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The Next Generation of Financial Advisors | Karissa Campbell

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How to reach Karissa Campbell: smartprofinancial.com/pro/karissa-campbell-2/


In this episode, Rick sits down with Financial Advisor, Karissa Campbell CFP®, to talk about why women often make great investors and what everyone can learn from their approach to money.
They discuss why investing isn't just about picking the right stocks, but about having a financial plan that aligns with your values, helps you make better decisions, and gives you confidence for the future. Karissa also shares why starting early matters, how younger advisors are bringing a fresh perspective to financial planning, and why so many people lose track of old 401(k)s and other retirement accounts.
Whether you're just getting started, feeling overwhelmed by your finances, or wondering if it's time to work with a financial advisor, this conversation will help you think differently about building wealth and creating a life you actually want to live.
In this episode, you'll learn:
• Why women often outperform men as long-term investors
• How a financial plan can help you make better decisions
• Why your money should reflect your values
• The importance of finding old 401(k)s and retirement accounts
• Why starting early can make such a big difference
• How to prepare financially - and emotionally - for retirement
If you've ever wondered whether you're "behind" with money or how to invest with more confidence, this episode is for you.
Follow SmartPro Financial: 
💼 Rick Godfrey II's LinkedIn ⮕ linkedin.com/in/rick-godfrey-ii 
📷 Instagram ⮕ instagram.com/smartprofinancial 
👥 Facebook ⮕ facebook.com/smartprofinancial
🏆Connect with a SmartPro Advisor ⮕ smartprofinancial.com/find-a-pro

Reach Karissa Campbell: 
🌐 Website ⮕ smartprofinancial.com/pro/karissa-campbell-2/

Discussions in this show are for entertainment and educational purposes only and should not be construed as specific recommendations or investment advice. Always consult with your investment professional before making important investment decisions. Securities offered through Registered Representatives of Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., a broker/dealer, member FINRA/SIPC.
Advisory services through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisor. Cambridge and SmartPro Financial are not affiliated.

#SmartProRadio #FinancialFreedom #financialadvisor #finances #womeninvestors

SPEAKER_00

Discussions in this show are for entertainment and educational purposes only and should not be construed as specific recommendations or investment advice. Always consult with your investment professional before making important investment decisions. Securities offered through registered representatives of Cambridge Investment Research Incorporated, a broker dealer, member FINRA SIPC, advisory services through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Incorporated, a registered investment advisor. Cambridge and SmartPro Financial are not affiliated. Client stories may not be representative of the experience of other customers and are no guarantee of future performance or success.

SPEAKER_04

Hey everyone, welcome back to SmartPro Radio, where we love people and like finance. I'm really excited about our conversation today because we're joined by Smart Pro Advisor Carissa Campbell. I want to read a couple things about you real quick so our audience knows. You have a team that is managing right now over $100 million of assets here at SmartPro. You're a CFP and you're also a Ramsey Smart Vester. So you have a lot going on, a lot of wisdom to bring. And the reason I'm excited not only to have you here, because of your experience that you've had in the industry and how much you've grown in relatively a quick amount of time, around six years from starting your career to where you're at right now. But we're we're going to talk about a few questions that we've not brought up on this podcast before. And so I want to get into the first one. The average age right now in the industry of an advisor, this is a big topic because our industry is not growing. It's really not. It's it's kind of growing through mergers and acquisitions. There's not a lot of new people being brought into the financial world when it comes to what we do. We're sitting with people at the kitchen table talking about their finances. Yes. So the average age right now in the United States, six years old. You and I are sitting here in our 30s.

SPEAKER_03

We're young.

SPEAKER_04

We're young in this in this in the financial world. And so my question for you is being someone that's newer to the industry, relatively speaking, even though it's been six plus years, what advantages do you think that you get? What are the benefits that maybe clients are getting from working with somebody who's younger in the industry?

