Women advisors are leading through collaboration

investmentnews.com:

Catherine Seeber says it’s a great time to be a financial advisor.

“It’s the best job ever. I feel like I’m living my best life,” she said. “I get to help people and help them live their best life. It’s not all about the money. It’s not all about the portfolio. It’s all about comfort. And they appreciate it.”

Seeber, vice president and financial advisor at Captrust in Lewes, Delaware, will be one of several women leading panels at the Women Advisor Summit in New York City on Nov. 8. Topics to be discussed range from leading with vision, strategies for business growth, leading toward success and succeeding through authenticity.

Michelle Begina, senior partner and managing director at Snowden Lane Partners, said she doesn’t know whether advisors underestimate themselves or take for granted that they are privileged enough to teach people how to talk about money.

Nonfiction, a research group, found that 64% of people who have a financial advisor don’t feel as if they have anyone to talk with about their money.

“This blew my socks off when I heard it,” Begina said. “I don’t know that we recognize that being the ones to help other people really open up about their money so they can be more effective and make better decisions is a really key role of our job. I don’t think our clients even recognize that’s part of our role. So, if there’s something that I think could really move the needle, it’s for both to recognize that.”

The summit is sure to be full of uplifting messages for women advisors. As Seeber says, women need to celebrate themselves more.

“We are the last ones to pat ourselves on the back and a lot of it just has to do with the personality of a woman versus a man. We need to celebrate ourselves more and give