Today, The Invested Dads have a very special guest joining the podcast! Jessica Hinks, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ & beloved coworker, is coming on the show to talk about women in finance. She’s going to discuss some statistics, trends, and changes she’s seeing in the world in women in the finance industry as well as some great tips for women out there who are looking for the best financial advisor for their situation. Listen in now to hear episode 023: Building Wealth With Women!
Main Talking Points
[0:37] – Welcome Our Very Special Guest, Jessica Hinks!
[4:21] – What’s Unique About Women in Finance and Investing?
[8:48] – How Do Women in Finance Compare to Men?
[11:49] – Dad Joke of the Week, Presented by Jess!
[12:30] – What Jess Sees in Women in Finance
[13:33] – What to Look for in a Financial Advisor
[17:31] – Check Out Jess’s Blog: The Everyday Advisor
Links & Resources
Life Expectancy (Social Security Administration)
How To Start Investing, For Women
Invest With Us – The Invested Dads
Free Guide: 8 Timeless Principles of Investing
Jess’s Blog: The Everyday Advisor
Social Media
Full Transcript
Intro:
Welcome to the Invested Dads Podcast, simplifying financial topics so that you can take action and make your financial situation better. Helping you to understand the current world of financial planning and investments, here are your hosts, Josh Robb and Austin Wilson.
Josh Robb:
Yup, go ahead Austin.
Austin Wilson:
No, you ahead Josh.
Josh Robb:
Oh man. Got weird again.
Austin Wilson:
I’m going to clap it again.
Josh Robb:
Do it. Wait, where are you going to go? I forgot.
Austin Wilson:
Josh, you’re going to go.
Josh Robb:
Okay.
[0:37] – Welcome Our Very Special Guest, Jessica Hinks!
Austin Wilson:
All right, hey, hey, hey. Welcome back to the Invested Dads Podcast. We have some exciting news. Today we’re going to bring you a special episode with a special, special guest. Josh, tell us a little bit about that.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, so we are the Invested Dads and we know that not just dads are listening to our podcast, so we thought we’d bring a different perspective for today’s interview. Her name is Jessica Hinks. She’s a financial advisor here in Findlay and also a CFP. We’re going to talk with her about her perspective as a female in our industry. Then also how the different things she’s learned being a part of the financial advising world over the last five years.
Jessica Hinks:
Yeah, I am so excited to be on this show. Seeing the background of how a podcast is made has been really cool. My normal form of expression is writing, so I appreciate you guys getting me to do something new, so thank you.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, we’re glad to have you.
Jessica Hinks:
Yeah Josh, I am an advisor here in Findlay and I get to talk with clients about finances and help them make informed life decisions. I do get to discuss investments, but it’s in regards to how investments help accomplish my client’s financial goals. It really is my dream job, I love it. Now I just have to find some better coworkers and I’ll be happy. That’s a joke.
Austin Wilson:
A good one.
Josh Robb:
Full disclosure, the joke is because we are actually her coworkers and so she does have to put up with us on a daily basis and so far it’s been okay I think.
Jessica Hinks:
They’re great.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, she’s really scraping the bottom of the barrel with who she’s doing her first podcast with.
Jessica Hinks:
No, they’re awesome. You guys are awesome, so is everyone else here at the office.
Austin Wilson:
Jess tell us a little bit more about yourself.
Jessica Hinks:
Yeah, well, like Josh mentioned, I am a Certified Financial Planner. Now, only 23% of CFPs are women. If you’re a woman and you’re listening, I’m pointing at you, consider yourself officially recruited. No offense guys, but women have natural communication and multitasking skills. We’re arguably even more inclined to be great financial planners and women in finance.
Austin Wilson:
I can’t deny with those communication skills or, yeah. It’s much better for a woman.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, and the multitasking, I’m having a hard time listening and thinking at the same time so you’re doing great.
Jessica Hinks:
Oh well thank you. I am the author of TheEverydayAdvisor.com. I share tips on everyday financial situations just for everyday people like you and me. Austin told me to share some fun facts about myself. I don’t always consider myself exceptional interesting, but I think my lifelong love of finance is a little interesting.
