More than nine out of 10, 93%, of women who are currently or have previously been in a Financial Planning role would recommend it to other women, according to the Women in Personal Finance survey.

However only 36% of women surveyed would consider a Financial Planning role.

More than half, 56%, who have not worked in Financial Planning said they would not consider it in their future career.

The research was commissioned by the Women’s Wealth Alliance, a working group of independent professional body the Consumer Duty Alliance.

When asked about the biggest barriers preventing more women from entering the personal finance sector, 84% cited it being seen as a male dominated sector.

Almost half, 49% believe that there is a lack of education/knowledge of the sector among women, and 47% said women would not think a career in finance is for them.

Source: Women’s Wealth Alliance

Yet once women enter careers within personal finance, the majority feel supported by their company, manager and colleagues, see plenty of opportunity to progress and are able to achieve a good work-life balance.

The majority, 86%, said that they feel/felt supported by their colleagues with 79% said they felt supported by the company/firm they worked for and 74% said their boss/manager.

Almost nine out of 10, 88%, of women surveyed currently working in the personal finance sector reported that there is a great deal/ fair amount of job flexibility in their role and similarly, the majority, 82%,  think that they have a good work-life balance. 

When asked about opportunity to progress within their current role, 80% said there was a great deal /fair amount of opportunity and encouragingly, 71% said they have no plans to leave the personal finance sector.

In terms of what would be useful to women to develop or further their career, around half, 51%, said coaching or mentoring, followed by 38% who said management and leadership courses, and 37% said training on technical skills.

Vanessa Barnes, Chartered Financial Planner and chair of the Women’s Wealth Alliance, said: “We are really pleased to see such positive overall results, in terms of how women across a wide range of roles experience the personal finance sector as a great place to succeed and feel supported in their careers.

“This is particularly evidenced by the strong endorsement of the Financial Planning role for women, yet over half of those outside this role said they would not consider it, so it will be interesting to explore this disconnect in more detail.”

• Fieldwork for the survey took place between 2 - 23 June. YouGov provided Consumer Duty Alliance with open links to distribute to women in the personal finance sector. The data is based on 540 responses from women who currently or previously worked across Financial Planning, mortgage and protection advice, financial coaching, academy members and apprentices, paraplanning, compliance, T&C and support roles. 338 were Financial Planners. Analysis was conducted by the Women’s Wealth Alliance.