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Financial Planning > Behavioral Finance

Seeking Wealthy Divorcées as New Clients

By Olivia Mellan, Sherry Christie

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If you’re looking for an attractive source of new business, you might consider high-net-worth divorcées who aren’t being well-served by their current advisor. Here are some of the characteristics of these prospects, as uncovered by Spectrem Group research:

They represent sizable wealth. They head 7% of households with net worth of $1 million to $5 million, and 9% of households with $5 million to $25 million.

They’re older. The average age is 63, and about half (52%) are retired.

They’re financially savvy. Nearly three-fourths (73%) say they are “knowledgeable” or “very knowledgeable” about investments (sometimes more so than their ex-spouse was).

They enjoy investing. They like it more than widows do, and are more confident in their investment abilities. One out of five wealthy divorcées (21%) makes her own decisions without help from a financial professional.

Most work with a financial advisor. This is typically a full-service broker (40%), but may also be a mutual fund company representative or a discount or online broker.         

They feel more secure since their divorce. Most (62%) say they’re better off financially than they were before their marriage broke up, despite earlier worries they may have had (see sidebar “What Divorcing Wives Fear Most”). The higher their net worth, the more likely they are to feel their situation has improved.

They’re glad they split up. Three-fourths (77%) say they’re better off emotionally since divorcing.

They’re family-focused. They tend to be concerned about their children’s and grandchildren’s financial well-being as well as their own.

They’re more comfortable with technology than widows are. Divorcées are more likely to use online tools and social media as sources of financial information.

Winning over one of these relatively confident, secure prospects could be quite a challenge—much more difficult, I wager, than retaining a divorced client you already have. Your efforts now to strengthen rapport with your women clients could be time well spent. 

>> Return to “Madame Ex.”

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