When I was a kid for instance, I knew I was obsessed with saving money. I used to offer my sisters my services for doing their chores for payment. I tried to charge interest, but my parents wouldn’t let me and then… I was just a hustler. My love of finance carried into college. I actually met my husband Will in a finance classes, so finance is a little bit romantic in our household even. I just have a lifelong love for it.
Austin Wilson:
That is so funny. It’s very different than the relationship my wife and I have with money. She’s more like, “Hey honey, you do this for a living so I trust that what you want.” She’s really bored when I start talking about work, so that’s kind of an interesting thing that you have there so it’s great.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, so Jess instead of a V-lookup in that classic became a V-hookup, huh?
Jessica Hinks:
That was a good Excel joke.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, that’s coming out in the next version of Excel.
Josh Robb:
Only 1% of our audience will get that, so that’s okay though.
Jessica Hinks:
Well, my husband will get it, he’s an Excel Wiz.
Austin Wilson:
Will will get it.
Jessica Hinks:
Will will get it.
[4:21] – What’s Unique About Women in Finance and Investing?
Josh Robb:
All right, so tell us a little bit about some of the things that’s unique about women in finance or just females in general when it comes to investing?
Jessica Hinks:
Well, women investors or women in finance have a few hurdles to overcome compared to men. I just want to say that, all these gaps, women have been behind in investing in the past, but we’re really catching up and I’m really excited about that. I say these things only to motivate us and help women to be aware of some of the hurdles so they can be more proactive and planning for them.
One hurdle women have to overcome is the fact that we live longer than men do. On average, two and a half years longer so that’s thousands of extra dollars that women have to save throughout their lifetime just because we live longer. That’s hurdle number one.
Austin Wilson:
They would live even longer if they weren’t married to us men, right. Is that right, Josh?
Josh Robb:
Yeah, so married men tend to live longer than single men, but married women tend to live shorter lives than single women. The main factor is who’s taking care of that guy, and that’s really whose life gets shortened.
Austin Wilson:
So when you guys are married to us, that just means that we’re making that nest egg have to stretch less far for you.
Jessica Hinks:
I mean you said it not me. Being married is great, but yeah, I think that the husbands do shorten the wives lifespans a little bit. The second hurdle is not only that women live longer and have to save more, but women on average are paid less than men. Meaning, we have to save more while earning less and that’s as hard as it sounds.
There’s reasons that make sense for why some women earn less and that’s because there’s a lot of social constructs. Traditionally women have to care for the family members in their household and we have to commit a lot more time to social interactions rather than committing extra time to work. Which it’s just tough to say more when you’re earning less.
Josh Robb:
What would be some of those examples? Taking care of the kids, but what else?
Jessica Hinks:
Elderly parents, women are disproportionally more likely to be responsible for caring for other relatives as well as their own kids.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, so as the baby boomer generation is heading towards retirement and projected to be living longer than any prior generation, that’s going to become even more apparent as women disproportion. They are going to be taking care of their parents longer.
Jessica Hinks:
Yeah, definitely and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Women tend to have more nurturing, caring hearts. We’re always looking out for ways we can help people and that’s a great thing. As women and just people in general, we cannot always control our life circumstances. We might be in a circumstance where you have to care for an aging parent.
Or maybe you’re a single mom and you’re working as hard as you can and you’re really just don’t have a dollar more to save or invest, you just have to do what you can do. I just want to encourage you that while you’re in those moments, even if you can’t advance yourself financially, there is other things you can do to advance yourself. You can advance your abilities, your knowledge on finance and your overall mindset because it’s all about happiness. You can get there even without a lot of money.
Josh Robb:
Yeah and there’s a lot more organizations and groups out there for support as well now as people are realizing that is a needed thing. There’s places you can go for help for that as well.
Jessica Hinks:
Oh yeah. There’s a huge social movement for women investors. There’s Instagram groups, Twitter groups, Facebook groups. You’ll find your people, you just have to go look for them. They’re there, you just have to find them.
