Why Women Must Be Part of Planning Meetings

Additionally, ultra-wealthy women are looking to work with advisors who take their unique perspectives seriously. The ideal advisor is someone who sees and shares their future and is able to offer financial education and coaching around family dynamics.

A recent global survey by Barclays of 400 wealthy families found that while women today are likely to inherit substantial wealth, fewer than half of them are as involved in family investment, business and other financial decisions as their male counterparts.

The same survey also found that while older generations hold a patriarchal view of wealth — a belief that men should lead and make major decisions about business and family wealth — only a third of their children held such views.

That indicates there is a tremendous opportunity for advisors who can discard anachronistic and counter-productive attitudes to see today's wealthy women as they really are.

My own research also found that women want stability and continuity in their advisors. They want to know that the advisor and the firm they have chosen to deal with is going to be there when they need them, not sold off to private equity or swallowed up by a big bank.

They are savvy enough to recognize that the all-important qualitative aspects of the family can get lost in big, more impersonal advisor experiences.

Our research reveals that these women often define success by a different set of metrics than their husbands and use a different set of skills to realize it. They are concerned with family harmony and preparing subsequent generations for the burdens (and benefits) that wealth conveys.

New Matriarchs

We use the term "new matriarchs" to describe the role these women play in wealthy families. While they may be matriarchs in a traditional sense, these women, especially those in later generations, prefer to describe themselves simply as family leaders or "stewards."

They do whatever needs to be done to pass the family's accumulated wealth and achievements to the next generation. Their roles are often informal, sometimes not visible or public, and at times not noticed or heralded.

They identify with the concept of stewardship, or servant leadership, referring to a type of leadership that listens closely to the needs of others and finds ways to move forward quietly, but inclusively. This is often in contrast to a view of leadership that's patriarchal and authoritative.

Today, there's a clear trend of more fluidity and even equality in spousal roles, especially when it comes to women having access to education and careers. The old subordinate roles have been largely rejected as women discover they can assume ones that require skill and offer power and responsibility under their unique brand of leadership.

Women are bridge builders who work to connect business and family and form deep bonds between individuals across generations. Advisors who can embrace this reality and adopt the same skills and attitudes as women do in leading their families will be well-positioned to serve the needs of wealthy families as a whole and to better grow their own businesses.

Amy Hart Clyne, CFP, is Chief Knowledge and Learning Officer at Pitcairn, where she empowers wealthy families through family education while pioneering research and best practices that elevate the role of advisors to one of true partnership. She is also the Founder of The Gen 7 Project, Pitcairn's thought leadership and learning community for families of wealth.