Two curiosities and four career criteria led me to financial planning:

First, when I was working in an orchestra office, processing thousand-dollar contributions, I got very curious about how people made the decision to donate money to a charitable cause rather than, say, spend money on a weekend away, dinners out, or saving for retirement. What is it that leads individuals to make philanthropic decisions with their money?

Second, a small inheritance from my grandparents had me seeking advice. While it wasn’t a “lot” of money by the standards of my current profession, it was a lot of money for me, and I was looking for guidance on how to use it to set myself up for success. I spoke to a financial advisor at a large broker dealer, someone who worked on a commission basis, who told me “you have to buy a house – house prices only go up.” Unfortunately, that one size fits all advice ended up not being a financially optimal choice. I went back to the advisor and asked “okay, now what should I do to continue down the path to financial success?” and I never heard back from her. She didn’t have the incentives in her business model to help me. So I got curious, and I wondered: “Is there a business model out there that aligns the incentives of financial advisors with the needs of not-rich-yet clients seeking sound advice?”

My four criteria for a career were that I had to find a path on which:

1. I would never stop learning.

2. I would have flexibility to honor my needs and those of my family.

3. I could work anywhere (my husband’s career as an economics professor would dictate where we lived).

4. I would have the resources to some day be a writer of philanthropic checks.

When I found the profession of fee-for-service financial planning, I found my professional home. And it is at conferences of like-minded advisors that I find my professional family reunions. The “bad” one size fits all advice from our first financial advisor ended up being the catalyst that led me to one of the best financial decisions I've ever made – my career change from music to financial planning.

First, don’t enter the housing market at the peak of a housing bubble if you know you’ll be moving in the next few years.

Second, there is no such thing as a “normal” month, there will always be “One Time Expenses That Surprise Us” (we still talk about OTETSUs), and we would have less stress if we planned ahead for the expected and unexpected “non-normal” expenses, like car insurance, Christmas shopping, and travel.

Third, the more you know, the easier it is to make decisions with confidence. Having an understanding of what is most important to you helps, too. This is why the tagline for my first RIA, Walsh Financial Planning, was “Knowledge. Understanding. Confidence.” With these three things, finance is demystified.

We enjoy them as people! They have interesting lives, interesting ideas, and a zest for life. Whether they’re traveling regularly, pursuing ambitious careers, or delighting in their grandchildren, they find joy.

This one is easy: our clients!

Hearing about their life journeys and helping to alleviate the financial stress around those journeys gives me great satisfaction and fulfillment.

I start by meeting them where they are – whether that requires diving right into the data, hearing their money histories, or drawing analogies to their current passions, I strive to see them fully as they are right now. And then I work to understand what success looks like for them: both on the microscale of the interaction and on the macroscale of their lives. Typically success is achieved one step at a time, rarely does it involve sweeping changes, so I help the uncomfortable client feel just a *little* more comfortable, and the anxious client feel a *little* more confident.

My favorite words to hear as I seek to understand a client are “that’s a good question…” And my favorite words to hear at the end of a conversation with a client are “I feel better.” I’ve had a client tell me “you remind me of Brene Brown,” and “you are a nurturer of possibilities.” That memorable praise tells me that I’ve found my calling.

I dream of building a financial home that can meet the need for proactive planning, financial education, and delegated investment management and account servicing, regardless of the client’s current level of wealth or other characteristics.

I also dream of a collaborative workplace that emphasizes mentoring, teamwork, and leaning in to the curiosities and passions that make work joyful and fulfilling.

One of the greatest challenges is helping find clients the personalized and professional service they deserve in a field where there is a lot of confusion about who is a salesperson versus an advisor, leading to a low level of trust.

The current tight labor market is a further challenge – and developing our workforce to look more like the diverse prospective clients we have – is both a major issue to be solved and a great opportunity for growth.

Innovation in financial technology (Fin Tech) allows us to develop new service models that will allow fee-for-service financial planning to reach clients of more modest means than the traditional financial planning client.