Austin Wilson:
I think you hit on a good point when you’re talking about how and maybe some of the reasons why women are, they’re the ones to care for those elderly parents. Or they’re the ones to care for the children who have needs or whatever. I kind of think it like, they’re better suited for some of the compassion, the soft side of things. Which also makes them very good as financial advisors as I think we’re going to be talking about before too long.
I’m going to call it a compassion gap, trademark that, where it’s more natural and easier and it comes across a lot better. That’s something that can very much help women in the financial industry, but it’s the reason that they’re often chosen or do choose to help out around the house. More help out with their parents more or whatever, so yeah. Definitely a different world.
[8:48] – How Do Women In Finance to Men?
Josh Robb:
When women do invest, how do they do compared to men when it comes to investing?
Jessica Hinks:
I mean overall it’s all a matter of being a consistent investor, I mean a smart investor and not being controlled by emotions. There’s some studies that show that women might actually be better investors than men. Like I said, there’s hurdles, women tend to invest maybe too little and too infrequently, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not as good investors. I think our turns are arguably the same even sometimes better compared to some studies. I think maybe you found a study that showed that, right Josh?
Josh Robb:
Yeah and when it comes to women and men, women in finance, their decision making is a little different and it tends to do well. They take time to think through. That’s where men can be very reactive in situations. Again, we’re lumping a bunch of people into one category, but the idea where men can be a little more irrational and chase returns whereas women stick to a plan.
I know you talk a lot about goals and goal based, and so women in financetend to have their investing match their goals. Whereas men can at times just be looking for, they want to brag so they want to get the best return and do the best. May not over the long run because they’ll come in and out, give them the best overall result.
Austin Wilson:
Jess, you talked a little bit about how maybe women don’t save as much or there’s a little difference on how all of that will work. Do you have any numbers on maybe how much women in finance do save versus men?
Jessica Hinks:
Yeah, well as far as investing in the stock market goes, about 60% of men invest in the stock market compared to 40% of women who invest in the stock market. That’s a 20% gap, but it is narrowing and it’s narrowing more every, every year, which is really exciting. I think that somethings that help with that is one, technology. Women don’t have to go into a stuffy advisor’s office and talk to someone who they might find intimidating or don’t have a good connection with. They can just go online and invest and then diversify their portfolio on their own, which is great.
Also, whenever you turn the TV on, all the major custodians, they have commercials with women advisors, women investors. It’s making it look more like the norm because it is the norm. Women realize that, “I’m an everyday person, everyday people invest. I can do this,” and because of that, the gaps narrowing so that’s exciting for me.
Austin Wilson:
That’s awesome. Yeah, it’s definitely a changing world and I think it’s changing for the better. Not just women, but men and women are seeing the need that everyone needs to save, everyone needs to plan ahead for the future. We need to work together to do that, but I’m so happy that the females are picking up and running with it. They’re just taking it and going big. It’s not going to be long at all when they’re going to be talking about men having to catch up.
Jessica Hinks:
Well you have to catch up in a lot of ways, but…
[11:49] – Dad Joke of the Week, Presented by Jess!
Austin Wilson:
Oh, let’s not go there. Jess, do you have something special for us this week?
Jessica Hinks:
I do. I’m so excited it. I have the woman joke of the week for you.
Josh Robb:
All right, we’re ready.
Austin Wilson:
Bring it. Bring it.
Jessica Hinks:
Do you know who is one of the first female investors?
Austin Wilson:
Who?
Jessica Hinks:
Pharaoh’s daughter.
Austin Wilson:
Pharaoh’s daughter?
Jessica Hinks:
She went to the Nile Bank and came back with a small profit.
Josh Robb:
Profit, I love it.
Austin Wilson:
Wait, is that profit with a P-H or an F?
Jessica Hinks:
Well profit with a P-H, but play on words with an F.
Josh Robb:
Nice.
Austin Wilson:
I think it’s safe to say that his people profited from him going there, that was good.
