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Adrienne Penta: Wealth managers must listen first to serve women better | World Finance - YouTube
Channel: World Finance Videos
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World Finance: Today, more than 51 percent
of US wealth is controlled by women.
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But of women with financial advisors, more
than half feel their advisor doesn’t listen
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to them, or doesn’t understand them.
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Joining me down the line is Adrienne Penta
from Brown Brothers Harriman.
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Adrienne – what's going wrong?
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Is the wealth management industry failing
at feminism?
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Adrienne Penta: Paul, you're right with the data.
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Women are controlling more wealth than ever
before in the US.
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We know that they're controlling 39 percent
of investible assets in the US.
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But we know that they're still not quite satisfied
with what the wealth management industry is
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providing to them.
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And in particular they don't think that their
advisors understand their needs or are listening
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to them in the right ways.
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Oftentimes – especially with younger advisors
in our industry – sometimes we think that
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the value we bring to the table is the really
smart information we have.
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Whether it's market commentary or sophisticated
tax planning.
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It's not.
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The value that we bring to a client's situation
is the ability to solve their hardest problems.
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And in our case those hardest problems are
usually about wealth and family and how their
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achieve their values and their legacy.
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And so in order to do that, we have to start
with listening and really understanding our
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clients' perspectives, and what their issues
are, and what keeps them up and night.
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And only then can we apply what we know to
actually help our clients.
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So it really starts with a client focus, and
understanding their perspective.
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World Finance: Rather than simply mansplain
to them.
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It feels like it shouldn't be revolutionary
to say that wealth managers should listen
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to their clients – what's gone wrong?
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Adrienne Penta: I think you're right, I hope
you're right, I think that listening is the
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foundation of our business, for sure.
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And I think that this comes out of a very
honest place actually.
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Because in the US and in the world, in fact,
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it's only really within the last several decades
that women have become substantial creators
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and decision-makers with respect to family
wealth.
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So sometimes as human beings, we make assumptions
when we're sitting in front of clients about
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actually who makes the decisions, or who controls
the wealth in a family.
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And instead of jumping to conclusions, we
need to be really intentional, and really
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thoughtful, about how we engage women, about
how we serve them, about how we include them
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in conversations, and how we create an environment
where all of our clients – and specifically
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women in this case – feel included and well
served.
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World Finance: BBH has established the centre
for women and wealth to address these issues
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– what do you offer?
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Adrienne Penta: So there's two real offerings
I think that come out of the centre for women
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and wealth.
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And the first is, we really want to create
a community of women, a place where our female
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clients can find a group, a network, a tribe
of likeminded women, so that they can have
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a community in which they can consult and
discuss and think about the issues that matter
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most to them.
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So we carry on a number of events throughout
the year in a whole bunch of different places.
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And they are focused on content that we think
is at the intersection of wealth and family
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and values.
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Because we find that our female clients – and
many of our clients! – don't want to focus
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on those issues in isolation.
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They want to have a more robust conversation
about how all those things work together for them.
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And the second is that we're creating content
insights, through women and wealth magazine,
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through what we're publishing online,
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about women who are CEOs,
who are founding companies,
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who are philanthropists,
who are leading the way.
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Who are thinking really in-depth about family
planning and philanthropy and legacy and engaging
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the next generation.
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And I think what underlies the centre for
women and wealth is a real commitment to make
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sure that we're managing relationships with
our clients in an effective way, that engages
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all of the stakeholders within the client family,
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because we believe that if we don't have all
stakeholders represented, then we actually
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don't create as good solutions for families
as we possibly could.
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World Finance: As you say, women are taking
a more holistic approach to managing their
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wealth: how does that change your work?
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Adrienne Penta: So an example that I could
give you here is that,
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we do a lot of estate planning.
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We work with our clients on making sure that
their trusts and their estate planning and
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their tax planning is all very consistent.
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That their plan, when it comes
to their estate and wealth transfer and philanthropy
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is in good shape, and is consistent with what
we're doing on the investment side.
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One of the things that we're focused on now
is, how do we engage the next generation in
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those conversations?
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And how do we integrate values?
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How do I create a successful next generation
in the presence of wealth?
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And how do I use my wealth to actually empower
and to engage my children and my grandchildren,
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rather than make them feel isolated and burdened
by that wealth.
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Families that we work with want to have those
conversations with their children about what
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does wealth mean, and how should it be used,
and what is the intention behind it.
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But they don't always have the tools to do
that.
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As advisors we see thousands of families,
we see hundreds of wealth transfers.
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So through our experience we often have the
tools, we have the best practices.
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We understand what in many cases makes families
successful.
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So we are actually in the process of sharing
and giving that information in a way that's
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tangible and useable to the families that
we work with, so they won't feel that they
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don't have the skillset, or they don't have
the tools to engage children, even adult children,
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in these conversations as stewards of family
wealth.
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World Finance: Adrienne, thank you very much.
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Adrienne Penta: Thank you Paul, it's been
a pleasure.
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Thanks for watching.
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You can find out more about Brown Brothers
Harriman at www.worldfinance.com.
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And please subscribe for more on wealth management,
as well as all the latest insights from World Finance.
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