Latest / Financial Planner Life Podcast / Female Folio, a network supporting women on their investment journey – Claire Barker

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Female Folio, a network supporting women on their investment journey – Claire Barker · Financial Planner Life Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, and welcome to the Financial Planner Life Podcast, where we talk to professionals at varying stages in their career about what it's like working in the wonderful world of financial planning and financial advice.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: This podcast is proudly sponsored by Recruit UK, a recruitment consultancy specifically focused on the financial services.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: They have a niche specialism, recruiting, within the financial planning industry.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: So check out their website for the latest job opportunities, hints and tips, and blog articles.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_02: Hello everyone, it's Elena back for this week's episode of the Financial Planner Life podcast.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: And this week I'm joined by Claire Barker, Communications and Marketing Director at Brooks McDonald.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: Within this week's episode, we discussed the importance of having someone within a communication role within your firm and Claire's exciting project with Brooks McDonald called Female Folio.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: We discussed the difference between investing patterns between men and women, intergenerational wealth, intragenerational wealth, and how we can break down the knowledge barrier with women around financial planning.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_02: How are you this afternoon, Claire?
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: Really good, thanks.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: How are you?
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'm very well.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you very much for asking.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: And it's the first question I like to ask everyone when we sort of start our podcast.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: Could you mind telling me through a little bit about your career journey today and how you've got to the point where you are now?
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no problem.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_02: How long have you got?
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_03: All the time in the world.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_03: Fantastic.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_03: I'll start from when I was 12.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_03: I've actually had quite a diverse background in sectors.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um having left school, I think what I was really looking for was security in large organizations.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_03: So that drove my first choices in corporates like BP.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_03: I'm then old enough to remember the advent of technology coming into the workplace, which actually you can imagine was a very exciting thing to be going on around.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: You know, this morphing into what seemed like science fiction.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_03: It was amazing.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_03: And that then dictated a lot of the places I then worked in, including media and a little stint on Fleet Street as well.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and then I kind of flicked over more into other sectors like outsourcing, which was a really big model thing that was going on at the time.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: You know, if you focus on what you're good at as a business, let us take the rest of that off of you.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and that led me through to organisations that are quite um legislative, and which was the natural pivot then over into financial services, which is where you find me now.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_03: The common spread for all of that will have been communications and marketing.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, fab.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: So it's very interesting to hear about someone's career journey and how this is this is your first role, am I right, with sort of within financial planning West Right sector?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: What's made you stay?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: What about the industry has proven to be sort of so exciting that you could now sort of view this as your home for your career?
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's a such a great question because you know, financial services does have quite a bit of a negative connotation to it, you know, because of the legacy of greed and mismanagement of people's money, which is the broader comms side of um reputation.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_03: And that's one of the things that I'm really enjoying because actually anyone who works with financial services won't recognise themselves within that description.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_03: It's actually a really honourable profession to be in.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and you know, at our company, for instance, people often think that wealth managers are there to make rich people richer.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely not the truth at all.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_03: It's about helping people have enough money and for security in whatever capacity that might be.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_03: The other thing I'm really interested in, I'm sure we'll touch on it later, of course, is the dominance of um gender, yeah, lack of diversity.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_03: You know, lots of men in the industry, fantastic, not enough women in the industry, not so fantastic.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_03: So there's also a really good opportunity there to start thinking how I can maybe help move that along a little bit to quite a few um challenges that make it a compelling place.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: Really interesting.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I think the the point that you touch on, which is definitely something that I get about the industry, is it so my way you can really add value, you know.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: And as you said, wealth managers and I think financial planners have this perception to people outside the industry of just being there to make the rich richer.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_02: But as you touched on, it's it's it's so many more different facets than that.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's all about supporting your children through university, um, you know, being able to retire, being able to have that holiday that you've dreamed of for the rest of your life or for all of your life.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: So being able to add that value to people and really allow them to live their authentic lifestyles is super, super rewarding.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it's interesting.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know whether you've got any opinions on this, but you've obviously, as you said previously, you know, you've done loads of different roles, sort of worked within different sectors, but that marketing and communications has been sort of like the thing that's, you know, being, I guess, common between them all.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: How did you use that to then break into financial planning as an industry?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: Was it just the opportunity came up and your skill set applied, or did you research the industry before you transitioned into it?
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_02: And how was that sort of navigating from a different field into financial planning?
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: So communications is my passion.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, obviously, I love marketing too, otherwise I wouldn't do it.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_03: But even underpinning marketing is communications.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_03: If you can communicate effectively, then you can break through to your you know target audience.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_03: And so I'm always looking when I'm looking for a new role, I'm always looking for somewhere that's going to offer me a challenge within communication.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_03: So, how can I apply my skills?