[12:30] – What Jess Sees in Women in Finance
Josh Robb:
I like it. That is good. We looked at about women in finance, women when they’re investing, but let’s talk on your side of the world. As a female advisor, what do you see in the industry as far as women in finance?
Jessica Hinks:
Well, there are more women advisors than there used to be, but there’s still not many. I do think that women make really good advisors, but I don’t think that women clients necessarily have to work with a woman advisor. Men can be great advisors, they just need to make sure they’re doing certain things to make their women clients feel comfortable and heard. I think this is a really interesting fact and I’ve read it in numerous places.
70% of recent widows leave their former husband’s financial advisor within a year. When you survey those people, they leave mainly because they didn’t feel like they were valued. They didn’t feel like they had a relationship with them. They might have worked with these people for 20 years, but they felt like the advisor just talked to their husband, not to them. 70% of recent widows leave their advisor, that’s just astronomical.
[13:33] – What to Look for in a Financial Advisor
Austin Wilson:
Wow! Jess, how do you know that you have an advisor that you can trust, especially from a woman’s perspective?
Jessica Hinks:
Well first of all, you want to have an advisor you can trust and who’s also working in a way that suits you best. For a lot of women, like Josh mentioned, we tend to be very goal-based. You want to work with an advisor who is also goals-based and goals-focused so that you can set goals for yourself and meet those goals, which are more rewarding than just tracking investment benchmarks. How about advisor who can walk alongside you and just keep me moving along and keep you motivated by meeting financial goals.
Josh Robb:
I think in general that’s a very good way to invest. I mean, it makes a lot of sense because when you’re just looking at a benchmark, you don’t know if that’s good or bad to what you’re trying to get to. When you have a goal, you can compare, okay, this is where I’m at. This is where I’m trying to get to. Am I getting the returns? Am I in the investments I need to achieve that goal? I agree, I think that’s the best way to invest.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah. Just because you didn’t beat the S&P 500 for a year or whatever, that doesn’t necessarily mean that your entire retirement plan is in shambles and you need to start at square one because that might not have been part of the plan. You could still definitely be on track just because it’s easy to measure yourself against something that might be irrelevant.
Jessica Hinks:
Exactly and from a lot of women, maybe their goal is saving for a new car, getting an emergency fund, getting $500,000 in their portfolio. These are really obvious benchmarks that you can keep in your mind and keep working towards. This is going to be a fun test that if you have an advisor already, do this. Talk to your advisor and figure out how many seconds it takes for them to interrupt you if you’re telling them a story or a concern you have.
There’s been a survey and studies with doctors. The average doctor who is educated to listen to their patients only takes 18 seconds before they interrupt their patients. I think that’s wild. Unfortunately, I think it’s the same way in the financial planning industry, so just pay attention to how well your advisor listens because that’s a good marker if they’re trustworthy.
Josh Robb:
That’s just not an advice for a female, right? I mean, in general you want an advisor that can listen to you and that’s good for anybody to look at their advisor. Not just for the females because if your advisor is interrupting you, then they’re not listening to anybody.
Jessica Hinks:
Yeah, definitely. This applies to both men and women definitely. Another thing you want to watch out for when you’re trying to look for an advisor you trust is consider if your current advisor asks your opinion. If you’re married, is your advisor always asking your husband’s opinion and not yours? Is your advisor looking at your husband whenever he’s addressing you? Does he look at you? Is there eye contact? Also, just pay attention to even where they’re putting papers.
When they’re reviewing statements with you, are they just opening the statement and laying it in front of your husband while they’re pointing out numbers? Are they putting it in front of both of you and getting you both in a conversation? These are just like little things you can watch for to gauge how well the advisor is actually valuing your role in the relationship.
Austin Wilson:
That’s definitely important because especially in a couple now. A wife and a husband might have completely different goals. They might have differences with what they want to do with certain pieces of their money or they might have different risk tolerances or things like that. Really they have to be on the same page and come to a plan together, but the advisor should be definitely working with both parties involved to make sure that they’re doing what is tolerable for both as well as what’s best to achieve those goals over the long-term. Yeah, having a team player approach in that and then knowing that it’s definitely valuable to get both sides there.
