Serving Women Clients: A $30 Trillion Opportunity for CFP® Professionals

With over $30 trillion in wealth set to transfer to younger women over the next decade, women are poised to reshape the financial landscape in ways unseen by previous generations. By 2030, women are expected to control more than a third of all wealth in the U.S. For CFP® professionals, this seismic shift in the financial landscape is both a call to action and a golden opportunity. As CFP Board continues to set the standard for financial planning, we are launching new programs designed to equip certificants with tools to effectively serve this coming wave of clients. As part of that effort, CFP Board hosted the webinar “Serving Women Clients: Addressing Unique Financial Challenges” on April 16, 2025.  Part of CFP Board’s Accelerate & WIN (Women’s Initiative) program, this event drew more than 2,400 attendees eager to better understand the nuanced needs of women clients – and earn CE credit in the process.

"We are at capacity, which tells us how important this topic is," said 2025 CFP Board Chair Liz Miller, CFP®, CFA®. "Our program today… sits at the intersection of a couple of really important points… First is that a woman’s financial journey changes and is unique across her lifespan, and secondly, women are providing growing power and growing leadership in the wealth landscape." 

Miller, along with panelists, Cary Carbonaro, CFP® and Elaine King Fuentes, CFP® are pioneers in financial planning and advancing women’s roles within it. Carbonaro, author of Women and Wealth: A Playbook to Empower Clients and Unlock Their Fortune and Fuentes, founder of Family and Money Matters™ shared personal insights and practical strategies for engaging women clients.

Carbonaro prompted audience participation through a live cloud poll asking, "What comes to mind first when you think about women and wealth?" More than 600 responses poured in, surfacing optimism – through words like "powerful" and "smart" – and concern – articulated as "underserved" and "nervous." These sentiments capture the paradox many women face: increasing financial control coupled with continued feelings of exclusion or invisibility when accessing financial advice. 

When asked about the biggest financial challenges for women, attendees cited "career interruptions due to caregiving" and "investment confidence and risk aversion." Carbonaro emphasized that firms attuned to the needs of women investors will be well positioned for long-term success.

"When we talk to women, we need to be very careful to comprehend that their history hasn't been too long," said King Fuentes, reminding attendees that women are still relatively new to financial markets. Many financial institutions only allowed women to have credit cards in their own names starting in the 1970s and no-fault divorce was legalized in 1969, drastically changing women’s financial lives and rights in the recent past.

"It is a fact," Fuentes said, "we live longer than men, so we are going to need more money to live." Despite women generally living longer lives and spending more money on health care than men, they are still retiring with, on average, two-thirds less money than their male counterparts. This underscores women clients' need for competent and ethical financial advice to navigate their financial goals through all stages of life. "In order to know how we’re going to plan for somebody, we need to know where (they’re) coming from … know the values of the person, their goals and financial personality," she stressed.

Both panelists took questions from the audience, addressing concerns ranging from stay-at-home moms experiencing financial turmoil without income to how male financial planners can become sensitive and aware of female-centric experiences. "Women need 100% of the information to make a decision. Men need 50%. So just by math, you know you need to double the amount of information," Carbonaro said in response to a question.

This webinar, one of the first by CFP Board to offer CE credit, follows two federal workforce-focused webinars in March. It underscores CFP Board's commitment to expanding access to competent and ethical financial advice for the public while supporting the organization’s commitment to building a financial planning workforce that is equipped to serve the needs of all. The recording of the live webinar is available to watch online.