I became a financial planner because I believe everyone deserves a trusted advisor who truly listens – and because I met one too many advisors who didn’t.
My Money Story
My relationship with money started young. I grew up watching my parents navigate tight budgets with twins to raise and unexpected expenses to cover. My mom gave us real life experiences early on to help us understand the value of money. She gave my sister and me a clothing budget in middle school, and suddenly we weren’t fighting over purchases. We were learning to prioritize what mattered to us.
We also have some great family lore from my firecracker of a grandmother. Once, when finances were tight, she marched into our local JC Penney with the 20-year-old Fiestaware from her hope chest and insisted on returning it. The store didn’t even have a code for it! “Well, you said I could return it,” she told them, and she wasn’t leaving until they figured it out. My mom was mortified. But MeeMaw got the money they needed! Unapologetic. Industrious. Frugal.
But later, I came to realize that budgeting skills and frugality alone were not enough. I learned that lesson as a college student during the Great Recession when my parents found themselves stuck between two houses – one that they were building and one they sought to sell – as the market crashed. Even with careful planning and diligent saving, they faced impossible choices that we figured out as a family. My parents worked extra jobs and were frugal. My sister and I worked during college and felt grateful for the monthly spending allowance that our parents sent us.
I know now that it was a tough situation and even people with lots of resources would find an experience like that difficult to navigate. But at the time, I knew the budgeting skills I learned as a kid and refined as a college student were not enough to create true financial security and abundance and that I had a lot to learn. I read voraciously to try to figure out these topics for myself.
A Tale of Two Financial Advisors
When my husband and I went looking for a financial advisor in our twenties, I met two very different planners. The first was generous with his time and straightforward with his advice, going above and beyond with guidance, especially once he understood my personal interest in the topic.
The second spent the entire meeting talking to my husband, barely acknowledging me, even though I was clearly the one more interested in financial planning. He implied my future earnings wouldn’t matter much once we had kids anyway. And then he tried to sell us whole life insurance that we absolutely didn’t need.
I left that meeting furious. If this guy could make a living as a financial planner, I certainly could: and I could do it so much better and help even more people along the way.
I continued to read, study, and talk to others. I first became a financial writer, and then eventually became a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® Professional to work with people step by step to navigate their own financial journeys.
When the Student Becomes the Teacher
One of my full circle moments was helping my mom plan her transition into retirement.
After years as a fully dedicated teacher, she was exhausted and ready to be done. We’d sketch out a plan together, and every year, we’d run through the tradeoffs: what it would look like if she quit right then versus working another year. The numbers made it real. We could see exactly what each choice meant, not just theoretically, but in concrete terms.
My mom told me something I’ll never forget: “You gave me hope and made me feel like I had choices.”
Nothing is better than giving your mom hope.
Now that she’s semi-retired, our conversations have evolved. We’re not talking about when she can leave anymore. Instead, we’re talking about all the ways she can enjoy this next phase of life. That’s what this work is really about: helping people move from feeling stuck to having clarity about their options, and then actually living the life they want to live.
The Aligning Wealth Philosophy
Financial planning isn’t about dying with the most money in your bank account. It’s about using your resources to live the life you actually want; both now and in the future.
I work with people who are ready to make intentional choices about their money, when there’s a moment when the spreadsheet stops being enough. You’ve done the right things: saved, invested, built something real. But the questions get harder: When can I retire? How do I help my adult children without jeopardizing my own security? How do I live well off retirement income and still give generously to the causes I care about? How do we navigate long-term care, Medicare, and everything we don’t know is coming?
These are the conversations that light me up: How do we transition your hard earned savings into a sustainable retirement income stream that supports a retirement you are excited about? What does semi-retirement look like when you’re not ready to fully step away? Can you afford to make a bold career transition, or do you need to stay the course?
One of the most rewarding parts of my work is helping accomplished professionals see their full financial picture clearly. I’ve worked with women who managed complex businesses but felt overwhelmed by personal financial strategy. High earners who didn’t realize how much flexibility they’d actually created for themselves. When I help someone understand their options and create a strategic plan that honors their deepest wishes, that’s when I know I’m doing exactly what I’m meant to do.
Everyone deserves to understand their options, their resources, and their choices. And everyone deserves an advisor who sees them as the primary decision-maker in their own life. What matters is that you’re clear about your values, your trade-offs, and your choices.
Twenty years from now, I want my clients to remember me as someone who truly believed in their dreams: not as an empty cheerleader, but as someone who looked at their resources and their intentions and said, “Yes, we can make this work.”
I want my clients to say that I helped them see possibilities they hadn’t considered or didn’t think were in reach: that I ran the numbers on their bold ideas and created a financial architecture that let them make moves with confidence.
Financial planning isn’t a one-time fix. Your life will keep evolving, and your financial strategy should evolve with it. I’m here for all of it: as your thought partner, your strategist, and your believer in what’s possible.
To schedule a brief, no-obligation introductory call, you can find time on my calendar here.
