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If you ask female financial advisors what they see as the biggest challenges they face in growing their business in 2020, they'll tell you that new or coming regulations could be throwing up roadblocks to that growth.

In fact, according to a survey from Edward Jones, 31 percent take that view—but of course other challenges lie ahead:

• 23 percent point to fee compression
• while 17 percent cite geopolitical uncertainty

Professional development can be key to meeting those challenges and conquering them, and 55 percent say they plan to leverage their firms' resources in their quest to advance. And a quarter see attendance at industry events and conferences as providing necessary professional development.

In their pursuit of new clients and efforts to retain existing ones, they're looking at a range of strategies: While 85 percent believe in the personal relationships they've already forged and plan to leverage existing client relationships or rely on word of mouth for growth, the other 15 percent are looking at executing the following strategies:

• community educational events (7 percent)
• digital marketing (4 percent)
• attending networking events (3 percent)
• advertising in local media and at events (1 percent)

Optimism rules for a little more than half, as 52 percent of respondents say they feel barriers to women's career progression in the financial services industry are coming down and that women have an equal opportunity to succeed in the industry.

But that doesn't mean they don't have some advice for financial firms and the public at large:

• 46 percent said that clear visibility of women in executive leadership positions would have a noticeable impact and help to determine firm-wide policy
• 27 percent said more access to financial classes for high school and college students could steer them toward the financial advisory field

In addition, the importance of mentors—particularly early in a career, although by no means only then—is important to 30 percent.

READ MORE:

• College-educated women overtake men in the workforce
• Pay transparency can help eliminate the wage gap
• There's a lot of opportunity: A Q&A with Amy Evans