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The wealth management industry is experiencing a major transformation. For decades, financial services were largely built around the assumption that men were the primary earners, investors, and household financial decision-makers. Today, that reality is changing rapidly.
Women are increasingly leading businesses, building careers, inheriting wealth, and driving financial decisions within their households. Yet according to Cary Carbonaro, many advisory firms still rely on outdated approaches that fail to fully connect with female clients.
A nationally recognized financial advisor, author, and advocate for women and wealth, Cary has spent more than 25 years helping women navigate financial planning with confidence and clarity. As Managing Wealth Advisor and Women and Wealth Ambassador at Ashton Thomas Private Wealth, she leads a multimillion-dollar practice focused on empowering women through education, long-term planning, and relationship-driven advice.
Cary is also the bestselling author of Women and Wealth: A Playbook to Empower Clients and Unlock Their Fortune, a widely recognized resource for advisors seeking to better understand the evolving financial landscape and the growing influence of women investors.
Throughout her work and speaking engagements, Cary has consistently challenged the financial industry to rethink the culture, communication styles, and assumptions that have traditionally shaped wealth management.
Why Traditional Approaches No Longer Work
According to Cary, one of the biggest mistakes advisors make is continuing to view women as a secondary audience rather than recognizing them as primary decision-makers.
She explains that this often appears in subtle but meaningful ways — directing conversations primarily toward husbands, defaulting communications to male partners, or unintentionally overlooking women during financial discussions. While these habits may seem small, Cary believes they can significantly impact trust and engagement.
Another issue, she says, is the industry’s tendency to focus heavily on products, performance, and technical jargon instead of connecting financial planning to real-life outcomes and goals.
Women, Cary explains, are often looking for conversations centered around security, flexibility, caregiving responsibilities, retirement confidence, family needs, and long-term stability — not simply investment performance alone.
Moving Beyond “Bro Culture”
Cary has also spoken openly about what she describes as the financial industry’s lingering “bro culture.”
In many firms, this culture can show up through overly aggressive sales language, jargon-heavy conversations, competitive “beat the market” messaging, or social environments that unintentionally exclude women from meaningful participation.
She believes firms that want to grow in the coming decade must create more inclusive, collaborative, and educational experiences for women clients.
That shift may include:
- Using clearer, more relatable communication
- Creating educational events tailored toward women
- Encouraging collaborative planning conversations
- Building stronger trust-based relationships
- Making women feel fully included in financial decisions
Understanding How Women Approach Wealth
Cary also challenges several common misconceptions about women investors.
Rather than being “risk-averse,” she explains that many women are simply more holistic in how they evaluate risk. They often consider factors such as caregiving responsibilities, healthcare costs, longevity, family obligations, and career interruptions alongside market performance.
She also emphasizes that asking questions should not be interpreted as hesitation or lack of confidence. Instead, Cary believes education and understanding are essential parts of the trust-building process.
When women feel informed, respected, and empowered, they often become highly engaged, loyal clients who value long-term relationships with their advisors.
Building Trust in a Changing Industry
One of Cary’s strongest messages is that financial planning should be centered around people and life experiences — not just portfolios.
She encourages advisors to rethink the way they communicate, structure client relationships, and guide women through major life transitions such as divorce, widowhood, caregiving, retirement planning, and career changes.
According to Cary, firms that succeed in the future will be the ones that stop treating women as a niche market and start recognizing them as a driving force shaping the future of wealth management.
As women continue to control a growing share of wealth in the years ahead, Cary believes the opportunity for advisors is clear: create experiences built on trust, inclusion, education, and meaningful relationships.
