CBA Record May-June 2024

was a follow-up of the 2023 program, It’s Time to Own Your Worth, which covered financial independence for women. The 2024 program focused on the continuing challenges that women face related to pay equity and pay transparency. It under scored the fact that women, more than their male counterparts, must accept how their risk of pay inequality over a career span of 40 years can be addressed with effective financial planning. The program stressed how gaining knowledge about achieving financial success can be essen tial to a woman’s overall well-being. In other words, women cannot defer to their partners or spouses for effective financial planning. Not only do women generally outlive men, but they often may be pri marily responsible for their personal and economic well-being. Nicole Herman, Women’s Wealth Marketing Strategist at UBS, led the program discussion about how women’s financial influence is increasing faster than ever before in the U.S. That asser tion was backed by substantial data, but the challenge to that important news is that women appear to have significant difficulty in accepting that in terms of their own financial planning they need to view themselves, regardless of their spou sal or partner status, as the breadwin ners in their homes. Rita Fuimara, UBS Senior Vice President and who serves as the CBA’s 401(k) investment adviser, fol lowed up by observing that it is imperative that despite any compensation inequi ties, women must come to terms with the fact that only they can manage their own

wealth strategies to achieve their goals. She noted that if a woman lawyer is not working with her own investment adviser to plan for her retirement, under the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program Act, Illinois employers with at leave five employees, that have been in business for two or more years, and that do not offer a qualified retirement plan must either begin offering a qualified plan or auto matically enroll their employees into the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program. However, it was Whitney Randolph, UBS Senior Vice President, who was dis positive in her remarks about the defini tive issue that frames the future for women earning compensation in the workplace: it is nonnegotiable that women own their own worth and master the dynamics of financial success and wellness. In other words, women must see themselves as the breadwinners, understanding that eight out of 10 women will be solely responsi ble for their financial well-being at some point in their lives. As such, they need to realize their essential need for financial power and learn how they can change the dynamic of their general reluctance to accept themselves in that role regardless of their spouse or life partner’s contribu tion. Succinctly put, women must commit to taking a seat at the financial table. This trio of powerful multi-generational UBS financial executives, each speaking from her own perspective, professional dis cipline, and experience, reinforced that despite the advances women have made in the workplace, women must accept

that there is no substitute to the social reality that working women, as bread winners, must control their own financial independence. Moving Forward The 2024 WHM Committee, comprising Alexis Crawford Douglas, Gail Eisenberg, Nina Fain, Katie Liss, Lauren Nowak, Kernisha Padilla, and Trisha Rich, worked in close cooperation with Jennifer Byrne, CBA CLE Director, to make sure the month’s programming articulated the state of women lawyers and their well-being. To harmonize with that vision, nation ally renowned executive coach Jacki Dav idoff led a session at Secrets to Self-Advocacy that aimed to help our members deepen their negotiation skills by learning how to define their personal missions in the quest to become successful in their lives. She directed participants in a self-evaluation exercise to see themselves as mission driv ers in their lives and to encourage them to consistently stop on their lives’ paths to assess how they are intentionally working to achieve their goals. In this Exponential Age where the world is changing at the speed of light and being radically influenced by artifi cial intelligence, the CBA WHM Com mittee wants to educate our members to be cognizant of the fact that they alone must take responsibility for their lives and careers to thrive financially and enjoy personal well-being. Those who were unable to attend the live programs can access the recorded versions at learn. chicagobar.org.

WANT MORE INFORMATION? Rita Fuimara, Senior Vice President, UBS; CBA 401(k) investment advisor; rita.fuimara@ubs.com Whitney Randolph, Sr. Vice President, UBS, whitney.randolph@ubs.com Nicole Herman, Women’s Wealth Marketing Strategist, UBS; nicole.herman@ubs.com Sharmili Majmudar, Executive Vice President, Policy, Programs & Research, Women Employed, Inc.; smajmudar@womenemployed.org

Jacki Davidoff, Principal, Davidoff Strategy, Inc.; jacki@davidoff strategy.com Jane Flanagan, Director, Illinois Department of Labor, Jane.Flanagan@illinois.gov

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