Corinne Heijn facilitates the Women's Wealth Matters program, a dedicated space for female impact investors.

Why is the Women's Wealth Matters program so important?

"Because women matter, and so do their values. Professionally, I believe that the inclusive thinking most women collectively learn can be transformed into tremendous value for investing. From a personal perspective, WWM is important because I know from experience how confusing and complicated wealth can be. WWM aims to give women the kind of support network that I myself so desperately needed."

What do you consider the biggest obstacle for women specifically to become impact investors?

"Shame. I personally struggled with this a lot when I first came into money. In Dutch culture, there is so much shame surrounding wealth. We are not supposed to have it, and we are certainly not supposed to talk about it. Especially among wealthy women, this leads to a sense of distance; let the men or the wealth managers handle it."

"Worse still, women are often kindly asked to do charity work or set up foundations instead of being supported to become active investors. Ironically, I find that women, unlike men, don’t really need to be convinced of the benefits of impact investing—we just need to be reminded that we can actually do it. Overcoming shame is a big first step."

How did your impact investing journey go?

"Unfortunately, I came into money in a rather traumatic way, through the untimely death of my father. My finances may have been public, but my struggles were private. I felt completely alone in dealing with the new responsibility of managing this wealth, which was now partly mine. In search of a greater vision for my capital, impact investing enabled me to make inspiring financial choices—choices that embodied my ideals and values. Money is energy—the flow is just as important as the direction of the flow."

Are women different investors than men?

"I don’t think there are major differences in how women or men invest, but I do think there is a big difference in how we become investors, and this shapes our choices. According to a recent study on impact investing, two-thirds of women admitted to not feeling heard or understood by their financial advisor. For me, this highlights the discomfort in the space—we don’t feel like we belong."

"I think our choices are therefore greatly influenced; we become more risk-averse, less proactive, and to some extent even overly cautious about doing anything with our wealth at all. Unfortunately, this isn’t helped by the fact that we don’t create much space to build the confidence we need to become the great investors we naturally are. I’ve even often noticed that women are reluctant to attend women-only events. That’s problematic, because it’s precisely that women-friendly support that builds confidence—in the system, in yourself, and in others."

“Coming together with other women, or people facing the same challenges, can highlight our problems and so it may be confronting, but it also enables us to break through them. Together is much easier than alone. I’ve dedicated the last 25 years of my career to connecting women, because I’ve seen firsthand what can happen when we let go of old judgments and fear. We become magical. So, WWM is not some club to convince women to invest in impact. It’s a safe space, where we welcome each other to the party, and then we have one. Changing the world is fun and it’s high time we join in."

How can WWM help?

"During my journey, I also came to know money as a force for good; something deeply creative. Personally, I have never trusted banks. I have always worked with independent wealth managers. I wanted to be involved and feel like I had choices. When I was able to create that for myself, I realized how important financial independence is. This independence—the ability to make your own financial choices—will not only change the financial world, but also improve the world as a whole. In practice, this means that WWM facilitates the kind of conversations between women that enable them to translate their values into real investments."

If you are interested and a female wealth owner, join our next Women's Wealth Matters session.