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_03: That's what happened here.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_03: I found the role, well, and it was with an agency actually, and it was a really good um way that they positioned the role for me.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_03: In fact, they almost said financial services was the last thing.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_03: But what they talked about was an organisation that was really keen to make sure that internally and externally they were communicating the right way for the brand to build up reputation and become an employer of choice, all the classic things that you'd expect out of the communications role.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_03: When it's financial services, I wondered if that might go against me because it is quite a specialist sector.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_03: But actually, it didn't go against me at all because, and you'll find, I think people are finding this a lot now.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_03: Organisations are actually looking for people who don't necessarily have sector experience, because that lack of already being modelled actually ends up being an advantage, and you can bring in thoughts and share ideas that perhaps you wouldn't have experienced or be able to bring if you hadn't come, you know, already from that sector.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_03: So that I think that was what it was, the opportunity, certainly, and also the um meeting the people at Brooks, I've got to say, was just lovely.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and that was the final thing for me.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_03: I thought these are really these are really nice people.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_03: So it was definitely a place I wanted to work.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: Definitely, and just building on that, I guess coming from your background and having worked in lots of different industries, you can potentially give a different perspective or shine a different light on things than potentially people that have, you know, just been set in the financial planning industry can.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, at the end of the day, all we're doing is talking to each other as humans.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_03: That's all it is.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_03: That's the common denominator.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_03: Whether we're talking to each other as colleagues, whether we're talking to each other as clients or um, you know, in a professional capacity, people like to hear from people.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_03: And that's the common denominator.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, there'll be things that you have to wrap around.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, we're very regulated.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_03: We can't say things without that going through a process of sign-off, but you're still communicating to people, and that's where things like communications works really well, especially on the inside as well, when we're looking at building up and being an uh you know an employer of choice.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_03: And of course, I joined maybe I think it was one year before COVID hit.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and then that was an amazing exercise in certainly in how you keep connected both internally with your employees and externally, you know, to all our um advisors and clients that we were working with.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_03: So that added on even more um of a challenge.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, I think we've all come out really well at the end of the day.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: Definitely.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: Thank thankfully we probably wouldn't be doing this, would we?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: On Zoom.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's yeah, COVID has changed the landscape of the way that we work in so many different ways.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, it was a horrible time to go through, but I think it has had a silver lining as such that we can look back on in reflection.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: But when we talk about your job role as marketing and communications director, you're obviously super passionate about communication, and that definitely transpires through.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: But it's quite a subjective term.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_02: And marketing in itself is subjective.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: And I Lesbian, I guess there'll be lots of people in our audience that don't have a communications director within their firm or someone that sits in that communications role.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_02: So, do you mind sort of elaborating on what you do and what that role encompasses?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, sure.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_03: And obviously, I'll talk from my experience within this role that I'm in now.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_03: But I think it's also worth saying, especially for people who aren't familiar with marketing communications, we have what it is a blended team.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_03: So we've got marketing, which is, you know, basic promotion.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_03: Uh it's building up lead generation and helping the guys in distribution be able to go out and sell or raise an awareness of us because we're holding events.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_03: And then on the flip side of that are the communications, and that's really the almost like the reputation.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_03: So making sure that the brand is seen as a reputable, good brand to do business with.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_03: So that could be things like PR, but it also can be just simple as the trade press that you appear in or the um the collateral.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_03: Are you, you know, using the right tone of voice?
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_03: What about your images?
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_03: So that's you can often give very unwittingly wrong messages out because some of the simple things haven't been picked up on.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_03: So that's where I think marketing communications for anybody who's kind of creative, it's a really good home for them.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_03: And the benefit to the organization that it brings is consistency.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_03: So you're an employee of the business, you know you're going to hear things at a regular interval, you know that things are going to be put on for you to help you understand maybe things like strategy to align you to what the group's objectives are.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_03: And if you're um on the other side and you're pushing communications out to um advisors and clients, again, it's that consistency, making sure you're not over-promising.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_03: Really, that the things that you're really good at are the things that surface and the things that people talk about.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_03: That's what you want to be known for.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_03: So it's quite a it's a very strategic function because you take the strategy that's been created at the exec level and you dilute it down into a way that it's digestible by both people on the inside, people on the outside.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_03: And there is a classic little phrase, you know, brand on the inside, brand on the outside.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_03: You want everybody to be a brand ambassador inside, and you want everyone to buy from you who's on the outside.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_03: And that's where the kind of will power of a good comms team comes in.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's definitely a very multi, multifaceted role, isn't it?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_02: Because you very often think about um the brand that you showcase outside, but you forget about how you're looking for everyone to be brand ambassadors ambassadors inside the business.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's definitely twofold rather than just sort of trying to sell a product or how you come across.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: In terms of yourself personally, what's your favourite part of the job?
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: You know, what do you enjoy most or what gives you the best most job satisfaction?
