We live in a society rife with racist and sexist undertones. In the movies “good guys” wear white while “bad guys” wear black. Black cats are bad luck. A male doctor is a doctor while a female doctor is a “lady doctor.” The Declaration of Independence tells us “all men are created equal.” We could go on.

Is this intentional? Are we claiming race and gender matter? We’ll leave the resolution of society’s great dilemmas for a more appropriate forum.

Of greater interest to us is how gender matters in the client-advisor relationship. A recent report by Brinker Capital based upon a survey of 323 men and women from 78 major financial institutions yielded the following surprising (or maybe not) outcomes:

  • 1 in 4 women prefer to work with a female advisor while only 1 in 10 men feel the same
  • 34% of single women prefer to work with female advisors compared to 22% of married women
  • 46% of women using an advisor say their advisor helps them build knowledge while 37% of men feel the same
  • 21% of women categorize themselves as “extremely/very comfortable” in taking investment risk vs. 42% of the men surveyed
  • 40% of women working with female advisors have a higher tolerance for losses compared to 22% of males working with a female advisor
  • after death or divorce 47% of women are “extremely likely” to retain their advisor compared to 32% of men
  • 71% of married women say their advisor directs advice to both spouses without favoring one spouse to another