Women need to reframe heritage as not just what they remember, but what they choose to plan
The event was part of their flagship three-month #SheOwnsHerSuccess campaign that intends to highlight the invisible codes that women use that drives and defines their success.
There are many unspoken money lessons that are passed down from generation to generation and these can be re-written with the right financial guidance, according to Paul Nixon, head of Behavioural Finance at Momentum Advice.
Nixon was part of the esteemed panel that included financial adviser Janine Horn, Insights lead: Research and Reporting at Momentum Group Mmasechaba Gxolo, as well as Farai Ntuli who is an activist and consultant with Accenture.
According to Gxolo, research from Momentum’s The Success Women Want Report 2025 showed that women focused on the foundational aspect of financial independence and that financial advice was needed to showcase the role of multiple financial goals.
The report states that 68% of women see financial independence as the ultimate marker of success, yet only one in three feel financially secure.
“You know, financial independence can be achieved at any age. Getting financial success, finding a financial adviser can break those habits, and make you feel that you are not worthy of achieving financial achievements and financial success,” said Gxolo. “The question is how do we break those generational ideas about how to handle money, how do we give women the confidence and empowerment to actually make the right decisions and get the right support to get them out of these incompetent bad behaviours that we may see?”
Horn added that she was encouraged in her consultations to see that there was an early awareness when it came to more women seeking financial advice, however understanding your financial history is very crucial in one’s financial planning journey.
“Your financial history is the story behind the money and that is what starts the conversation,” Horn said. “That begins the transformation that can take place when you’re holding a space for empathy with your client and are building this incubation for intimacy, safety, vulnerability. The history also determines a place of intervention so you can coach and rectify alongside building trust. The heritage factor now becomes a history that is not rooted in generational codes looking back, but how do you reframe going forward?”
Ntuli spoke about how young women also inherit negative codes that impact how they show up in the workplace and how there is a confidence gap that needs to be built up. And while the report shows that 81% of women view confidence as a key marker of success, 39% of them still experience self-doubt. Ntuli elaborated on how this gap can show up in practical terms.
“So, women start a first job, and they don't talk about money. The moment they get an offer, they accept it. And of course, one of the codes there is gratitude,” said Ntuli. “So, you're like, I'm so grateful for this role, even if they're underpaying you, but you don't even know because you don't talk about money. You don't do peer benchmarking. You then navigate through the opportunity, not seeking mentorship, because you're told that you should be resilient as you go through life.”
Added Ntuli: “And so I think that there are a lot of codes that we've inherited, some negative, some positive. But a lot of the negative ones are affecting how women progress in the workplace. And I think that we must be intentional about how we change that and create safe spaces to change that.”
With only 9% of households having a professional accredited adviser, Horn cautioned that while emerging technology like AI shouldn’t be seen as a competitor with financial advice but rather a companion.
“Advice is the wisdom to AI,” said Horn. “AI is an enabler of information; it's not advice versus AI. It is advice plus AI. It's the pace, it's the implementation assistance. The advice role in that is the interpretation. It gives you the adjustment, analysis, the empathy you need, give you the confidence and being an accountability partner.”
Nixon said AI needs to be treated akin to the role VAR (video assistant referee) plays in football. It should be treated as another perspective but not giving the ultimate word. The language model is also limited in truly understanding you and your context.
“You need to know yourself to grow yourself,” said Nixon. “We need to start understanding our own parts in the financial decisions that we make. Yes, we inherit stuff from our parents. There's some stuff that's good. There's some stuff that's not so good. It's part of our DNA. But that doesn't mean we can't change it.”