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_03: Well, if if I'm putting the marketing side on, it's obviously got to be when anything that we've worked on starts to deliver.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and that would always be in the terms of seeing business coming in.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, there are there are horrible memes put around from sales teams where they get really excited, say when marketing recognises a lead.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_03: Because you know, the adage is that it's like takes seven touch points for anyone to convert.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_03: So we know that um, you know, we really want uh to support our sales guys as well, because I think sales is a really hard job.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_03: So anything we can do to help shift the needle.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_03: So a proud moment for me would be when, for instance, our head of distribution, oh, he's such a champion for marketing, and he's so um positive, you know, and to hear him say that a job's been done well, you know, and recognising marketing for the value they bring, that makes my day.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_03: And on the communication side, it could be things like getting organic pickup in tier one press, which is things like the Financial Times, or it could be, you know, producing an asset that everybody really wants to have, you know, it downloads really quickly and becomes a, you know, kind of like a bestseller, except of course we're not charging.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and really just the other thing would be elevating the brand because it's a competitive field that we're in.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_03: Most research is still done online.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_03: How do we make ourselves look bigger, better, but relevant?
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we don't want to be saying that we're doing something that we're not doing.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_03: So it's really about building reputation.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that all of these things come together.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: There's always so much to do as well, digital, especially.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you know, you're doing your podcast, which is amazing.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_03: That's something we still need to, you know, get our heads around as well.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_03: So constantly learning as well.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I guess it's a role where you can, as you said, you know, when you previously let technology come into play, it's an industry and a job role which is continually evolving, continually picking up the trends and moving forward with that.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: And um, I guess you get to be involved with loads of different really exciting projects.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_02: And one of the ones that I want to talk about is um VMail folio, which Brooks McDonald's has sort of recently launched.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_02: And it's something that when we first got into contact and we sort of discussed it, and I first saw it on my LinkedIn.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_02: So marketing communications outreach is obviously excellent.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I was super interested, and um, you know, I come from a background or my position in the industry, part of this podcast, and working with Recruit UK, where we definitely A, see the lack of women in the industry, and B, can see that divide um and that advice gap between the lack of women, you know, accessing and being involved with financial advice.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: So seeing female folio on my LinkedIn home screen, as it was, um, was something that was really, really exciting.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: Do you mind in a nutshell, Claire, sort of telling us a little bit about female folio, what it is?
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_03: No problem.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_03: So female folio was started by um six of uh us in Brooks MacDonald, coming all from different ranges.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_03: We had investment directors, we've got um head uh distribution guys, new business development, um, and then we've got people in our financial planning team.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_03: So it's real spread across.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_03: And the one thing that brought us all together was our desire to make a difference for women who want to invest but have never thought about it.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and it's very it's no surprise to anybody uh who knows anything about finance and certainly about the world of investing, that women don't invest as much as men do.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_03: But the statistics are showing that wealth is moving more and more into the hands of women.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_03: That could be through intragenerational, so widowhood or divorce, or it can be intergenerational inheritance, but it's also, of course, because women are staying in the workplace longer and they're moving into really powerful positions, um, and they've got the wealth that comes with that.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_03: So we've got a big cohort of women who are moving into positions where they've got quite a lot of wealth, but are sitting on it, holding it in cash.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_03: And that's not because they are scared or of investing, but women, and this is generally it is generalizing, but there's so much, you know, so many stats that support this.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_03: Women tend to think, hang on a minute, I need to be secure, I've got to be safe.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_03: So a woman, for instance, might not want to pay off a mortgage, might want to pay off a mortgage because of the security it gives to own a house.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_03: Whereas a guy might go, no, that's on a fixed, good, low interest rate.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_03: Let's put the money into investments because we'll see more back in return.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_03: And you hear these stories over and over again of why women aren't coming forward with their cash to invest it.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_03: So FM Folio wants to break that taboo.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_03: We want to say to women, come in, network with us, see that we're nice people to do business with.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_03: And then maybe if you learn a little bit more about investing and about the investment process, you might then change your mind and you might want to put your money into investing.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_03: And so that basically is the premise of Portfolio.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_02: Super exciting.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_02: I think, in terms of an initiative, it's a platform, it's absolutely amazing.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_02: And it's breaking those taboos and those stereotypes and encouraging more women sort of into into investing into the financial planning sphere.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_02: When we first touched base, you mentioned to me that there was like a bit of, in terms of the inspiration, there was a bit of a moment for yourself when you were sort of at an event and uh you looked around.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_02: Do you mind elaborating a little bit on that moment?
