Two-thirds of husbands in Indian ultra high net worth individuals (UHNI) family offices did not consult their spouses to make investment decisions, according to a report by Equirus Wealth Management and Family Office released on October 13.
The report, based on a qualitative study, found that just about 30 per cent of men in the nearly 50 female to 70 members of the UHNI families interviewed for the study consulted their spouses for financial decisions. This is more prominent in big-ticket investments and private-market opportunities.
“Participation is universal; direct involvement in capital allocation is far less common. The challenge is not simply to bring women into the conversation, but to give them the authority, experience and decision-making framework to influence how capital is deployed,” Equirus said in its report.
Manisha Gudka, Founder, Sapientia Family Office Solutions, said, “Structured family offices work to specific investment mandates, documented in an investment policy statement. Among the business families I have advised, in some, women are invited welcome to express their views on investment decisions. In others, women were not consulted, either because they lacked experience or exposure or because they themselves did not want to get into the detail. Each family is different.”
Most of the women interviewed in the study, said that they were professionals first. They were professionals in medicine, technology, finance, media or enterprise long before taking on a more active role in managing wealth.
Family events
About 40 per cent of the women, came into managing the family wealth because of a major family event like death of the head of the family, separation, capital loss or inheritance, which means that women taking over the family office management was not a natural choice of women in these ultra rich families, who were Equirus’ clients.
The rest of them were either introduced by parent or in-laws into family office or were starting to invest from their own income.
The reduced participation of women in family business becomes more prominent when looked at the gap between involvement and authority over decision making. The study found that all women were informed of making family investment decisions, but only 70 per cent of them had authority over the portfolio.