In honor of Women’s History Month, the HoyleCohen Diversity and Inclusion Committee interviewed Senior Wealth Advisor, Janet Acheatel MBA, CFP®, CDFA®, RICP®, about her 35+ year career in Wealth Management, the formation of the HoyleCohen Women & Wealth Practice, and advice for NextGen advisors working with women.
A teacher by trade and education, Janet began her career as a “Stockbroker Trainee” in 1980 after realizing that she couldn’t afford to attend the PhD program she was accepted to for advanced teaching at Stanford. “Realizing I could not make it work financially really infuriated me and drove me to find a vocation where my income would match my abilities and success,” she recollected. Finding a firm that would take her on as a trainee was challenging, as the success rate for women in the program back then was about 10%, so most would not risk the investment. Additionally, many felt that she (and most women) would not remain motivated to keep raising her income once she started making decent money. Not to be deterred, she finally found a home at Dean Witter Reynolds (now known as Morgan Stanley) in 1980 and studied hard, teaching herself everything she could about the lingo, stocks, bonds, trading etc.
Janet enjoyed 27+ years in the industry rising to Executive VP at Lexington Capital, Senior Institutional Client Service Officer at Nicholas Applegate and Portfolio Manager at Brandes Investment Partners, eventually “retiring” in 2008. Shortly after she retired, she lost two special men in her life, who left behind spouses to manage their estates while dealing with their grief. Janet helped these widows navigate both the emotional and financial pieces of their portfolios and started helping other women in similar situations. During this time, she met HoyleCohen Partner, Elisabeth Cullington. Elisabeth shared Janet’s passion for helping women both in the industry and as clients manage their careers and financial lives, and in 2012 Janet formally came out of retirement to help co-create the Women’s Practice at HoyleCohen.
When asked about the differences between how women and men view and manage their money and what each of them look for in an advisory relationship Janet offered these insights:
“Many women have stories of going through transitions such as widowhood, divorce, business ownership etc. and are unprepared and more importantly lack the confidence to manage their money or the money left to them… Additionally, 70% of the time when a woman loses her spouse, she changes financial managers within the first year, mainly because she never had a relationship with the advisor.” This is a significant illustration of how many advisors treat women and men differently and what each are often looking for in an advisory relationship.
“In my experience men are often more inclined to look at a balance sheet and see the numbers, whereas women are more inclined to be looking for balance in their lives.” Often women spend more time discussing what is going on in their lives and relationships rather than the details of the portfolio. They want to be sure the portfolio is working to give them the life they want, and they want to be heard even if they don’t speak up too loudly.
Janet offered some great advice for male advisors who want to deepen their relationships with the female side of their clientele:
- Have a female colleague in the room with you. They can provide feedback and often see things you may not. They can help ensure the spouse is being included in the conversation.
- Make sure you are making eye contact with and speaking to the woman too. Often men speak to the man in the marriage/relationship and are surprised to learn they excluded the woman during most of the conversation.
- LISTEN more than you talk! Ask questions about her family and career. Ask her what she thinks.
- Rate how well you really know the women in your client relationships. If the answer is not so well or not at all, then do something to get to know them. She recommends taking them out to coffee or lunch – something outside of the office and personalized. Make it about the client.
The conversation moved to advice for the NextGen (regardless of gender!) Of utmost importance to Janet is to “never stop learning”, she is committed to reading and staying up on what is going on in the world and in our industry. “Our clients are paying top dollar to employ a firm of professionals that are top in class,” so it is our responsibility to remain educated and in the know.
For our NextGen, Janet spoke about saving early and continuously. Statistics show that women on average have significantly lower retirement savings’ than men due to a myriad of factors, a big one being they don’t ask for more money out of the gate. That coupled with often needing to take time out of the workforce for raising children or taking care of parents can really affect the overall retirement pool of money being saved. She advises women ask for what they are worth and keep asking, start saving early, and keep investing for the long term. This advice applies to men too! Start early and, when you receive a salary increase or bonus put half of it in your 401(k) or other retirement account. There are numerous statistics that show how saving just a few years earlier makes a huge difference.
Since 2011, Janet, Elisabeth and the Women’s Practice have been instrumental in helping to create a more diverse firm and practice that works openly, collaboratively, and respectfully as one team in service to clients. As a result of the Women’s Practice, we have been able to attract more women (both staff and clientele) to the firm. As of April 1st 2021, 60% of our staff is female and 40% is male. 40% or our advisors and equity partners are women – up from closer to 20% since 2007. Also of note, our female advisors make, on average, 9% more than the male advisor.
Thanks to the D&I Committee for celebrating Women’s History Month and the many great women at HoyleCohen!
About the D&I Committee: In June 2020 we created a formal Diversity and Inclusion Committee (D&I) at the firm, to help shape the future of HC and keep a mindfulness to fostering a workplace environment that attracts the best talent, values diversity of life experiences and perspectives, and encourages innovation in pursuit of our mission to be the best place for like-minded, high integrity individuals who share a passion for providing great advice and service to clients while supporting each other to the best of our collective abilities.
The Women & Wealth Practice at Hoyle Cohen offers women a deep bench of talent designed just for them. If you or someone you know could benefit from a conversation centered around your specific needs, financial situation, and long-term goals, please get in touch.
