New research from Totumai on the communication architecture problem in wealth management — and why the firms that solve it will define the next generation of the industry.
The paradox
Women investors are not a special-interest segment to be accommodated with bespoke marketing. They are the future of the wealth management industry's client base — and current research shows the industry is communicating with them in ways that are actively eroding confidence.
This is not a product problem, a performance problem, or a pipeline problem. It is a communication architecture problem. And it is entirely solvable.
"The challenge is not that women lack financial sophistication. The challenge is that the financial industry has built an advisory model optimised for a different kind of conversation."
— Matt Chen, CEO, TotumaiThe numbers
Women currently control approximately $18 trillion in US assets under management — a number on a trajectory toward $34 trillion by 2030. But here is the figure that should stop every wealth management professional: an estimated 53 percent of assets controlled by women are currently unmanaged, compared to 45 percent of those controlled by men. That gap represents somewhere in the order of $10 trillion in potential advisory relationships that simply aren't being formed.
Schwab's 2025 Women Investors Survey found that 91 percent of women say managing investments gives them a sense of empowerment, and 83 percent say they enjoy investing. These are not passive, disengaged investors. They are motivated, capable, and deeply interested in their financial futures.
of women with financial advisors hesitate to ask questions in their own meetings for fear of revealing a lack of knowledge
say they don't always know what questions to ask in their advisor meetings
wish their advisor's documents were easier to understand
of women who use AI for financial purposes use it to prepare for meetings with their advisor — not to replace them
The diagnosis
The wealth management industry has responded to the "women and wealth" moment primarily by addressing content: more products targeting women, more female advisors, more marketing campaigns emphasising financial empowerment. What it has largely failed to address is the architecture of the advisory conversation itself.
Women investors report consistent frustrations across multiple research cohorts: advisors speak in jargon-dense shorthand, assume prior familiarity with terminology, prefer to explain rather than explore, and default to presentation mode rather than dialogue. These are not preferences that differ slightly by gender — they reflect fundamentally different models of what an advisory conversation is for.
The Totumai survey respondents are established investors: 76 percent already work with an advisor, 35 percent have $500,000 or more in investable assets, and 80 percent hold a college or graduate degree. They are not hesitating because they lack experience. They are hesitating because the advisory environment has not made it safe to ask. The room has not been built for their questions.
The business case
Women make an average of 26 referrals to their financial advisors over a lifetime, compared with 11 for men. They are more loyal when trust is established and more mobile when it isn't. Capital Group's 2025 research found women with advisors are 10 percentage points more likely to stay with them into retirement than men.
The Great Wealth Transfer from Baby Boomers will move approximately $100 trillion to younger generations by 2048. Women are positioned to be the primary recipients — inheriting assets both from parents and from spouses who statistically predecease them. The communication failures of today are being written into the foundational trust relationships that will determine where the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in history lands.
McKinsey's 2026 outlook identifies conversational AI as a reshaping force in wealth management client experience. Women are already turning to AI to fill the gaps the advisory relationship leaves — using it as a rehearsal space for conversations that should be safe enough to have without preparation.
angela is a secure, private AI financial companion for women — built on a scientifically-backed communication framework developed with a PhD psychologist. She helps clients prepare for meetings, understand documents, and build the confidence to have the conversations that matter.
When clients arrive prepared, conversations go deeper. angela doesn't replace you — she makes every interaction with you more valuable.
Catania, C. et al. "The New Face of Wealth: The Rise of the Female Investor." McKinsey & Company, May 2025.
Zhao, J., Euart, J., and Golyk, V. "US Wealth Management in 2035: A Transformative Decade Begins." McKinsey & Company, January 2026.
Capital Group / Kantar. Women & Wealth Investor Survey, 2025. n=1,504.
Charles Schwab. Women Investors Survey, 2025. n=1,200.
Cerulli Associates, cited in Capital Group, 2025. Great Wealth Transfer projections to 2048.
Totumai, Inc. Women Investors & Financial Advisory Relationships: Proprietary Survey Research, n=300. December 2025 and February 2026.
Bucher-Koenen, T., Lusardi, A., Alessie, R., & van Rooij, M. (2017). How financially literate are women? Journal of Consumer Affairs, 51(2), 255–283.
Croson, R., & Gneezy, U. (2009). Gender differences in preferences. Journal of Economic Literature, 47(2), 448–474.
Lusardi, A., & Mitchell, O. S. (2014). The economic importance of financial literacy. Journal of Economic Literature, 52(1), 5–44.