In law, medicine and accountancy, the majority of new entrants are female, with the overall numbers in each profession around 50% and obviously growing. Yet the number of female financial advisers has grown by only 2% to 16% of the total currently authorised. Why? It is a role requiring a degree of empathy often as much lacking in the 84% of male advisers as in the 50% of male doctors (speaking from recent experience). Our working hours and location can in many or most cases be more flexible than those of other professions and jobs. And with ‘Chartered’ qualifications becoming more and more the required norm, it is equally demanding intellectually. No, our problem is still one of image, a mix in the minds of many, I’m afraid, of the old-school life insurance salesman and wide-boy city trader. And changing that seems to be a slow process.
“How to get rich in 2025”
Who wants to be a millionaire? Well, if you’re one of the 35% of the UK population renting long-term or of the 20% officially living in poverty, the answer’s ‘yes, please’.
