Charting Our Own Path: A New Formula for Women’s Wealth

When most people think of wealth, terms like “net worth,” “equity,” “portfolio construction,” and “risk tolerance” frequently come to mind. While those can all be parts of the formula, the financial services industry is grappling with the need to expand its approach.

Women Are the New Face of Wealth

According to a recent McKinsey study, women control $60T+ in assets under management (AUM) as of 2023, roughly one-third of global AUM. And as the growth of women-controlled assets continues to outpace the market, our share is expected to rise to 40–45% by 2030.

Having spent more than two decades working in wealth management, I’m well-versed on leading teams and meetings focused on ROI and beating benchmarks. But a key area that has been overlooked is what women truly need to build and pass on wealth.

To address that, we must first acknowledge that the system was not originally built with us in mind. That’s not exactly groundbreaking information, given women didn’t gain the legal right to apply for bank accounts, credit cards, or home loans in their own name until 1974. Even still, single Gen Z women are now outpacing men at a rate of 35 to 18% in home purchasing. So, the late access to wealth accrual has not and should not stop women from continuing to chart their own path forward.

We just need to recalibrate the formula with the appropriate variables and redefine wealth on our terms.

Why Returns Alone Don’t Define a Wealthy Life

In our current system, wealth accrual is seen as the means to the end for a thriving life. This narrow approach is even more proof of the finance industry's focus on appealing primarily to men. Prioritizing stock picking, portfolio returns, and alpha isn’t innately bad or wrong, it’s just a compartmentalized approach that confirms Julia Boorstin’s reporting in her book, When Women Lead. “Put more simply,” she writes, “men may be more focused on handling the narrow priorities of Mars, but women, from their perch on Venus, are more likely to consider the whole solar system.”

Considering the whole solar system can often look like pursuing the careers that provide the greatest impact, the roles that provide more flexibility for loved ones, and the relationships that create the most meaningful connections for one’s growth and wellbeing. While some could argue that pursuing roles with more flexibility or higher social impact usually does not translate into increased dollars or titles, wouldn’t living a life that provides higher personal, professional, and relational fulfillment beyond the 9-to-5 be the very definition of a wealthy life?

Finding Your North Star

As women, we’ve long been told we can have it all, and whether or not you choose to subscribe to that belief is a personal decision. But hypothetically, if we could have it all, what does all really mean?

What we have been told to aspire to has largely been defined by societal and cultural expectations with little consideration for our own input. So finding a starting point can feel daunting and highly misaligned. For some, this can feel incredibly uncomfortable, because in both beautiful and terrible ways, women have been socially conditioned to put the needs of others first. So much so that a 2025 CFP Board Study found that women clients ranked the financial wellbeing of their children or a close older relative as their top concern more often than they did their own.

Before we redefine what we’re driving toward, it’s important to find our North Star. In The Magic of Knowing What You Want, executive coach Tracey Gee describes “knowing what you want is a process, a relationship, and an embodied discovery of what it means for you to thrive.” While women weren’t given the headstart on material possessions, we are not without opportunity. In fact, I would argue we have a plethora of resources and, oftentimes, greater networks and connections willing to share practical solutions for us to wield. As psychologist Dr. Angela Duckworth says in Situated, “Instead of commanding ourselves to work harder, we should seek mentors, peers, physical spaces and cultures that inspire us. Instead of urging ourselves to make the best of a situation, we can improve the situation itself.”

Three Ways to Start Building Wealth on Your Terms

Personally: The relationships, communities, and teams that we have built up after years of caring for others can come into play for our own success. We often underestimate the depth and value of the time, energy, and capital we have already invested. In Likeable Badass, organizational psychologist Dr. Alison Fragale advocates that, when we have gotten this far, we need to remember not to sell ourselves short. We’ve “earned respect and admiration [and are now] in a privileged position to do a lot of good, both for [ourselves] and for others.”

Professionally: Chief Member and author Marnie Maton reminds us in Vote For You: Take Your Seat at the Table that, “No one is going to take care of your career but you, so you have to get out there and strike [that balance of treating yourself as you treat the companies you work for.]”

Financially: As a Certified Financial Planner®, I’d be remiss to ignore that there is absolutely a monetary component to this formula. Folks often talk about what their “retirement number” is, but a better starting point is understanding what we need for each phase of our lives and then working with a qualified advisor who can build an individualized plan to achieve that and adapt accordingly if/when things change. Because these conversations can often be overwhelming, Savvy Ladies, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, is committed to equipping women with high-quality financial education and literacy tools through playbooks, one-on-one consultations, and the questions one might need to move forward.

These three areas are not mutually exclusive, in fact, they form what business professor Dr. Laura Huang describes in Edge: Turning Adversity Into Advantage as “bricolage, [a] creation of something novel and exciting from the combination of our personal experience and contexts.”

Learning how to create successful bricolage for ourselves starts by redefining what wealth is on our own terms. It can only enrich our lives if it’s valuable to us individually. Otherwise, it's like we’re putting on someone else’s shoes and wondering why they don’t fit.

When we are able to compound all those interests, well, as the old adage goes, that’ll pay dividends.