The FPA Women in Wealth program is designed to attract more women to the profession and to foster community, innovation and leadership amongst existing financial planners.

After its launch in October last year, the FPA’s Women in Wealth program has capped off another successful year, which featured an expanded program of events around Australia – all designed to attract more women to the profession and to foster community, innovation and leadership amongst existing financial planners.

This year’s program included networking events in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

At the recent September Adelaide breakfast, members and guests heard from Sarah Gunn, whose social enterprise trains homeless and disadvantaged people, and Marilyn Little, a fashion stylist who shared clever travel and styling secrets.

The Brisbane event in October featured 2018 NSW Rural Women’s Award winner, civil engineer and infrastructure entrepreneur, Jillian Kilby, who spoke about the importance of listening to your intuition when making decisions.

Peace advocate and 2005 London bombing survivor, Dr Gill Hicks, provided a powerful and inspirational presentation at the October breakfast in Sydney.

According to FPA Chief Operating Officer, Pene Lovett, the FPA Women in Wealth networking event series is intended to benefit both women and men, as everyone has a role to play in advancing work culture and diversity.

“With women currently making up 26 per cent of the FPA membership, and about 20 per cent in the profession, research shows that consumer demand for female financial planners is growing. Therefore, the FPA Women in Wealth program has specifically been designed to engage with women and encourage more of them to consider a career in financial planning,” Lovett says. “But this won’t be possible without the support of men to help champion the cause of women.”

Lovett says the FPA is committed to supporting more women in their choice of financial planning as a career. “By encouraging more women to carve out a career in financial planning, both the profession and consumers will benefit from greater gender balance.”

Lovett adds that the FPA Women in Wealth program has been developed to promote networking and mentoring opportunities for women, helping support them in their career progression, with the ultimate objective being to grow the number of women in the profession.

An important part of this strategy is the bring a ‘Mentee for Free’ initiative, which is aimed at encouraging emerging professionals and supporting women to the profession.

“In an increasingly competitive business environment, gender diversity has been proven to support sound business strategy. Employees are looking to work for progressive companies and they want to feel represented and supported in their career development goals,” Lovett says.

FPA Women in Wealth is a joint collaboration between the FPA and Financial Executive Women (FEW).

For more information on the FPA Women in Wealth events, contact [email protected] or visit fpa.com.au/events.

Women in Wealth champions

The FPA acknowledges the support of the following Women in Wealth Champions, who have helped lead and promote this important initiative in their communities and professional networks.

Allison Macfarlane, Centuria Capital

Caroline Rees CFP^®, Telstra Super

Fran Hughes CFP^®, Intuitive Money

Jade Khao CFP^®, Aon

Marietta Gibbs, Allan Gray

Marisa Broome CFP^®, Wealthadvice

Pene Lovett, FPA

Rosa Velkovski, NAB Asset Management

Sally Mackey CFP^®, StatePlus

Samantha Harrison CFP^®, Wotherspoon Wealth

Sheila Cabacungan CFP^®, Carnegie Financial Planning

Tracey Sofra CFP^®, Sofcorp Wealth