Where Direction$ Is Headed

Trailblazers Peg Downey, Eleanor Blayney, and Elizabeth Jetton want to change the atmosphere and conversation to “get women into the room” for financial planning. Through their new venture, Direction$, these activities are in the works:

• l Building up an advisor channel to gather and share community wisdom about women clients
• l Training planners on how to make their practices more woman-friendly
• l Communicating via Women’s Worth: Finding Your Financial Confidence (Direction$ LLC, 2010), which author Eleanor Blayney describes as “the type of broadly educational book that advisors can give women clients to get them thinking about these issues”
• l Co-hosting professional conferences such as the FPA/Berkana Institute event August 23-26 (see details on InvestmentAdvisor.com), where a topic will be “Changing the conversation about money”
• l Expanding dialogues with FPA and NAPFA
• l Sponsoring initial learning circles in Washington, D.C., and Atlanta to promote deeper communication to and among women
• l Speaking publicy to raise women’s awareness and get them into the financial planning process sooner
• l Developing planner materials and templates appropriate to women and their needs
• l Encouraging development of women-centric educational materials and unique financial products
• l Writing articles (Peg’s forum is Crone magazine, a publication for women growing older, where she is finance editor)
• l Blogging (Elizabeth for Vibrant Nation, a community of women over 50; Eleanor on her own website, www.directionsforwomen.com)
• l Reaching out to media (e.g., a recent speech to the National Press Foundation about women in retirement)
• l Developing a referral center
• l Expanding the Direction$ Web site as a portal where resources and links to resources can be found

Return to “Majority Report: A New Approach to Advising Women.”