[17:31] – Check Out Jess’s Blog: The Everyday Advisor
Josh Robb:
Jess, I really appreciate, that’s some really good insights. How can listeners follow you and find out more about what you’re doing? You mentioned you liked writing, is there a way they could connect with you?
Jessica Hinks:
Yeah, I do write on my blog TheEverydayAdvisor.com and you can subscribe to it. I really encourage people to email me their questions. If you read an article and you have a question about it, just go to my “contact me” page and let me know. You can find me on Facebook to The Everyday Advisor and I have a page there and I’ll always try and react to messages.
I love sharing general financial planning principles and these again are everyday situations. They’re not for investors who are looking for the best find here or the secret stock there. It’s just real-life situations that I hope apply to everyone.
Austin Wilson:
We’re going to link her blog page, her website in our show notes so you can find it right there and click on it, whatever you want there. This week listeners we are challenging you, you already have our Eight Timeless Principles of Investing, but today your challenge is to go to Jess’s blog page. Read some blogs, learn something and subscribe to that newsletter because it is great. She’ll send you an email with her latest blog every week and it is super informative. I know that I personally enjoy listening and reading to that, not listening to them, but reading them every week. It’s definitely a highlight of my week when that email comes, so Jess…
Josh Robb:
Jess, you also have a thing on your website, it’s a checklist for people. It’s free as well, right?
Jessica Hinks:
Yeah, it’s a great list just to help ask yourself questions. The mantra planning checklist that covers things like insurance, financial organization, estate planning. It’ll help bring to light areas of your financial life that maybe haven’t been addressed in a while. Please go ahead and download that. It’s free and I hope it helps you.
Austin Wilson:
Jess kind of wrap it up and give the listeners some great tips and resources and just kind of say thank you.
Jessica Hinks:
Yeah, well first of all, thank you so much for having me on the show. It’s been a lot of fun.
Austin Wilson:
Not to us.
Jessica Hinks:
Oh not to you? Well thank you guys but I just want to say thanks to the people who read as well. It’s always encouraging when people reach out to me and tell me that a tip has helped them, I really appreciate it. It keeps me motivated to write more and I just want to encourage you, women and men who are listening, the world is changing fast. I feel like the role of women in finance hasn’t kept up until recently. We’re really gaining steam now and it’s really exciting.
I just want a new crop of financially confident and competent women in finance who are not just the exception, but who are the norm. I know that through education women are going to be competent and confident, and it’s really exciting so keep at it, keep learning. Keep listening to The Invested Dads Podcast because they provide you with a lot of these resources, it will help you grow.
Josh Robb:
Well thanks Jess and for all of you out there, thanks for listening. To help this podcast grow, make sure you share it with your friends. Subscribe if you haven’t already and then leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, that’s always useful. It helps us rank so that more people can find us and you can email any ideas you have for us for future episodes to hello at theinvesteddads.com and we will talk to you next week.
Austin Wilson:
Yup, thanks guys. Have a good one. Bye.
Josh Robb:
Bye.
Outro:
Thank you for listening to The Invested Dads Podcast. This episode has ended, but your journey towards a better financial future doesn’t have to. Head over to theinvesteddads.com to access all the links and resources mentioned in today’s show. If you enjoyed this episode and we had a positive impact on your life, leave us a review. Click subscribe and don’t miss the next episode.
Josh Robb and Austin Wilson work for Hixon Zuercher Capital Management. All opinions expressed by Josh, Austin or any podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Hixon Zuercher Capital Management. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for investment decisions.
Clients of Hixon Zuercher Capital Management may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast. There is no guarantee that the statements, opinions or forecast provided herein will prove to be correct. Past performance may not be indicative of future results, indexes are not available for direct investment. Any investor who attempts to mimic the performance of an index would incur fees and expenses which would reduce returns. Securities investing involves risk, including the potential for loss of principal. There is no assurance that any investment plan or strategy will be successful.
