As more women become financial planners, CFP Board launches scholarship for female students

The CFP Board launched a new scholarship for female students, an initiative aimed at improving the underrepresentation of women in the financial planning industry. 

Data from the board, which oversees the planner credential, shows that only 23.6% of all roughly 95,000 certificants are women, even as women comprise more than half of the American population. 

The endowed scholarship program will award up to $5,000 per qualified student seeking to complete an undergraduate- or certificate-level CFP Board registered program. After graduating, students will be eligible to sit for the CFP exam, the first big step in a planner's career.

"Welcoming more women into the financial planning profession is good for women, good for the profession and good for business," Nancy Kistner, the founding chair of the Women's Initiative Council, said in a statement. 

The initiative comes as the financial planning industry draws growing interest from women. Female advisors represented nearly 30% of all new CFP professionals in 2022, a year with an all-time high of 1,519 new women and the most diverse class in the organization's history. 

Liv Gagnon, the co-founder of Choir, a platform focused on pushing for more diverse representation at industry conferences, said diversity-focused scholarships are a good way to encourage more women to pursue careers in finance. But it's also important to address how to keep women in the industry.

"What drives many of them to leave the field after only a few years is the systemically hostile and unjust work environments they experience once they're here," Gagnon said. "The 'equity and inclusion' parts of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) are critical if we want to see these numbers increase in a sustainable way. That's going to require a top-down approach." 

According to a survey by OneAmerica, an insurance and financial services provider in Indianapolis, Indiana, women are drawn to the financial advisor profession — and motivated to stay — for the opportunity to help people. The study found that 56% of all early-career respondents said "helping people with finances" was their primary motivation for becoming an advisor. The survey also showed that female advisors seek community, connection and a firm that's a cultural fit. 

CFP Board CEO Kevin R. Keller said more female advisors can also translate to more women as clients and help them to take control of their finances to achieve financial independence. 

"They can help educate women about financial literacy, investment strategies and retirement planning, which can be particularly valuable in a society where women often face financial challenges and inequalities," he said in a statement. 

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Women currently control one third — more than $10 trillion —of total U.S. household financial assets, according to a 2020 report by McKinsey. By 2030, American women are expected to control much of the $30 trillion in financial assets that baby boomers will possess, a number that approaches the annual U.S. GDP, the consulting firm found. The study also reported the potential wealth transfer can also mean new opportunities for firms: 70% of women change financial advisors within one year of their partner dying. 

Sandy McCarthy, the president of retirement services at OneAmerica, said in a statement that the industry needs to band together. 

"We can work together as an industry," said, "not only to get women in the door, but to support, retain and grow them throughout their careers."