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WRW030: Planning to Be a CFP with Eleanor Blayney

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Intro

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 on this episode, I\u2019m 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 \u201cWomen\u2019s Worth: Finding Your Financial Confidence.\u201d In addition to being an author, Eleanor is a CFP and consumer advocate for the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards.

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In 2013, the CFP Board launched Women\u2019s Initiative (WIN). Under the leadership of Nancy Kistner, then chair of CFP Board\u2019s board of directors, WIN conducted research about why there are so few women in financial planning\u2014the number has remained flat at 23% for several years. Based on the research, the WIN Advisory Panel released a white paper called \u201cMaking More Room for Women In the Financial Planning Profession.\u201d 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 advisors who do not have CFP certification, 39% of men said they would \u201cdefinitely or probably\u201d pursue it, compared with 23% of women.

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Now I\u2019m happy to introduce Eleanor, who can tell us more about the study and share how we can take action to boost those numbers!

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Conclusion

Hope you enjoyed this episode, and I encourage all the CFPs out there to become WIN advocates and spread the word about attracting women to Wall Street. If you would like to become an Advocate, please visit this episode\u2019s show notes for more information. Every action we take like this can help close the gender gap!

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If you have a passion for helping others, I would encourage you to explore a career in financial planning. As Eleanor says, it\u2019s not all numbers, sales and production\u2014it\u2019s a career that calls for creativity, relationship skills, communication and an interesting in helping people achieve their goals. Sounds pretty nice, right?

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Thanks for listening, and please join me next week with guest Maureen Lowe. As always, please head to iTunes and leave a quick review. I\u2019d love to hear your thoughts! Please also be sure to share this podcast with friends and family. The bigger the audience, the bigger the impact it can have on women\u2019s careers.

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Have a great week!