Sounding Off: Working With Female Clients

A couple of recent comments about female clients have hit a nerve with Financial Planning readers.

At a Fidelity conference on how to engage female clients, Financial Planning blogger Kathleen Burns Kingsbury told advisors they need to let women clients tell their stories and talk about their feelings, and make sure they feel "indispensable."

"This applies to ALL clients, not only women," New Orleans planner Blair H. duQuesnay replied on Twitter.

Then, in a tip for 30 Days 30 Ways to a Better Practice, Bruce Harrington of John Hancock Financial Network said many advisors ignore women clients when both the husband and wife are clients. “If this happens and the husband dies, the wife may not feel tied to the [advisor] and could take her business elsewhere,” he said.

Financial planner Sandi Martin responded immediately, first via Twitter and later in an email:

"The points made about how women generally communicate are certainly valid, but framing the argument for adopting them 'because the man might die on you' instead of 'because she's very likely just as informed and is probably making the decisions too’ is ludicrous."

What's your opinion? Post your comment below to weigh in.