Christine Hornery

Women’s spending habits and the fact that they outlive their men means they need a separate retirement income stream between $12,000 and $20,000 a year more than their male partners, according to Christine Hornery, director of FMS Group.

“The truth is, women need more money than men but often earn less and therefore save less for retirement,” Ms Hornery says. “For women to have independence in retirement and feel a sense of worth and equality, they must contribute more to superannuation and have their own retirement income stream.”

Ms Hornery says hair and beauty costs alone push up a woman’s cost of living.

“Men can get away with spending $25 every five weeks on a hair cut; women often spend $150,” she says. “Men usually won’t start wearing make-up and using skin creams in retirement; women won’t stop using them. The needs of women are different to men and financial strategies don’t often reflect this, especially if the male has implemented the strategy to suit his own income stream needs.”

This means women must not only contribute more to their superannuation funds, they should also have financial strategies that are separate to traditional income stream and superannuation savings.

“Women have to become educated about their own financial situation, not just piggyback onto their partner’s knowledge of finances,” Ms Hornery says. “I sit in front of women every day who can’t afford to retire with the lifestyle they are used to living. Women must see the importance of being educated financially, even if they are in a relationship and start developing a plan so they can live the life they want to live now and be financially free in retirement.

Ms Hornery is the winner of the 2012 Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) Female Excellence in Advice Award.

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Please take a little time to recognise excellence. Nominate yourself or another female financial adviser and support an Award that supports women. Entries close 31 July 2012. The Award recipient will be announced at the AFA Annual Conference on 30 October 2012.

The Female Excellence in Advice Award program is a joint initiative of the Association of Financial Advisers and TAL.

Established in 2011, the Award recognises women in financial advice who are making a significant contribution to their profession, their community and their clients.

The Award celebrates diversity in the financial advice industry, promotes positive change and encourages more women to enter the industry and to take leadership roles. Importantly, it aims to give Australians choice when it comes to getting advice. With more women in the industry and a better representation of women in senior roles in financial advice, we hope to address some major challenges experienced by Australian women when it comes to seeking advice, being adequately resourced for retirement and obtaining insurance.

Mr Brett Clark CEO  of TAL said, “The inaugural award was extremely well received and showed that high quality female advisers are leading the way and making a difference in our industry.”

“This year promises to be another big year.  As the award has reached out more broadly into financial services, I am looking forward to seeing more quality female financial advisers representing our industry and delivering great outcomes to their customers and community.”

Nominate yourself or another Excellent Female in Advice now by clicking here.

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The Masterclasses, were led by the AFA’s political strategist, Kerry Chikarovski, using materials that had been developed in response to the overwhelming feedback received during the nomination process for the AFA Female Excellence in Advice Award program; a joint initiative of the AFA and TOWER Australia.

The Masterclasses addressed the following key areas:

• The qualities of great leadership
• Emotional intelligence
• How to thrive and build high performing teams
• Mentoring and networking for great results
• Career planning for women.

Victoria-based financial adviser, Adrienne Rush, said the presentation she attended at the Melbourne roadshow was inspirational.
“Kerry Chikarovski is an inspirational leader. I loved her presentation – which was delivered in such a natural and fun way.  Hearing her thoughts on leadership added so much value.”

The Masterclasses tackled a number of specific hurdles, including:

• balancing natural empathy with a professional business approach, particularly in the case of insurance and claims management
• for small advice practice owners – being the  boss while remaining a friend/peer to staff 
• how to stay focussed and positive in unsupportive environments.

Ms Chikarovski said women attending the Masterclasses demonstrated a thirst for knowledge, learning and connection amongst professional women in the market place. “We need to foster this energy so that we can continue to champion the very important role women play in financial advice,” she said.

The Masterclasses represent just one of a number of initiatives being delivered by the AFA to help women in the advice profession, as part of the broader AFA Female Excellence in Advice Award program.
The Award program aims to:

• encourage greater participation by females in leadership roles within the profession
• encourage more females into the profession
• balance the gender equation in the profession
• provide clients with more choice when obtaining advice
• take a strategic first step towards addressing the issues of female under-insurance and the low level generally of women’s superannuation savings.

AFA CEO, Richard Klipin said the AFA Female Excellence in Advice Award has evolved into much more than an award.  “The Award, coupled with the AFA’s Women in Leadership Masterclasses, herald the beginning of an AFA  program for women in the financial advisory profession who want to be connected, who want to lead change and who want to provide the best possible outcomes for their clients,” he said. “The program will continue to deliver many more networking and professional development opportunities to our female financial advisers.”

According to Brett Clark, CEO of Retail Life TOWER Australia, sponsor of the award, “The AFA Female Excellence in Advice Award received 105 nominations by the time nominations closed.  The high numbers validate the need for an award to celebrate, reward and encourage women who work in the financial advice profession.”

The winner of the inaugural AFA Female Excellence in Advice Award will be announced at the 2011 AFA National Conference.

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