Happy 2019! I know.. you’re thinking.. uh it’s already March, but hey, sometimes life gets a little crazy. I love a new year. It’s a chance to start fresh, press the reset button and get off the roller coaster ride of the previous year. We don’t need a new year to make a fresh start, you could make a fresh start on a Monday. But mentally, there is something about January 1st that is so special.
As I progress in this industry, learn more and grow professionally, I have deepened my interests and passions. Part of this comes from personal experience as well. The moment I stepped into this industry, I was a outlier because of my age and gender. The average age of a financial advisor is 51 (per 2017 data) and women make up only 17% of all advisors. Why? This is an amazing career. Why aren’t more women in it? Why aren’t there more Gen x or Gen Y advisors?
2019 marks my fresh start to empower women to take control of their financial well being.
Why don’t women get the right advice/services they deserve?
Let’s point out the obvious, finance has always been very male dominated. Now, this isn’t a rant about feminism and why more women need to get into the industry. But the world of financial advice has traditionally been very investment focused: performance of underlying funds, picking out the best of the best, analytics, and facts. Topics that quite frankly, don’t interest women. We are more visual, we like to see things, feel emotion and plan things out. We understand money is important, but typically we don’t care about the nitty gritty of the investment portfolio. We care about if that money is going to help us achieve what we intend to do with it. Because of this, the traditional investment focused approach doesn’t speak to women.
For a woman who has no choice but to be the CFO of her family because she’s single, divorced, widowed, the traditional forms of advice or services don’t fully suit her.
So, Why is Serving Women Important to Me?
Enter my passion for a more client-focused, planning-centric approach. Investment management is just a piece of the puzzle. I use investment management as a tool to help my clients achieve their goals. I want women to know the importance of budgeting and cash flow planning, how it impacts your ability to save, and why you need to start saving yesterday. I also want to be an advocate that women don’t know they need. To help them protect their families through insurance planning, and optimize their money and tax efficiency through tax planning.
As women, we are natural care takers. This means we put others well-being above our own. We’re compassionate, efficient, resilient. But we tend to put our health, self-care, goals, and financial priorities on the back burner. Often times without realizing we are even doing it. I know we sometimes just need someone to ask us how we’re doing or to step in and help out – I want to be that person for women and their finances. To be part of their team.
Wondering why I do what I do?
I jumped into the career simply because I love helping people, in a meaningful and continuous capacity. I love the idea of building relationships and seeing people live their lives in a meaningful way by achieving their financial goals. I want to help you understand the importance of planning for life’s financial events, whether short-term or long-term. What you’re risking and missing out on by not starting sooner rather than later.
Bottom line: I want to empower women to find the confidence and take control of their finances.
Carolyn Rowland is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ passionate about empowering individuals to take control of their financial landscape. “We often tend to place our own priorities on the back burner for others, resulting in sacrifices we don’t often realize we’re making.”Carolyn believes in taking a values-based approach to financial planning. “Together we’ll define what matters most to you, what you want your life to look like, and develop a plan that fits your lifestyle.”CC
Carolyn Rowland is in the Milwaukee WI, area.