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, sure.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_03: So, as we've already said, I joined Brooks MacDonald um uh from not having come from the financial service industry.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_03: And I hadn't been in the business long, and then we'd organised a really big key event in London in a posh hotel.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_03: And the guest speaker was Sorel Fine.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_03: So I was thinking, oh, this could be interesting hearing about his many journeys up and down Everest.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_03: So I've popped along to the event anyway, and we also came to cover um our responsible investing as well.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_03: That was the link into Sorel Fine's going up Everest.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_03: You know, anyway, I got to the back of the room and I looked and I thought, this is really weird.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_03: Everywhere I looked, it was just a man's head.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_03: There were just no women at all.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_03: It was just a sea of men's heads, and there were 200 men.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_03: Well, where are the women?
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_03: It was just the oddest thing.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_03: And then I started having conversations with people, and I found that financial advisors generally men.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and the people that they do, the financial advisors talk to generally are husbands or you know, men.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_03: So I thought, okay, there's a little bit of a gap here.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_03: I hadn't seen it quite as acute as I had um, you know, in that particular meeting.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_03: And I think the interesting thing was everybody wants to see the change.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_03: The advisors want to see the change.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and the business, the sector, the industry wants to see the change.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_03: And there are all these great organisations now that are helping connect the two together.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_03: And I should imagine that the majority have all been motivated in the same way as I did, which is just look around and go, where are the women here?
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_03: Let's start to see what we can do.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: Definitely, because as you touched on, I don't know whether it's as apparent in other industries as it is within financial planning.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_02: You, as you said, you can look around the room and you can see that it is we I'm we're generalizing, but I use the quotation uh male, pale, and stale.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_02: And it's something that runs down the industry sometimes.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: It's this bracket of older, aged male, um sort of from this ethnicity, you know, you um advisors.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I've heard of instances before where female advisors, especially young female advisors, have gone to these events and have, you know, made them so powerful and people have thought they're someone's assistant rather than them being financial advisors there in their own right.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_02: So I guess, you know, building on this, there's definitely, you know, a massive advice gap in terms of or gender gap in terms of financial advisors.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think then that acts as a barrier for these women to be with women to be accessing the financial advice?
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_02: We often find that you know people want to seek advice from people that they relate to because you're asking for advice at the end of the day.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think it sort of trickles down the fact that there's less female advisors to also playing a part in there being less women sort of seeking advice or being comfortable with advice?
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_03: So like two anecdotes, and then I'll directly answer the question.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, go for her.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_03: So the first anecdote, interesting, I was at our PR agency, um, and they said that the average age for financial advisors is 55, but it's been 55 for like 10 years.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_03: So it's the weirdest thing, it's just not changing, it's static.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_03: So I think you know, financial advisors kind of drop off and then, but the other ones chunk down.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_03: So it's like a non-moving pool of men, primarily, because we're not seeing women come into the industry.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_03: And I attended a great event with the women in banking and finance the other week, and there were lots of people there really passionate about how you go down to that school education level to get women, the girls think about it.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_03: One one lady she said she'd gone to um a girls' school and she said, How many people, how many girls here do their parents work in financial services?
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_03: And about a third put their hand up.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_03: Now, how many of you would like a career in financial services?
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_03: And one girl put her hand up.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my goodness.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_03: There's such a big disconnect.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_03: So there's like almost down that bottom level, there needs a lot of work done there to see girls moving into the um routes that will take them then into a career um um in you know financial planning.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_03: Now, your question was, I can't remember.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think that they're not being many female advisors?
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: And like you said, that's right in that room.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think that is also another barrier by why women then don't want to access advice or feel like financial planning isn't for them?
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and and the other caveat I was going to make on that one was I was chatting to Stuart, who is our um head of financial planning, and he said, you know, it's it's not like there isn't a desire there to change.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_03: So the where the barrier comes from is actually from the women themselves.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_03: And there are a lot of statistics, again, and we've done so much research and reading on this.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_03: So for instance, you might have been, if we take one scenario, you're married, you go to your financial advisor, conventionally, finances will have been discussed with the husband.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_03: So when the husband then is no longer a part of that partnership, whether Through widowhood or divorce, and the the woman is left with the uh a financial matter to sort out, she doesn't have a relationship with the advisor, it was never built, and also is not wanting to stay in that relationship, maybe for many reasons.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_03: And there's statistics that show that most women will leave the family joint advisor, uh family financial advisor within three years.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and that's because there is no relationship there.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_03: There are other things like the way we sell we are sold to.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_03: So, for instance, I mentioned you know, at the top of the call, um, the challenges there on maybe I want to keep a mortgage or I don't want to keep a mortgage, that will definitely be influenced whether you're male or female and how you see security against risk.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_03: And sometimes it might just be the the way the financial advisor communicates with the lady isn't going to resonate.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_03: That's the thing, it's a lot about for feet for females, it's a lot about life stories.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_03: Tell me how I'm going to be able to make a difference to my life, my parents' life, my children's life, my legacy.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_03: Bring the life story into it, and then you've got the trusted relationship in that client, um, client advisor sphere.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: 100%.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's super, we always talk about, I think there is, um, you know, especially talking about like women that might have been widowed or come through a divorce, there's always going to be a level of empathy that's required with those situations.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I think from a female perspective, and again, it's generalizing, I'm not saying that every female wants a female financial advisor, but there is a level of empathy that having someone that can truly relate and to your situation brings.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_02: I've spoken to advisors, we've had amazing advisors on the podcast that have been gone through those scenarios themselves and then use their own life experiences to actually build on the advice that they give.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: They're not only, you know, providing advice but a shoulder to crown.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_02: I think that that's what I mean.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_02: There's so many different facets in the element of providing advice to women that women don't sort of they need someone with those characteristics and someone from their own jammed.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_03: Because, you know, I was just there's so many guys uh, you know, that I'm working with now, I think they're absolutely lovely.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_03: And I think if I had a uh a challenge, I would I because I know them, I would go to them and say, help me.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and if I, you know, won the lottery and got loads of money, I wouldn't be looking any further than Brooks, you know, the guy who's to help me because I know them and I trust them.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_03: So, how do you build up that trust when you don't work with people?