SPEAKER_03

There's a lot to unpack here for sure. I know there have been a lot of shifts in the industry, like you're talking about, Rick. And I think that we're here to solve for future and not just the immediate needs that clients have. And this includes a lot of changes and ongoing industry initiatives. So we've got tax law changes, we've got new retirement, secure 2.0, all of these things are constantly evolving. And I think it really takes a fresh perspective when you're working with a younger. I love that we get to be called young in our business to work with a younger advisor. And then also there's there's a strong sense of relatability and practicality to working with someone in, you know, our age range. And the reason for that is we're really in tune with a lot of different generations, or kind of sandwiched, if you think of it that way, between like Gen Z and then Gen X and Baby Boomer, Silent Gen. And in addition to that, you know, everybody, each generation or each perspective is going to have its own strengths. And I would say having that acuity and having that acumen with technology and embracing technology is really key and pivotal being a younger advisor. And the other aspect is constantly evolving and educating ourselves because you can't stay stagnant in this industry. And that's why I've prioritized education. And, you know, it wasn't that long ago that I was paying off my student debt. So, like I get it, you know, I get what other people are going through. We see a lot of shifts in family dynamics. We have a lot of modern fine family dynamics that are definitely more relevant in today's world. And my self-understanding what it's like to plan for caring for a parent or, you know, work towards retirement, be on your own with retirement planning too. This is a relatively new thing that we're not carried by pensions anymore. Like we have to do a lot of our own planning, and that's a huge shift. And this is something that I definitely have my finger on the pulse of.

SPEAKER_04

So you you mentioned uh generational thing. And I think you and I are both right in the middle of that millennial generation, right? Like if you had to put a name on it, that that's what we that's where we sit. Did you have any financial, I would say, uh, event or thing that happened that you look back on? And maybe not personal, just in general. Like everyone's got their something in each generation that that marks them. I think about my grandparents, my great-grandparents, where it was the Great Depression. And you look at things that they did in life, and you're going, oh my goodness, that's an effect of what you live through and what you saw. Do you feel like there's anything with our generation that you go, oh, that event shaped how I view money or planning or career?

SPEAKER_03

There are a lot of events that come to mind, but I would say top of mind is technology. And we've taken a front seat to the evolution of smartphones and AI and like unlimited resources out there. And that can actually be detrimental in a way.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, I agree.

SPEAKER_03

And we've talked about this a lot at SmartPro how there's just a lot of information, a lot of really bad information out there, like TikTok advisors and people who have an opinion of this and that, and these get rich quick schemes. And these are all things that in our industry we see through and we're like, oh gosh, this is the information that's out there. Uh, the other part I would say that's generational is I think that there's a certain open-mindedness to understanding emotional balance and like emotional intelligence. And I think, you know, previous generations have been a little more closed off to that.

SPEAKER_01

Sure.

SPEAKER_03

And we see this even with the newer generations, they're definitely more about work-life balance than you could see in like baby boomers or Gen X. So it's a really interesting lens to see things through.

SPEAKER_04

The technology uh question that you brought up and and the advantages and the disadvantages, I think, are on display all the time. You know, we're we're in the age of a whole new technology boom right now with artificial intelligence, but I think back of just information. Like information is everywhere.

SPEAKER_02

Sure.

SPEAKER_04

And, you know, I think about about around a year ago, kind of this time where the thing that was in the news was tariffs. It was everywhere. And people were like, what is that? What does that mean? What's why are we doing it? What's the advantage? What's the disadvantage? I don't really understand a whole lot. And I remember distinctly, because I made screenshots on my phone of it, just so I remember I captured it in time. And I remember distinctly, we actually recorded an episode with a gentleman who wrote the actual trade policy for the US government, like was part of that process, knew this stuff inside and out. And wow, yes, and right, and I look at the amount of of listeners and views that had, which was real information, it was timely, it was accurate, and it came from a vantage point of hey, I have actual information to share that's valuable. And at that same moment, I remember looking and taking screenshots of videos of uh influencers, I guess you would call them, um on YouTube or different places, and they would have a million, two million views in a few days, and all of it would be fear-based. It would be the end is near, terrorists are going to destroy everything. Life as you know it is over. And it would have somebody's, you know, uh, somebody that you maybe know in finance, it'd be a picture of their face and this doom kind of uh doomerism, titles and and thought to it. And you go, oh my goodness. And that's so much of the information that people consume and get. And it's that technology side, I think it's a it's a beautiful thing when it works correctly.

