Holistic Financial Planning tips for Women

Kresantha Pillay, Chief Specialist for Lifestyle Protector products at Liberty shares her holistic financial planning tips for women and her own journey as a leader in the industry

Tony: It is women’s month in August and the interesting thing is, when you talk about things like women’s month or Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day, et cetera, people always say every day should be Mother’s Day and everyday should be Valentine’s Day.

You should treat your mother and you should treat your spouse or your partner in a certain way all the time. But it is quite nice to sometimes just sit back and focus on something like woman’s month, and say okay where are we? What have we achieved? What are the challenges, are there issues and things to address, et cetera?

So, this month that is what we try and do, and we are talking to a couple of women in the industry just to get their views. So, thank you very much for being put on the spot to give us your views.

So, to just start off, you have had quite a long career in the industry so far and you have had a good experience as a woman in leadership in the industry and a woman who went through quite a few educational programs. In other words, universities, and different subjects, you have done an MBA and so on.

Can you give us a little bit of a description of your journey, from when you entered the industry up till the present, how did that happen?

Kresantha: Starting the journey of actuarial science happened by chance. I remember my mom suggesting that I should become an accountant instead – it is less challenging, has predictable hours and accommodates raising a family. But the people who know me would say, I do not do easy; I love a challenge. The one thing I did know then was that I loved solving problems and back then actuarial science was just starting to be talked about.

I went about this in a very non analytical way and a very contradictory way for a typical actuary. I decided to just go into it and explore it and I have enjoyed the journey; I have enjoyed studying and I have really enjoyed the career path thus far. 

I have been in the industry for about 18 years, and it has been quite a rewarding experience. But what I have noticed, and it is quite refreshing, is that back then when I started there were very few females in the class, it was not a typical career for a female, but as the years have passed the landscape has certainly changed. We are finding more females who have chosen the path and are making quite a success of it.

Tony: Do you think that from a product, development and amendments perspective, being a woman makes a difference in our quest to empower women more? In the past financial planning was mainly the male environment, because the men were the main breadwinners, men were the advisors, it was all about the men. Do you think that with the change of more women being in leadership in the insurance industry it has added to that mindset shift? 

Kresantha: It is not ringfenced to leadership, because there is clearly quite a disparity there between males and females still. With more females entering the workforce it has created a necessity to have a look at their insurance needs as well.

In many households today, females are key contributors to that total income. If you look at the stats, there are quite a few females that are the breadwinners in families or single moms or single headed households. You can no longer ignore that, because it is a key financial contribution, and that income needs to be covered. 

They say that women reinvest their income into their families, into society. So not having that protection, from a holistic perspective, not only affects that female immediately but future generations and society itself. 

Tony: I love the title specialist, lifestyle protector, that really says a lot. How do you see that title and how do you see that in the context of empowering females in terms of their financial planning?

Kresantha: I am not one for titles, but I do understand that it does come with responsibility and as a result, I mentor quite a few females in the industry because I am regarded as a role model. From that regard, I do not take it lightly. For me mentorship is all encompassing, it’s also about empowering women to make better informed decisions both in their careers and their financial planning.

Tony: We were at the insurance conference at Sun City recently and what was interesting was that more than 50% of the attendees were women. However, when you look at the leadership in the industry, there are very few women, and when you look at the people that were on stage speaking, there were very few women.

So, we have a lot of women coming into the industry, is it just a matter of time before they will move into leadership positions? Should we do more to make sure that they get recognized for leadership positions? 

Kresantha: I would say it is a bit of both. It is a matter of time as more females are coming into the industry. But I think as an industry, we need to be more deliberate to create an environment that encourages and empowers women, especially at the C-suite level. After all, there are proven business cases that there is value in diverse leadership as this brings diversity in thinking and solving business problems. We need to have strong support systems to ensure that females are confident and equipped to move up the ranks and take on the challenges. What makes it difficult is that there are few female role models that you can reach out to for help simply being due to there not being enough to reach out to.

Tony: You spoke about mentoring. The good thing about mentoring in this case, is that if you mentor as a woman and you mentor other women, you are taking responsibility for the fact that there are not enough women in leadership. So, what advice do you have for other senior women in the industry in terms of mentoring and in terms of the challenges that females and women coming into the industry have? 

Kresantha: In mentoring people, it is important to be your authentic self. My mentoring relationships just happen accidentally, if you want to call it that, I am always someone who is incredibly happy to share my experiences.

Being a female of colour coming through in the insurance sector, I am happy to share those learnings. You often find that people that you are talking to have had similar experiences and often just lack the confidence to move forward. So, when you have these conversations and people understand where you come from and you can still persevere and move forward, it inspires them.

Tony: Any inspirational words from you for women who are entering the industry, or who are on the ladder on their way and looking for positions. Is it possible for them to become CEOs in this industry? 

Kresantha: Absolutely, I am a mom of two little boys, I have an incredibly supportive husband and my advice is that; whether you are a single mom or are in a relationship, whether you have kids or you do not, you need to build your circle of support. There will be times when you are going to need help, you are going to need to lean in a little bit more. If you have that, there is absolutely nothing stopping you. When it comes to making financial decisions that will affect my family, I, along with many other men and women in my field, have discovered the value of having a financial adviser by my side. We encourage our own internal staff to seek guidance because, as a company, we recognize the importance of receiving the required financial support while pursuing financial independence. Womenomics is a phrase we use frequently, but it is only through understanding the role women play in the economy that we will be able to think and act differently, making sure first that we have a solid financial strategy in place that will benefit us and our family.

Tony: Absolutely, as somebody once said to me, surround yourself with people you can trust and build trusting relationships.

Thank you so much for the time. It was wonderful talking to you and wonderful to see the impact that people like yourself make to the industry.