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_03: And that's when you start looking for people that you would recognize.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_03: You know, oh, I think I'll go for a woman because I think it'd be easier to talk to a woman.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_03: So female folio offers that alternative.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_03: We're not saying that we don't want um men to come along to our events.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_03: In fact, we had um a couple of guys who have come along to our events, the launch events, they were they they it wouldn't be appropriate for the men to join the female folio network, though, because the network is about women coming together and sharing their stories and networking with each other.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_03: But there's no reason why you know guys couldn't come along um to the event, and we warmly, we warmly welcome them.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_03: And it is all about that choice.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_03: So if you are a woman and you're feeling a bit bruised for whatever reason, and you want to talk to a woman, you don't want you to have that relationship or that contact with another man, there's an alternative now.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um there are lots of lovely women out there who can help the women who would want those conversations.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_02: Definitely.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_02: And it's great to see that the changes are actually you know happening and progressing.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_02: And you spoke about networking there.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_02: I guess does female folio in terms of a networking group, have an element where you can speak with other women in your position or in your same shoes and talk about your different investing stories?
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's been really interesting actually hearing what the um women want to hear about.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_03: So there are the obvious things like I don't quite understand investing.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_03: What are structured products, you know, those kind of technical questions?
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_03: So we can start running sort of like Tech 101.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_03: But what's also interesting is the lifestyle side of things, like oh, um, are there I'm really interested in you know protecting the the earth.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_03: What what um what brands should I be working with?
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_03: How should I be investing my money?
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and that was a flip side that we didn't quite see, but works really nicely.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_03: So we're thinking about how we can run events where we talk to female-owned brands and female entrepreneurs, yeah, and we get the women in the room, and so there's lots of opportunity there to understand um about what's happening in that space, and also maybe thinking about how they can use their money to either invest in that and philanthropy, of course, is an absolute classic.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_03: It is so common across all the women we've spoken to, they want to do something good with their money.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and so we are um, you know, we work with um some philanthropic organizations ourselves and not for profit.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and it's making those connections, I think, so that there's um an alternative viewpoint because we're everyone talks about response investing, but you know, what exactly is that?
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_03: How does that drill down and how do I manifest that across when if I've got money and I want to use it?
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_03: So those kind of conversations are coming um to the court as well.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_02: Do you find in terms of you know, you just mentioned then, like um, you know, philanthropy and people wanting to invest their money makes a different or has a positive impact on the world around them?
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_02: Can you think of any other key differences between how you know patterns generally we're talking about here again, about how women invest in different ways than men do?
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, we spoke about the responsible side, you know, slower.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_02: I pro I is there a different appetite to risk, do you find sort of between pattern rise with men and women?
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_02: Is there any other key sort of disparities?
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean, again, as you say, generalizing.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_03: It's this piece about being risk averse.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and so it's not that they are um afraid to invest, not at all.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_03: But they are looking at where the security lies.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_03: And so naturally, you would imagine that there's going to be very few women that are looking for a completely high-risk portfolio.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I I I would be, I mean, I'd be quite amazed actually if I found a woman who would put all her money into high-risk portfolio.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I think that would be really, it would go counter to the generalization.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so it is about really finding that place, you know, a little bit, you put a little bit into uh into high risk, but but the bulk of your your wealth, you want to see it perform well to have a benefit.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_03: It's not like who, and I did work with a guy, an American guy, who actually did said, he did say to me, whoever die, whoever has the most when he dies wins, right?
