Planning to Be a CFP

Episode 30: Planning to Be a CFP
Guest: Eleanor Blayney

Hello there, and welcome back to Women Rocking Wall Street. A couple weeks ago, I spoke with Renee Amochaev about her fight for gender equality on Wall Street. And this week, I’m continuing the theme and encouraging women out there to research the opportunities that a career in financial planning can bring. Well, who better to speak about this topic than Eleanor Blayney, author of “Women’s Worth: Finding Your Financial Confidence.” In addition to being an author, Eleanor is a CFP and consumer advocate for the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards.

In 2013, the CFP Board launched Women’s Initiative (WIN). Under the leadership of Nancy Kistner, then chair of CFP Board’s board of directors, WIN conducted research about why there are so few women in financial planning—the number has remained flat at 23% for several years. Based on the research, the WIN Advisory Panel released a white paper called “Making More Room for Women In the Financial Planning Profession.” The research found that, compared with men, women are much less familiar with the financial planning profession and the requirements for CFP certification. And when it comes to financial advisers who do not have CFP certification, 39% of men said they would “definitely or probably” pursue it, compared with 23% of women.

If you’re a CFP who wants to tell women more about this exciting career, consider becoming a WIN Advocate and spreading the word. By sharing your story with your community, you can make the profession more attractive to women. Please visit this link for more information about becoming a WIN Advocate. Every action we take like this can help close the gender gap!

If you have a passion for helping others, I would encourage you to explore a career in financial planning. As Eleanor says, it’s not all numbers, sales and production—it’s a career that calls for creativity, relationship skills, communication and an interesting in helping people achieve their goals. Sounds pretty nice, right?

Thanks for listening, and as always, please head to iTunes and tell us what you think about the episode. And share this podcast with friends and family! Until next time.