Graduate student Meg Shepard wants to become a Certified Financial Planner, but Shepard knows making it in the male-dominated industry of financial planning will not be easy.

“Right now, only 20 percent of financial planners are women,” she said. To help encourage women to become financial planners, Shepard organized “The Woman’s Business Model: A Women’s Panel”, a panel featuring some of the top female financial planners in the industry.

“All of these panelists have done some amazing things in the industry and will be there to answer any questions students may have about financial planning,” Shepard said.

Alden Mergenthal, a senior majoring in Family Financial Planning, said Shepard has gone above and beyond in organizing this event.

“This was all of Meg’s doing,” said Mergenthal, who also serves as president of the Student Financial Planning Program at the University.

“I think this is an excellent opportunity to see a woman’s perspective in a male dominated field,” said Mergenthal. “I mean, I don’t play golf, or do other things like that, but I would still like to move up in the industry. I think these panelists know just how to go about doing that.”

One of the panelists, Laura LaTourette, a self-made entrepreneur and Certified Financial Planner (CFP), said the panel will focus on the industry of financial planning and women in the industry.

“We will be talking about how it’s like coming into the industry and being a woman. This panel is for people interested in the business, who have strengths like ours, but never really thought about financial planning,” LaTourette said.

LaTourette said financial planning is a male dominated industry today, because of misconceptions from the past.

“Before men were seen as the financial planners of the home and women were not allowed to even handle women,” she said. “Today, 52 percent of adult women are single and are handling their own money.”

LaTourette launched her own financial life planning and wealth management firm, the North Georgia Wealth Management Group, in 1998.

She said she is more of a life planner than a financial consultant for clients.

“I look at the person as a whole, not just their finances.

The more you understand about people and how they see money, the more you understand their spending habits and make their money work for them,” LaTourette said.

LaTourette said she believes women make good financial planners because they have the intuition necessary to analyze people’s relationship to money.

Shepard said all four of the panelists have served in various capacities in the industry and offer a widespread view of the industry.

Elizabeth Jetton, a CFP since 1991, is former president of the national Financial Planning Association and has been featured on many television shows.

Stephanie Lang, also a CFP, is a University alumna now working as a senior investment analyst at Homrich Berg, a $1.7 billion firm. Amanda Howerton served as a research assistant at the University and also works at Homrich Berg.

The Women’s Panel will take place today at Dawson Hall. Registration begins at 5:30 p.m.