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_03: That was his mentality.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think I would ever hear a woman say no.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_03: It is that kind of like, whereas I can imagine a woman saying, if I can leave behind um a legacy and security, then I've done well in money.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I guess this whole conversation and the whole thing about female folio is you, as we can tell by the differences and the disparities between um men and women and how they invest, women are ultimately generally more cautious.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_02: And I guess why a big push of female folio is making women more comfortable and confident with the idea of investing.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I guess the whole networking element within it actually works really well in the sense of you're breaking down barriers because the same way that we've spoken about you want to see, you know, women in advice roles and feel comfortable seeking advice from those women.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_02: I guess on the flip side, when you're talking about investing, hearing other women's stories and you know what they've decided to do and what they feel comfortable and confident doing, you know, inspires you to feel confident and comfortable about your investing journey as well.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_03: That confidence is the key word, isn't it?
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_03: And we've actually already had um conversations with professional services like accountants and lawyers, female-owned firms who are coming to Female Folio and saying, can we partner with you so that when we get um somebody in who hasn't traditionally been holding the uh pot of money, um they want to come in and do a complete service, but with women only.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_03: They want to be able to offer that service.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_03: So you have a woman lawyer, you have a woman financial planner, you have a woman investment director.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and that's a service that they are asking us to provide.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_03: So it really does come down to that confidence.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_03: And other things, I think, where we've been at the events, and um the guys, you know, the uh um are doing such a great job of networking around the room and talking to women because it's not we're not doing any presentations, we're not selling at the event, it is literally making those first contacts.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_03: And what we're finding, ladies are saying is I haven't really thought about investing, actually.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_03: I would like to find out more.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_03: That's the bridge that we want.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_03: We want to make that bridge from I haven't really thought about it, to actually concluding, I think I might like to find out about it, and then that's where the network kicks in with the series of all the different events we want to offer.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and the the ladies obviously meeting um in a nice space together.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_03: I think there'll always be champagne.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_03: Why not?
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, why not, wouldn't you?
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_03: But underneath it is that really important piece of educating people to feel confident that you can invest.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_03: If you feel it's right for you, there's a really good option for you to tap into and you know, and to take that first step in.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_02: And I think this is also important for our audience to hear.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_02: This is not about making investing pink and fluffy and all things colourful for women.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's not about that, and it's not putting a different light on something that is obviously very important.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_02: It's about breaking down a very obvious knowledge barrier.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_02: I think even when you think about my generation and I finished uni three years ago now, I have male friends who come out of uni, they're all about investing, what they can do with their money, and they are savvy.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, myself and my female counterpeers are completely out of the loop in that in that knowledge loop.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_02: And it is all down to gender.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_02: And it's amazing to be, you know, hear about a platform that is acknowledging that and being that bridge from I don't know anything about this, but I want to learn more, to making people feel comfortable, especially with as we've spoken about intergenerational wealth and intragenerational wealth, which is something that I never even sort of bought into the picture in myself mentally, with women build holding more wealth in the future, is so crucial to tackle these knowledge barriers and to allow women to feel comfortable about their investing.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_02: And we've spoken about then that you've recently done a couple of launch party events, you did one in Manchester and Harvey Nichols, am I right?
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_02: And then your latest one was in Jersey, like um a couple of weeks ago.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_02: So, how have these all gone for you so far?
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_02: What's been part of the reception?
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they've been it's been really good actually.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_03: We were we were cautioned by um the lovely Anna Lane, who heads up the Wisdom Council, that any event that you run for women, you must expect a high dropout rate because women often have the caring responsibilities and will get called in at the last minute.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_03: So, ordinarily, when you run an event, you expect a drop-out rate of 20%.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_03: So we thought we'd better up it to 50% because that seemed about right.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and even allowing for that, we still had a great turnout.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_03: So I think in our London event, it was actually a 46% dropout rate, but we'd been so oversubscribed that we still smashed how the target of how many people we wanted to come along.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_03: Manchester kind of broke even, but Jersey was a runaway success.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, really?
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we could that was amazing because we thought we would get a 50% dropout rate.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_03: We only had 20%, and there'd been so many people had signed up for it.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_03: Now, of course, Jersey is its own unique little climate going on.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you know, there's the word of mouth that really propels um good initiatives around the island.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_03: But nevertheless, the common denominator across all of the places we've run the event so far is two things, really.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_03: The first thing is can't wait to find out more.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_03: So we've got a real job on our hands now.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_03: That it was really hard coming up with a female brand that wasn't pink and fluffy.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_03: And I really must doff my cat to the lovely agency Moorish that we worked with.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um, in fact, they gave us an account manager called Simon.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, okay, he's not a female.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not quite sure how this is going to work.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, he has been absolutely terrific.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_03: And he really grasped what we were trying to do.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and then the when they presented the brand back for us, and I really hope people go on and look at femalefolio.com uh because it's got all the branding on it, and we could they've come up with this beautiful concept of kind of liberty style floral prints or William Morris.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_03: So it's very inoffensive, there's no no representative, you know, it doesn't have old or young, um, black or white, family or no family.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_03: It's just these beautiful floral images that work really, really well.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_03: And at the events, we had them animated so the flowers would open up.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_03: The kind of little things, you know, that ladies will notice that we did.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_03: And men, I'm afraid to say, I don't think many men noticed our animating flowers.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_03: And I guess that's the difference with women putting on events, uh, you know, for for women.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_03: But no, they landed really well.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for asking.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and we're really genuinely excited about um, you know, seeing seeing it go on now from strength to strength.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_02: And do you think the key importance of you doing these events is actually getting people in a room speaking to each other?
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_02: Is that like the main mission of them?
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_02: Or what would you say are sort of the the reasons why you believe putting on a launch pie in an in-person event is important?
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's because it was the launch.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_03: You see, trying to tell people what your vision is over social platforms is going to be limited because there's been no human connection, which actually is where we first started talking, wasn't it?
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_03: About you know that connecting with humans.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_03: And I think when the ladies have come through and they can just see that we're not in there for the hard sell, we are in there for the education, and we really want to talk to them and make them feel like that it's an open platform and that there's more to come.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_03: That engagement side works really, really well.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_03: We do recognise though that the next level will have to include a lot of social because, again, this audience can be very, very busy.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_03: And so we need to make sure we've got the platforms ready so we know we can see huge engagement on Instagram, Facebook, a lot of channels that actually I wouldn't use in the business world for Brooks McDonald.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_03: You know, Brooks McDonald has a great following on LinkedIn.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not sure it would translate so well over onto Instagram at all.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_03: It's not the right demographic.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_03: Whereas for the female folio demographic, they can't consume enough.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_03: And we can't produce enough content on there, you know, and getting the likes and the shares in.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and yeah, we had a few, the real Jersey housewives came to the Jersey.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_03: That was interesting.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_03: Then they liked her event, and so we a little bit, a little bit viral.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_02: It's all about spreading the know-how, isn't it?
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, building on everything that we've said in this conversation, there is something about having a face-to-face event and being able to soak in that knowledge, not virtually or just consuming that content, but actually, you know, being part of the story in your own way that really allows sort of your message to transpire across.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I think one thing that you touched on then that I think is also really, you know, beautiful about this whole female folio is it's not a hard sell.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_02: You know, these events aren't going in and being like, right, I'm gonna sit you down with an investment manager, you're gonna tell them all about your money and blah, blah, blah.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's about adding value to women's lives and opening a conversation and breaking down barriers.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_02: And at the end of that, if they feel comfortable and confident in investing and want to use Brooks McDonald's serve services, that's the cherry on top, but not the whole cake.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's what's really beautiful is that it's it is ultimately, you know, from a business perspective, there to sort of bring you a level of income.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_02: But on the flip side of this, I think the the thing that I see from an outside perspective is that it's there as a tool to help women, which I think is really powerful.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, definitely.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, obviously, we hope they will want to invest because we genuinely believe over a five to ten year period that they're likely to be in a better place.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and obviously we would hope that they would want to talk to us and do business with us.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_03: But neither of those reasons are the reasons why female photo exists.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_03: It does exist to connect women to education, women who, you know, from where you were saying in your generation are coming out of university, well, let's go right all the way up now to women in on the C-suite.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_03: There's a big knowledge gap.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and that's been proven.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, so that the need is there.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_03: And if we do nothing else other than make it um possible for women to know that investing can be done, then female folio has, you know, achieved its mission, which is to get that education across.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, definitely.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's something really, you know, lovely, as I said, that it's not about necessarily like a hard sell.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think, and you know, we mentioned this previously, that you know, you you step into a room with all these males advisors, and they see the problem and they acknowledge it and want to see the change.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_02: And from a recruitment perspective, when I speak to clients, I start working a financial planning role, they're very often like, if we can find a female, that's what the team needs, we'd love that.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_02: But, you know, as I said, I'm I'm very active on LinkedIn, very active about, and I'm really passionate about bringing more women into the industry and break building down that knowledge barrier.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_02: But I've never seen anything like this before, which is what makes VM folio special.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_02: But do you think there is a responsibility on the industry that if you want to, you know, want to see a change, you have to create that rather than sitting back and being like, yeah, I acknowledge it, like it will happen kind of thing.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_03: It's a really challenging one, isn't it?
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um, again, we were talking earlier about right down at that lower education where the girl, one girl put her hand up.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_03: This is it's it's almost like we need a policy change.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_03: Because there's only so much that we with the Brooks MacDonald have such a desire to get the gender balance right, to see more women in senior roles, but there aren't actually that many women in the talent pool.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_03: And that's the challenge which our organisation and all the other organisations are having.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_03: Women just aren't there.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_03: So, and you you go to each level down, and you're finding that, especially looking at investment directors, we find it very difficult to find enough women ourselves, you know, and we we absolutely have it at the top of our agenda.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_03: And of course, now everybody with over I can't remember how many employees it is, but you know, the government policy, is it over 400 employees you have to produce your gender pay report?
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not too sure off the top, to be honest.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, um, which is great, and you can see like there were companies, I think it was um one of the really large um retail banks, it dropped its targets.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_03: It said we can't meet them.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_03: It actually meets them.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_03: That's how difficult it is.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_03: So the desire is there, but the the females are not.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and I think that's where uh the frustration comes from everybody's sides, including all the people you're, you know, you do in the recruiting side.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_03: Where do you go when the talent pool is empty?
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_03: And then you just have one or two women moving around or being, you know, yeah, come over on my side, I'll give you more money.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think that then an element of it is trickling financial education down to lower level, you know, as we built on?
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think that encompasses a big part of that?
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, without a doubt.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_03: We are still up against the barrier that fine a career in finance is for boys.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_03: That is just the way it is, for whatever reason.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and I don't, I haven't studied enough to be able to make uh anything other than speculation on that.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_03: But I think speculation isn't there's no misunderstanding of what it is, you know, that that warmth about working with somebody and helping them feel secure.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_03: That is a very female kind of you know emotion because women want to help.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_03: It doesn't come across though, in that that's what your job will enable you to do.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_03: Somehow dealing with money and dealing with finance has become wrapped up into being quite a hard-nosed business career choice.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_03: So there's a big um misconception, I think, on what uh what can be done.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_03: And I know like my company, like many others, are looking at how they can go into schools and help children, um, you know, financial education, we're supporting charities, as many other organizations are doing, to try and make a difference.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_03: And when I was at that women in banking and finance um evening, you know, everyone was acknowledging we are making progress.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_03: But when you have to come from almost nothing, yeah.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_03: I think one of the presenters said she won't, she said, we will not see the change we want to see in our lifetime.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_03: That is how long it's going to take, yeah, to make that change down at the education level for women actively coming out saying, I understand finance, I want a career in it, I'm happy to start investing, you know, I'm very knowledgeable.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_03: It's just going to take a really long time to break through.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I personally think another thing about Bemo Folio is, you know, speaking about yourself and how you've come into the financial planning industry, not necessarily having a background in it.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_02: I think as an industry, we're definitely missing tricks about bringing second careerists in that have already got a really established skill set and sort of positioning them into the financial planning industry.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I think things like female folio and educating not just school age and children, but women in their own right about investing and about financial planning will spark or can will spark an interest in investing, but can also spark a passion in investing.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_02: And I think we're almost missing a trick by we think about the advice gap and we think about bringing women in and up.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_02: I think there's loads of women that have got the skill set in different industries and in different roles that would be excellent into financial planning.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_02: So I think one thing that's also beautiful about female folio is I think that it educates women on not just investing, but potentially a whole career for them.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_02: Because as you've set demonstrated, you know, you can bring loads of different experience and different viewpoints from a different industry.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I think other women could do that as well if that barrier knowledge barrier was broken down.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_03: We definitely were just um looking at, I think I said you were looking at doing our own podcast.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah, you just lowered shortly cranking down.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and uh our three uh like the investment um and the financial planning side and the new business sides as Jenny and Sasha and Phoebe in the team, and they would be doing um some podcasts.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and we've been talking about what we could um what the narrative might be.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_03: And so, for instance, if I tell you Sasha um has a love for um sport and was actually a footballer, uh really career transitioned, you know, into a financial planner.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and so that that's a that I don't think you could have a more diverse career partner than she is, and you know, she's fabulous, and she really gets that when she deals with people's money, it's about people's lives.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and that's the passion that for her, and I know that would be the the same for the others as well.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_03: So it is quite interesting, and they're all very, you know, we're all different personalities.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_03: There isn't a common thread where you say this person is what makes a good person to work in financial services.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_03: Everyone is different, comes from different backgrounds, has different motivations, and yet here we all are.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I think and I think that's a really lovely note to end this episode on, especially for the women that are out there in the our audience stay listening to this podcast.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_02: There's A, there's nothing to fear about in regards to investment and investing in financial planning.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_02: There's someone out there that you're gonna be able to relate to that's gonna listen to you.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_02: And B, for women that are in listening to this podcast, whatever position you are within the industry, you know, you have a right to be here.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_02: There is a very key reason that you are being here, and I think you are the change that the industry wants to see, which I think is a really nice yeah, definitely.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_03: And I would say if you see a job spec that says financial services is preferable, ignore that, just go for it.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_03: Go for it.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, go for it, yeah, go for it.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you so much, um, Claire, for speaking with me this afternoon.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's been absolutely lovely to have you um as a guest on the podcast.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, thank you very much.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, thank you.