Barron's: Building Female Financial Confidence: Five Ways to Empower Better Decision-Making
By: Heather Rivas, CPA, CFP®, and Jennifer Collins, CFP®,
While financial advisors have done a better job in recent years of encouraging women to have a voice in their household finances, the reality is that many women don’t begin managing their wealth until a triggering event occurs, such as divorce, the death of a partner, or another major life change. These events can add to a lack of confidence, creating feelings of stress and uncertainty about what to do next.
Here are five ways advisors can encourage female clients who seem to lack financial confidence to build it—hopefully well ahead of stressful times in their lives when they need it most.
1.) Get them asking questions.
The most overlooked and easily accomplished part of building a female client’s confidence is to just bring them into financial conversations and decisions earlier, even if they aren’t the primary earner. It’s certainly possible to bring them in while they are grieving or navigating a divorce settlement, but building a trusting relationship in calmer times makes an enormous difference in reducing stress during a time of life transition.
Instruct them to let you know if something doesn’t make sense. Encourage them to ask “Why?” or “What does that mean?” Make sure they keep asking questions until it makes sense.
2.) Avoid financial jargon.
Women quickly ascertain whether an advisor is right for them by how they respond to requests for clarity. Advisors who need to be the smartest person in the room or who only engage during a crisis are unlikely to foster confidence.
3.) Draw financial connections to paint the ‘big picture.’
The objective isn’t for the client to master technical financial language; it is to help them understand how the various parts of their financial life work together to support their goals. There is something powerful about experiencing that level of comprehension and control. What once felt like a patchwork of saving, investing, giving, and planning for the future becomes a pattern that finally makes sense.
4.) Explain the concept of necessary risk.
A key component of investing is understanding and managing the balance between risk and reward. Women have a reputation for being more risk-averse than men. We would argue that women aren’t necessarily risk-averse; they are risk-aware. There’s good reason for this.
Three out of five caregivers are women. Women are more likely to pause or scale back their careers to raise children or care for their aging parents. They are also more likely to live longer than men. None of this leaves much room for high-risk investing strategies involving what’s sometimes called “play money.”
Women realize what is at stake and are often adept at avoiding unnecessary risk. The truth is, women already tend to lead the household in day-to-day financial decision-making.
Women benefit from guidance on embracing necessary risk. Understanding how appropriate investment risk can impact long-term outcomes is key to finding the right balance. Women don’t need to be convinced to take risks. They need to understand how risk fits into a broader plan and what role it plays in helping them get where they want to go, confidently.
5.) Refer back to a long-term financial plan.
Female clients can often gain self-confidence when the bigger picture becomes clear. It is common for the women we work with to use their financial plans to help inform their decision-making during the process of a divorce. Should they keep the house or the retirement accounts? What does retaining a business interest mean for your cash flow in five years? When each choice is modeled against long-term outcomes, what once felt overwhelming becomes manageable. Seeing the full picture often transforms uncertainty into conviction.
Confidence begins with, and is improved, by understanding what you can control. Women clients will gain confidence if they understand that while market performance and volatility are almost entirely out of an advisor’s influence, but a well-designed financial plan that takes an appropriate amount of risk can work to help them meet their long-term financial goals.
Click here to read the full article.
Sources:
Rivas, Heather, and Collins, Jennifer. “Some Women Lack Financial Confidence. 5 Ways Financial Advisors Can Help Them Build It”., March 9, 2026.
Wynn, Paul AARP. “AARP-NAC Report Finds 45% Increase in Americans Providing Care”., July 24, 2025.
CFP Board. “Women Lead Financial Decision-Making in Most Households, New Research Shows”., February 18, 2025.
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