In his college finance classes and later on as a professional at conferences, it was not uncommon for Chris Browning to be one of only a few people of color in the entire room — if that many.
“I have a new level of respect for the platform I’ve been given, knowing there are impacts of the words I say,” he said. The financial services industry, particularly in jobs that work directly with individuals, is mostly white, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show. Of the 551,000 personal financial advisers in 2019, 82.2% were white, 8.6% were Asian, 6.9% were black and 6.3% were Hispanic. Of the nearly 2 million accountants and auditors, 77.1% were white, 12% Asian, 8.9% Hispanic and 8.5% black. A majority of the 97,000 tax preparers in the country — 77.5% — are white, followed by 16.6% black, 15.
Although clients can find financial advisers who are a right fit for them regardless their race or gender — and vice versa — some people may feel more comfortable with a professional who has a similar background, said Christian Nwasike, principal and managing partner of Practice Management Consultants, a coaching firm in the financial services industry.
Browning echoed this story line. His mother was an accountant, so even though he wasn’t initially interested in finance, he felt it was an attainable job to have. “She was in the business world, it was interesting to her and she was making a good living, so it seemed like an option because I saw the example there,” he said. “Especially in school, you don’t know what you want to do and no idea where you want to go in life. You typically start gravitating toward things you see other people doing.
“We go to the same places to find our candidates and if we are feeling we’re not getting diverse candidates for positions when trying to hire, then going to the same places is not necessarily going to lead to a different result,” she said. If the pool of candidates on those sites are not diverse, the applications won’t be either.
Thats life. Some races are better at math some are better dancers.