'We need to democratise independent financial advice for investors and planners'

But she considers the now three-year-old virtual-only financial advice firm – which she started in 2019 – as an important vehicle in helping her fulfil her next mission in life.

“What women's services need is women advisers and what the UK needs is more female-focused brands delivering financial advice," Secomb says.

“This is my mission in the last decade of my career instead of waiting for someone else to do it.

By 2025, 60 per cent of wealth will be controlled by women, and traditional financial services firms have not worked that out yet

“We need to democratise independent financial advice for investors and planners. At the moment, independent financial advice is exclusive. If you asked, 'Who gets independent financial advice?' it would not be millennial women.”

For Secomb, there are a number of factors that intentionally or otherwise have created barriers for women who want to work in the industry or want to do more with their money.

On the client side, she says women might be put off seeking advice because they would prefer to speak to a female adviser.

Secomb says: “By 2025 – just three years away – 60 per cent of wealth will be controlled by women, and I really don’t think traditional financial services firms have worked that out yet.

“When I look at [IFA] websites, the language they are using and the adviser faces they offer to the market, I think: that was fine for baby boomers where [the man] ran the money and she [as the wife or partner] sometimes did not even bother turning up for the appointment.

“But that does not play to a millennial audience. So I think we will see a massive shift, because they will not be able to say [what they used to say] to the new owners of the assets.”

Different approach needed

While products that clients – male or female – end up with are similar or the same, as they are designed to meet financial planning objectives, Secomb says advisers need to understand that their approach or the language they use needs to differ. 

Secomb, who has been in the advice business for 30 years, says that in the main, women are more protectionist in character than men.

“You cannot go into a financial planning relationship with a woman [and talk to her] firstly about tax, wealth, a bigger house, holidays, status and ambition. 

“You have to go into the relationship thinking about what she is scared of, what’s preventing her from making decisions; what is she anxious and uncomfortable about. Deal with that and you will get her planning for the future. It’s that protectionist attitude. 

“It sounds like a terrible generalisation, but women are more protectionist than men and you need to serve that need.

“So if you have a campaign that asks: are the needs of your children met? Do you feel sure, that whatever your kids need you are able to provide it? Now, you have her attention. It’s just a different language and focus. It’s as simple as that.”

Where barriers exist for women who want to get into investing, they are also prevalent for women who want to enter the industry.

This is one of the main drivers behind Secomb starting Women’s Wealth.

She got the idea for Women’s Wealth in 2009 after sitting at an upper level area in a conference hall and was struck by the sea of heads belonging to a mostly male IFA audience who sat on the lower level.

“And I thought: there's nobody to advise women. It was obvious then that women were not joining the profession. There was no one for women clients to identify with, and I knew women thought differently to men.”

Now running Women's Wealth, she is able to leave a lot of the day-to-day running of the other IFA businesses – Pentins Financial Planners and Spurling Cannon Financial Planners – to her son Oliver, who from school age knew he wanted to become an IFA.

Presumably he had been inspired by his mum who in her mid-twenties and with two sons decided to carve out a career in financial services, following a divorce.

Although she started in the sales of mortgage endowments, it did not take her long to realise she wanted to become an IFA.

It was not just about the flexibility that being an IFA provided, but also about its transformative powers.

That transformative power is something that she is now using in turning her attention to build Women’s Wealth – in Secomb’s words a network for the next generation of advisers.

Secomb says: “I am a feminist at heart. My ambition with Women’s Wealth is not only about addressing the needs of women clients but also about creating a generation of advisers women identify with.

“Part of the problem is, as a woman, it is not always easy to find an adviser you think will get [what you mean]. The majority of advisers are male, pale and 50-plus.”

Women's Wealth's typical client is a millennial woman, earning more than £45,000 a year.

Working on a subscription basis, those who earn less than £100,000 annually pay a monthly fee of £65. For that they get one-to-one financial advice and coaching.

For those who earn more than £100,000 a year, and with that have more complex money and tax needs, they pay £125 a month and get additional services: advanced tax planning, estate planning and access to more sophisticated products.

Their portfolios are also reviewed every six months rather than 12.

What women want

As someone who completed an MBA dissertation – published by the Chartered Insurance Institute – on the subject of a woman’s career progression in the UK financial planning sector, she is best placed to understand more than many of the challenges.

According to the research she did as part of her dissertation, just 16 per cent of UK advisers are women. This number could be higher, as Secomb says she knows women who are not working as financial advisers, despite being qualified to do so.

“What the women in that research told me was that, ‘We would not mind being an adviser, but we are are not going to do it the way [firms] want us to do it’.

“The businesses out there were saying, 'If you are not competitive, AUM and revenue-driven, if you are not volume driven or are not willing to compete with colleagues for a lead, then we don’t want you as an adviser.'

“What the women want is a professional role where they do the best thing for their client and can work in a team and more collaborative environment.”

Women’s wealth is aimed at women who want to build their own businesses and want to be trainee advisers.

The women join at entry level and train under the Women’s Wealth Academy, a programme built by training specialists The Art of Finance.

During their training they work with a supervisor who oversees their regulated work while the trainees learn the skills of communicating with clients, data gathering, cash flow modelling and producing reports.

Secomb says it also became obvious that the business should be virtual so that the financial advisers can work from anywhere, adding even greater flexibility to their working pattern.

Currently, Secomb has 12 money mentors training to be qualified advisers. Even after becoming advisers they will still get some light-touch supervision. And it will take at least five years before they can consider supervising other mentors.

Ima Jackson-Obot is deputy features editor of FTAdviser