Women and wealth: myth busting

Expertise and personal relationships reign supreme

‘What I feel is a little bit outdated is the assumption from some corners of the industry that women only want to work with women. From my experience, that isn’t necessarily the case. Our clients – whether they are male or female – want to work with a highly qualified team that is focused on their requirements, listens and doesn’t stereotype. For our clients, it is the quality of the rapport with ZEDRA’s team, and experience of the staff they are working with creates a successful working relationship, not whether they are working with a man or a woman,’ explains Sarah.

Defined financial objectives and goals

Many of ZEDRA’s female clients are married or are mothers. Others aren’t married but have long-term partners. Extended and blended families are increasingly the norm.

For couples where more than one party controls wealth, ZEDRA’s role is to listen and support all relevant parties, setting up structures that meet joint objectives. We also work with women that don’t share ownership of their wealth with other parties, retaining total control over their assets. These clients and their advisors come to us with specific objectives or goals they want to achieve with their structuring.

‘When thinking about servicing women, I think the financial services sector can look at women as a ‘standalone’ individual who isn’t influenced by outside factors, family, friends or causes close to her heart. Again, we don’t always see this. Regardless of whether a woman is controlling wealth alone, with a partner or other parties, the overriding trend is that we see women make smart decisions. They work with very trusted advisors, and they have defined desires for the future of their personal or shared wealth and assets. That might be supporting charitable causes, leaving money to her children, her partner’s children, or setting up structures for beneficiaries with no family ties at all. It’s up to us to establish the structures that make that happen, along with our client’s advisors,’ says Sarah.

Active wealth: increasingly popular for all clients

Increasingly all of ZEDRA’s clients are looking for innovation and solution-driven structures, especially when the client’s wealth is established and generated from a mix of family businesses, investments and personal wealth accumulated over time.

‘All our clients want precision, efficiency and a more streamlined approach to structuring complex wealth and assets. Prospective clients are interested in our active wealth approach because we offer a methodology where the client can have a single point of contact at ZEDRA who will oversee extensive corporate, fund and trust or philanthropic structures. Our mindset is to provide a highly personalised service and to have in-depth knowledge of our clients objectives, their personal situations and their structures – no matter how complex,’ says Sarah.

ZEDRA’s global team of experts is ideally placed to support clients with a full portfolio of services covering family business management, private wealth protection and fiduciary investment services.

For more information, please contact Sarah Bartram-Lora Reina, Client Director, ZEDRA Jersey.