SPEAKER_03

Blessing and a curse.

SPEAKER_04

But you have to know how to how to live in it and then maneuver within it of what's real and what's not. So I think that point is is a strong one.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, how to harness that. It's a superpower if you think of it, and it could be used for evil as well as for good. I think another component of you know, our generation of younger advisors is that we're really good at coaching. And we have to be good at coaching because, like you said, there's all this messaging out there that is gonna derail a plan or just keep get people off track or off focus. And part of this, you know, I don't know if we want to call ourselves like next-gen advisors, but part of that whole next-gen advisor is understanding how to pivot. And then also there's a generational wealth component. And we a lot of our clients are either in their earning years or going into retirement. And we're gonna be here for all of that. We're gonna we're gonna be witness to, we're gonna be partnered to all of these life changes and evolution and actually get them through to and through retirement, I like to say.

SPEAKER_04

No, that's that's really an interesting perspective because you look at, you know, averages can be misleading because there's obviously, you know, very young advisors, there's people that just go, I'm never gonna retire. And there's, I mean, there I know advisors that are in their 80s and mid-80s that are still in business, right? And the interesting thing when you look at that is at SmartPro, the average age of an advisor is around 40, industry average in the 60s, and you think, man, how many people are gonna be retiring as an advisor while their clients are also retiring? And the last thing you want as a client is to go, oh my goodness, I'm in, I I have made it to this point. Now I'm in an area where I have no margin really for error, right? My my the plan is we're right there, yep, and the person that's guiding me has left. And that's something I don't think people think enough about of what's the longevity of the person I'm working with. Like, how long are they gonna be in this business? So I'm not going, man, what do I do now when I'm retired?

SPEAKER_03

Exactly. And if we're following our own advice, ideally we're retiring. And that's a really good point you bring up because we see just statistically, there's a lot of cognitive decline as we age. It's inevitable. We do everything we can to stay healthy and keep our minds sharp. But you don't want to have to go through the rigmarole of trying to find a new advisor and try to find that trusted partner when you're in your 70s or 80s or in those later years of retirement. You know, we also, the industry retirement statistics are pretty jarring. It's gonna, I think it's around 40 to 50 percent of current financial advisors are retiring in the next 10 years. I know there's different iterations of that statistic, but I think it's actually a little bit of a panic button moment for our industry.

SPEAKER_04

I think so.

SPEAKER_03

What are we gonna do to replace you know that talent?

SPEAKER_04

I have not attended a uh a conference that it's not been brought up of hey, who are you bringing in? Who are you training, who are you bringing into the industry? Because there is a problem where companies themselves do not know how do I how do I train somebody, how do I show them in six years, go from I'm learning something new to I'm I'm managing a hundred million dollars in assets and have the skill set in that short period of a time. Like most firms do not know how to do that.

SPEAKER_03

Right.

SPEAKER_04

And they and they and they're they're looking now, going, oh my goodness, that panic button button has been pressed, and it's across the industry.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04

So you mentioned uh something earlier, you talked about planning, and you've really prioritized that in your business. So you're a CFP. Can you explain what that actually means?

SPEAKER_03

A CFP is a certified financial planner, and I I consider this to be the gold standard in the financial planning industry. And the reason for that is it there are a few obstacles you have to go get through to achieve this designation, but it is a designation that shows that you have really put in a lot of time and effort and education to understanding the nuances of financial planning, and there are pillars of financial planning, and it really trains you to look at the whole big picture. Yeah. And it you have to have a bachelor's degree, you have to have three at least three years of practical industry experience, and then of course have to go through, you know, college-level coursework. And then I went on to get my master's degree beyond that just because I was already more than halfway there just from getting the CFP credential. Okay.

SPEAKER_04

So I the question I would say, and this might sound like one that you're like, well, yeah, but not every advisor does, and most people's as clients maybe not even had this experience, but why does having a financial plan matter?

SPEAKER_03

Having a financial plan is instrumental to success. You could say this about pretty much anything in life. So finance is not different. We really want to make sure that we have clarity in where we're going. And then prioritizing planning also helps us behave well when things get chaotic. And that's key too, because that can derail, you know, anything that you have going on in your life is you have major life events, and we're all gonna bear witness to major life events. Let's face it. Nobody gets out of life without having, you know, death or divorce or illness, you know, all of those, all of those things. So this creates a baseline that you can return to uh when things, when the the boat gets rocked, essentially.

