Women& WEALTH

For years, the male-dominated financial world has not taken women seriously. The key to empowerment, experts say, is to educate yourself

- LORA GRADY

It’s never been easy for women in the financial world.

It has, after all, been just 60 years since a woman could open a bank account in Canada without a husband’s signature. And the financial industry still has a lot of work to do when it comes to empowering women.

Research from BMO shows that women are seven per cent more likely to feel less confident than men in their financial situation, and 12 per cent more likely to feel economic pressures from the cost of living and inflation.

And it doesn’t help that only 15 to 20 per cent of financial advisers are women, according to a recent report from Sun Life Global Investments.

Despite that — or perhaps because of that — Toronto resident Julia Choi, 27, has spent the last decade educating herself about building wealth — and is used to surprised reactions from financial professionals.

Two years ago, she met with an adviser at a bank to discuss getting a mortgage. 

“He saw my account and said, ‘It’s really impressive to have these savings at your age,’ ” Choi said.

Choi’s experience isn’t unique, experts say, as many Canadian women struggle with a male-dominated financial services industry that sometimes has trouble seeing beyond gender — a slight that costs them an estimated $25 billion a year in business, according to the Global Investments report.