LPL Financial (LPLA) affiliate Independent Financial Partners of Tampa, Florida, said Wednesday that it has formed a women's advisory council to support its existing female registered reps and to attract more of them. The group, Amplify, is meeting this Saturday in nearby Clearwater as part of its yearly national conference.
IFP has some $6 billion in assets under management and roughly 450 financial advisors, 41 of whom are women.
Eight female advisors are expected to attend Amplify's first gathering, along with 17 other guests, which will feature a talk by Adri Miller Heckman, author of "Keys to the Ladies Room: A New Business Model for Financial Advisors."
(Female advisors with IFP who cannot attend are able to join the discussions via Skype.)
"Two-thirds of the $22 trillion expected to be under private management in 2018 will be controlled by women consumers and reports show that 70% of them would prefer to work with a woman advisor," said IFP client liaison Octavia Smith, in a statement. "We view this as a great opportunity for IFP."
IFP believes the council will give female advisors from different generations "to learn from one another and offer varied perspectives on some of the issues they face," according to the group. It aims to give them the opportunity to share "ideas, resources for better practice management and education on products, strategies and techniques that may be useful in client interactions," according to the group.