Women and money: Learning the right language

Working with women is one of the biggest opportunities financial professionals have today. But they must understand how women view money and know the right language to be a trusted advisor for them.

That was the word from Patti Hausherr, vice president and sales strategy leader at Athene, who spoke during a recent webinar from the National Association for Fixed Annuities.

Women view money as a means to an end, Hausherr said. They believe the purpose of money is to support the life they want to live.

“The first tip I would give you when working with women is to have a clear understanding and view about what they want their life to be because their money, their plan and any strategies you put in place are there to support that,” she said.

Women are the new face of wealth and investing, Hausherr said, with McKinsey & Co. predicting women will $30 trillion by the end of the decade. Boston Consulting Group said women are adding $5 trillion in wealth to the economy each year.

Women are generating more wealth now than at any point in time, she said. Baby boomer women are often inheriting money twice – from a parent and from a partner. In addition, women are starting companies, exiting those companies through buyouts or public offerings.

“Couple this with the fact that more women are moving into retirement or turning 65 – this is a time when people tend to consolidate the financial professionals they work with,” Hausherr said.

Women are an ideal market for annuities, she said, “because they are the only strategy that provides protected lifetime income, which happens to be the No. 1 fear that women face today and that’s the fear of running out of money.”

But women still feel disconnected to the financial services industry, she said, and the industry is missing a $700 billion opportunity by not meeting the needs and expectations of women. She pointed to Oliver Wyman statistics that said women have $500 billion less in life insurance and annuities than men have, are invested in the market to the tune of $25 billion less than men are and are receiving $175 billion less than men are in home mortgages and business loans.

Hausherr said the disconnect that women feel “is that they are screaming out that women want to be seen as individuals and not by their gender or any preconceived idea of what they need.”

Statistics show that most women don’t care whether they work with a female or a male advisor. What they want is a professional who listens, communicates and is trustworthy.

Hausherr presented some examples of words that more likely to be well received when working with women.

• Use “strategy” instead of “solution.”
• Use “potential benefit” instead of “product feature.”
• Use “personal goal” instead of “product outcome.”

She gave some sample of language to be used in presenting annuities to women.

When presenting a fixed annuity for income:

• “I’d like to show you a strategy that can provide you with guaranteed lifetime income. This can contribute to your personal goal of having the security of reliable income for as long as you live.”

When presenting a registered index-linked annuity:

• “I’d like to show you a strategy that can allow you to capture gains when markets are up, while enjoying a level of protection when they are down. This can contribute to your personal goal of staying on track with your retirement plan.”

When presenting a fixed indexed annuity:

• “I’d like to show you a strategy that can provide you the opportunity to lock in gains with a guarantee to never lose money due to a market downturn. This can contribute to your personal goal of protecting what you have earned along the way.”

For women, money is a journey, Hausherr said. For men, money is “more black and white – it’s about how much they make, how much they saved, how much they have for retirement.”

“Know the difference, understand it – because it will help you.”

© Entire contents copyright 2024 by InsuranceNewsNet.com Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted without the expressed written consent from InsuranceNewsNet.com.