Diversity is coming to investing. It just won’t be in the way that Finance currently thinks about it. For women and millennials, increasing dissatisfaction with the existing engagement model will accelerate the rise of roboadvisors. Roboadvisors are part of the on-demand economy that is defining a new standard for consumer experience. After all, a roboadvisor doesn’t get impatient when you ask a lot of questions or infer that asking questions means you don’t know your own mind or what you want to accomplish with your investments. A roboadvisor is available 24/7 and can accommodate 15 minutes here and there to fit your schedule with little advance notice and no need to schedule an appointment. A roboadvisor can model umpteen different scenarios and doesn’t ever get tired of trying something a little bit different. When smart people come across a barrier they just find a way around it! That is what women are doing in finance.
 
The rise of roboadvisors poses a threat and presents an opportunity for today’s advisors. Women and millennials are opting out of the traditional advisor relationship because it does not reflect their values and it doesn’t speak to them. For women especially, the industry’s “there, there, now” culture is viscerally off-putting. We predict that a few intrepid and insightful advisory firms will successfully adopt gender and generational lenses as they adjust to the new market reality. They will do this using the same culture change approaches that other industries apply to diversity initiatives. These firms will wake up and realize that they need not only to understand the new holders of wealth, they need to hire them. These firms will hold up a mirror to themselves and not liking what they see, will make the BIG changes needed to be as diverse as the customer they hope to acquire and retain.

As highlighted in Innovation and New Holders of Wealth by rgsquared