The Woman Managing $1 Billion: The Gender Wealth Gap No One Talks About

Women are great savers, but 70% of their money sits in cash, while it has to last longer because women live longer. Dr. Sylvia Kwan has built her career closing that gap.

Dr. Sylvia Kwan joins Laurie McGraw on Inspiring Women for a conversation about money, power, and why the financial industry has been quietly failing women for decades.

Sylvia is the CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Ellevest, a women-founded, women-led investment advisory firm dedicated to closing the gender wealth gap. The firm has grown to 3 million members and manages over $1 billion in assets.

Her path was not obvious. She studied applied mathematics and computer science at Brown University, planning a career in technology, before a final rotation in a quantitative investment group changed everything. She went on to earn a PhD in engineering-economic systems at Stanford, where her dissertation on how social interaction and investor behavior shape markets became one of the earliest works in behavioral finance. As Sylvia and Laurie discovered on the episode, they both share roots in Providence.

Sylvia took the reins as sole CEO after succeeding Ellevest founder Sallie Krawcheck, and this episode goes deep on what she has built and where the industry is heading. She walks through the first-of-its-kind gender-aware investing algorithm she created, built on the real data of women's lives: salaries that peak roughly 15 years earlier than men's, career breaks, and longer lifespans.

She also makes the case for "wealthcare," her term for shifting financial services away from the assumption that more is always better and toward quality of life, peace of mind, and goals that actually matter to a client. Plus the strategic decision to move Ellevest's digital investing business to Betterment so the firm could focus on private wealth and financial planning, and how she is preparing women for the $124 trillion great wealth transfer now underway.

TOPICS COVERED

- Why 70% of women's portfolios sit in cash and what it costs them

- The gender wealth gap and why women are not set up for financial success the way men are

- Building the first gender-aware investing algorithm

- Why women's salaries peak 15 years earlier and why career breaks cost far more than lost salary

- "Wealthcare" and measuring success by quality of life, not just returns

- The $124 trillion great wealth transfer and who is prepared for it

- Why 86% of widows fire their financial advisor within a year

- Leading Ellevest through a major leadership transition

- Investing for both returns and impact

- Her one piece of advice for women: don't wait, and don't delegate

Dr. Sylvia Kwan's advice to every woman watching: don't wait to claim your financial power, and don't fully delegate it. Get engaged, stay informed, and know what your money is doing.

Inspiring Women is hosted by Laurie McGraw, spotlighting the women leaders shaping business, healthcare, and beyond.