Women Financial Advisors Shine at LPL Financial

The financial services industry stands at an important moment in history, with over 37% of advisors expected to retire in the next decade.¹ With women increasingly seeing themselves as the household CFO and controlling more wealth in the U.S., the outlook is promising. Today only 31% of financial advisors are women.² Although that number has remained static for the last 10 years, the next 10 years offer the opportunity for meaningful change. 

Keys to Success for Women Advisors

Success in the financial services industry requires more than just technical expertise; it demands strong communication skills and a genuine concern for clients’ success.

Women want financial advice from someone they can relate to, someone who can empathize with their unique challenges and priorities. And because women are traditionally adept at the “softer skills” of nurturing, listening, and empathy, as financial advisors they can connect with clients on a personal level. The combination of these valuable people skills, strategic thinking, and confidence have led LPL advisors Angie, Sathya, and Jasmine to success in this industry.

Angie Ostendarp, CFP®, Senior Managing Partner of Carnegie Private Wealth, loves serving clients and helping them create a plan to pursue their goals. This is what led her to become an advisor and has kept her in the industry for nearly 30 years. She says, “I think women are exceptional at this business. We just need to have confidence in ourselves. You can learn all the industry stuff, but you have to be able to communicate and show people you care about their success. If you do, you’ll be successful.”

“Tenacity is a key to success in this field,” says Sathya Chey Patterson, CFP®, Managing Partner of Arise Private Wealth. “When I am uneasy or uncertain, I feel it, but I don’t shy away from the challenge. I stick with it. Don’t let hesitation or self-doubt hold you back.” Sathya believes that anyone can change their financial reality with the right guidance, vision, and commitment. She continued, “Being a financial advisor is one of the few careers where you can marry the skills many women excel at, like multi-tasking, empathy, and efficiency; those natural skills can shine."

Thinking strategically – and outside the box – is another doorway to success. Angie was becoming successful, and very busy, as an advisor at a wirehouse while also raising her three children. She knew she needed more help, so she did something unheard of at the time: She hired and paid for her own Client Assistant. Other advisors thought she was crazy – but her production went up. That’s where her long-term thinking helped her grow.

Jasmine Ball, CFP®, Founder of Bamboo Financial Partners, learned that when you don’t fit the stereotypical image people expect from a financial advisor, it gives you the ability to create your own style of how you’ll work with them, which she finds liberating. “They don’t put me in a box,” she says, “because I don’t fit into one.”

What They Look for in a Partner Firm

When Jasmine was ready to leave the wirehouse, she wanted to be able to provide more stability for her clients by moving to a larger, well-established firm that would have less chance of being acquired. She looked for a firm that wouldn’t put obstacles in her way; that instead of telling her that she couldn’t do something, they would work with her to make it happen.

Sathya looked for a firm that supported female advisors and included women in leadership roles. In addition, being tech-savvy herself, she wanted a firm that invested significantly in technology.

Angie is passionate about helping to develop the next generation of advisors, and the independent model gives her that ability. Her practice hires and trains interns, and she was looking for a firm to partner with that would be supportive of her goals and committed to the success of its advisors.

Angie, Sathya, and Jasmine found that LPL Financial provided the technology, flexibility, and support they were looking for.

Advisors Thrive with LPL Financial

LPL Financial is committed to creating an environment where all advisors can thrive as they serve their individual client bases, including women. LPL’s commitment to its women advisors includes sponsoring recognition luncheons, conferences, mentoring opportunities, and advisor community programs that facilitate networking, experience sharing, and peer discussions on business growth strategies. 

Building a network of fellow women advisors provides a valuable support system, enabling advisors to learn from each other and find solutions to common challenges. Jennifer Bowman, LPL Senior VP of Client Communities, says, “Advisors tell us their best learning comes from each other. There is a need for a scalable way for them to come together around shared experiences, and LPL makes that happen through our advisor communities.”

Jasmine was the first Black female CFP in Oklahoma, and the first in her family to go to college. She believes that given the right amount of information, we are all capable of making educated decisions to better our financial futures. She says, “The Community Hub has been wonderful! LPL does a great job of keeping us all connected in such a collaborative, non-competitive, way.”

LPL Financial’s commitment to women is also in evidence internally at LPL. “There are now many more women in leadership roles at LPL. Today, several of LPL’s Managing Directors are industry-changing, innovative women,” said Bowman.

With the promising outlook for women advisors and the committed support of LPL Financial, there’s a bright future ahead.