On September 17, we had our final introductory conference call with advisors who are interested in changing the conversation about personal finance for women.  Read the following summary to learn about what transpired.

Elizabeth and Eleanor shared their circle experiences in Atlanta earlier in the week. One was a meeting with financial advisors, where a hosting process called “World Café” was used to facilitate the conversation. The other was a smaller, more intimate group of women. In this case, the process and philosophy of “circle” was used for the gathering. (Click here for a summary of the Atlanta circles.)

In this final of the three scheduled conference calls with advisors, Eleanor summarized what appear to be the emerging needs and interests of the advisory community in their outreach to women:

• CIRCLE PROCESS as a way to get and keep women “in the room” to talk about money. This process is far more thoughtful and deliberate than merely having women sit in a circle and talk. It begins with the invitation, and includes selection of venue, room arrangement, conversational tools, development of questions, building conversational bridges and transitions, harvesting comments, and determining next steps.

Directions will be offering training, coaching, and guidance to advisors on the process of holding a circle, as well as other hosting techniques such as “open space” “appreciative inquiry,” and “world café.” The primary intent of these techniques is to create safe space for exploration of questions that matter.

• CONTENT. Women’s financial issues are often different from men’s as a result of biological, economic, and cultural factors. This means that the topics we focus on as advisors to women need to be different as well. To name just a few: surviving divorce and death of a spouse; maximizing workplace earnings given shorter periods of time spent working as a result of childbearing and taking care of dependents; drawing upon community resources (social capital) to supplement financial capital in retirement.

Directions will offer materials to focus on these women-centric topics, with particular attention paid to different ways to present these topics: i.e., fewer graphs and charts, more visual and oral storytelling, creating understandable and relatable context for these topics, use of metaphor and analogy.

• MARKETING AND BRANDING. Directions has achieved considerable visibility in the trade media, and has the attention of the major associations and organizations: CFP Board, FPA, and NAPFA.

Our goal at Directions is to build more recognition among women consumers and in the consumer media. Eleanor’s book Women’s Worth and its book discussion guides are targeted to women consumers, and advisors are now using these as a resource to give to clients and prospects. The three of us – Eleanor, Peg, and Elizabeth have several engagements to speak to non-professional groups of women, and we are building relationships with Money magazine, major women’s websites (such as Daily Worth, the Silver Purse, Vibrant Nation, and Women’s media. We are also now planning a much more robust website that will serve as a portal featuring content and discussions for women consumers and the ability to search for a Directions CFP professional.

The Directions brand will be built to convey to women there is a distinct community of advisors who are committed to the needs of women, the ways they think and talk about money, and their special financial issues.

• COMMUNITY. Advisors are eager to share what they know about advising women, and to learn from the successes and mistakes of others. They are also interested in relevant research that can deepen our understanding of working with women, or women subgroups – such as racial or ethnic minorities.

Directions intends to become a gateway of information and emerging data that can help advisors in their outreach to women. We will engage with experts outside of the financial world – experts such as psychologists, cultural anthropologists, narrative artists – who can help us find different and better ways to engage women. At some point, we could even play an activism role on public policy issues of key importance to women and personal finance, i.e. Social Security reform, and workplace policies affecting women employees.

In summary, Elizabeth commented that our community endeavors are gaining coherence and traction. She reiterated that the Directions Alliance is an open community for those who are interested in changing the conversation. She then opened up call to participant comments and questions.

One caller wanted to know how the vision and mission of Directions is different from the George Kinder school of Life Planning.

Elizabeth acknowledged the value of Life Planning, and the fact that both she and Peg have been trained in this approach. At the same time, she commented that many people have gone through this program and have not yet found a way to integrate this philosophy into their practices. The focus of Directions is on getting women “into the room” to talk about money by creating safe space and a supportive community. We also want to talk about things that matter most to women – how money impacts their relationships, their families and their communities.

A caller suggested that the Directions vision and practice could also be helpful for minorities as well.

We agree that there are several segments of our society that need to be financially empowered, educated, and engaged. Like women, these segments have been underserved by our profession. The circle process might be an effective and cost-efficient way to reach these populations.

Another participant agreed with the premise that women are different, and therefore need a different approach to their personal finance. Women do the lion share of taking care of children and aging parents, to the detriment of their own needs to save for retirement. “A one size fits all approach is not going to work anymore in advising these women.”

Peg commented on the fact that traditional financial planning often deals with the issue of widowhood by making sure that the husband carries enough life insurance. It has not, however, helped women prepare for being single – where and how they will live and the financial decisions they will face.

A west coast caller shared her success with “kitchen table conferences” with 8 to 10 women. She has found the “money habitude” cards to be a good tool to get the conversation started …

Another caller shared a comment made by a female prospect who learned about the Directions Alliance. The prospect was fascinated that a community around women’s financial issues was forming, and felt, in her words, “very special.”

It is this consumer awareness that Directions is working to replicate many, many times over. We believe women will react very positively to the efforts of a committed community to reach them where they are, as opposed to expecting them to come to us.

The request was made to provide the opportunity to exchange already developed materials. One advisor has written a book for widows, based on her own experience as a young widow.

The Directions website will be built out to share this kind of content with both advisors and consumers. In the meantime, we have created a LinkedIn discussion group to share these resources.

A caller mentioned her experience in holding ladies’ teas to provide women an opportunity to open up more about money and ask the questions they would not bring up in front of their husbands. She was frustrated, however, that these efforts did not seem to make a difference to women who are not the dominant partner in a marriage or partnership.

Changing the way we work with women who are part of a couple is a key priority for Directions. While it is difficult to change relational dynamics and roles, we must find ways to help women find their own financial identity without disrupting the relationship. Too often, women see money as getting in the way of their relationships, and therefore avoid it altogether to maintain harmony.

The conference was brought to a close with an acknowledgement by Eleanor of the men advisors on the call. She wanted to reiterate Directions’ intention to be a community open to ALL those who are passionate about meeting the financial needs of women.

Participants will be receiving an email giving them all the ways to link to the Directions website and the discussion group offered through LinkedIn. Those advisors who might be interested in having Directions host a circle gathering for clients or prospects can contact us at Directionsforwomen@me.com. Finally, the callers were asked to participate in a survey that Directions will be sending out via email in the next few weeks to gather information about their practices and advisory needs.

Let’s keep talking!