However, the study, released last week by the Spectrem Group, said that account statements and face-to-face meetings with advisors got relatively high marks (rated as excellent by 61% and 56% of survey respondents, respectively) from affluent women, who are defined as the primary decisionmakers in households with $500,000 or more in investable assets, not including primary residence.
Seminars, for example, were rated as poor by 35% of the affluent women surveyed. In focus groups, Spectrem said the women expressed their displeasure as follows:
• “It might be nice if the seminars were geared for women and done by women.”
• “I would go if there was no charge and I could pick and choose which topics I wanted to learn about.”
“Affluent women quite clearly do not care for some of the tools that financial advisors routinely use to communicate with clients,” noted Catherine S. McBreen, Managing Director of Spectrem Group, in a press release.
Additionally, echoing other research on the subject, “Affluent women represent an important potential client base, as they are more likely to rely on advisors than affluent men,” said McBreen.
Access to firm experts was ranked as excellent by 52%, as was a financial plan (45%).
The report, “Affluent Women,” is based upon mail and online surveys of more than 1,000 affluent households in the United States, defined as those with $500,000 or more of investable assets, not including primary residence. It was conducted in September through November of 2005 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 8.0 percentage points.
You can check out more at a podcast available at http://www.farrellkramer.com/newsmaker