas Strategic Research. What Older Financial Planning Clients Want “When someone says ‘I was the first in my family to go to college and now I’m taking care of my parents or I ran into debt problems,’ you have some empathy,” he said. We know there are consumers who may prefer to work with black or Latino CFPs but we also know where there are teams of professionals providing services and products, they are better if they are diverse,” she said.īrewer, who grew up in low-income Gary, Ind., believes minority CFPs often bring a sense of empathy to clients. “We know from our gender research that better performance comes when you have a diverse delivery of services in the workforce.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |