Australians need tailored financial advice
A gender-based approach to financial advice helps improve the overall health and well-being of Australians, in particular for women as well as for people with low financial literacy, according to the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA).
The new study "Money, wellbeing and the role of financial advice: A gender-based approach", with the support of TAL and the Beddoes Institute, proves the new direction for financial advisers' community and how they should work with their male and female clients and use the evidence about the improved well-being and correlation between finances and health to attract more consumers to enter an advice relationship.
AFA CEO, Brad Fox, said that "thinking about money could have a significantly greater negative influence on a woman's overall health and well-being than that of a man's". Additionally, women's financial management ability increases approximately by 27% over the course of an advice relationship.
"The age of a ‘one size fits all' approach to financial advice has clearly passed. The present and the future of great financial advice lies in tailoring advice, advice relationships and the advisers' style specifically to individual client's preferences which can be indicated by age, life-stage and gender."
People with low financial literacy and women in particular can greatly benefit and improve their health and well-being by turning to financial advisers for help to manage their money. However, according to the study, only two out of every ten Australians currently receives financial advice.
By applying the individual strategies at the early stages of an engagement with a potential new client, based on what is important to each gender, the practices could help increase the success.
"This study is really powerful for the financial advice profession because it shows that female clients offer significant growth potential for practices," Fox said.
AUTHOR
Oksana Patron
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