SPEAKER_04

No, that's interesting because that really leans into behavioral finance, which is something we talk about a lot, right? Like we think about um, and and one thing that that Ramsey and his team say quite often, right, because you're also a Ramsey Smart Vestor pro. So you know this language is that it's 80% behavioral, 20% head knowledge. And I think that I think a lot of people think that the role of an advisor is nothing more than rates of return, spreadsheet, you know, money here, money here. And the actual work that really matters, like that's important, but the work that really matters is what you just said. What's your plan? And how does that keep you knitted together so that when adversity and things happen, the news cycle, like whatever is gonna derail that, going back to our conversation a minute ago about tariffs last year, like how many people are going, oh my goodness, I have to, I have to make some sort of jarring change in my investment plan. But if you please don't, yeah, right, but if you have a plan and you follow it, you know, no, no, these things are gonna happen. This has always happened historically, whether it's tariffs or whatever the thing may be, there's always been something. And there always will be more things that pop up and happen. But the plan is what keeps you together, right?

SPEAKER_03

Right? It's your glue.

SPEAKER_04

It is. And so I think that for most people, when they think about working with an advisor, they have to go, okay, what's the plan we're gonna build? What's the plan we're gonna build? I think about personal finance. And when someone's trying to get out of debt, they're trying to make moves on their personal finance. The first thing that most people need to start doing is, okay, what's your budget? Where's your money actually going? Like, what are you doing to change that behavior in your finances so you can make headway somewhere? It's the same thing with long-term investing. And most people go, no, I just have my forum, okay, add money here and there. I don't really look at it, don't think about it, but what's the plan behind why you're adding money? Are you adding enough? Are you doing the right things? Is there more that you need to do? Are you thinking about all the other aspects of finances? And so most people don't. So, my question for you would be what are some things that you prioritize when you sit down with a client and you're going, okay, I understand what you may think I do. Right. But here's what I actually do, and here's the value that you're gonna get from that.

SPEAKER_03

Along those lines, a lot of people are unconscious when it comes to planning. And I like to use that term unconscious because it really paints the picture of completely not engaged. A lot of people tend to have money avoidance. And so what we're doing when we're even sitting down for financial planning is we are taking the step in the direction to figure out, like you said, where we're going, but also facing like having that honesty with yourself about why we're doing this. And then a lot of people say, I'm behind, or you know, I'm I should have started a long time ago. And you're not behind, you're just at a different starting point. That's how I like to reframe it is we're now, we're now starting. We need to get organized. And it's usually the first thing. And it can start with, I know in as a Smart Master Pro, we work with baby steps and they're phenomenal because it really guides people. I like to think of even micro baby steps and just getting some little task done.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

A lot of times we feel overwhelmed. So sitting down with a financial planner is really like sitting down with a coach. You know, we're not gonna go run a marathon. We're gonna basically start with let's gather some documents. Let's just gather what we're working with, see what our baseline is. You would be astounded how many people have money out there that they don't even know they have. Like I'm sure you encounter that all the time. I I actually recently uh was working with a client who um found, you know, another $70,000. And it was great. And they were thrilled, of course. But just finding that organization and making sure that we're living, we're living in the moment, yes. And we want to be intentional with the way we live our lives, but we also want to be intentional for the future. And our society is constantly perpetuating the idea of more and more experiences and more consumerism. And this is detrimental because we need to consider what the future, the future is gonna sneak up on us eventually.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So you want to sneak up on your future, and you can do that by planning. And we're not, we're not trying to postpone, you know, all of the things that we value now. We just want to make sure that we understand that we're gonna get old eventually. There's I like to frame things along the lines of human capital. And when you're young, your net worth is oftentimes negative, right? Like we're paying off debt or we're, you know, just trying to find our way. And as you get older, what diminishes is your human capital, and that's your ability to earn. And so when you're young, you are full of energy or full of this ability to make money, and eventually that goes away. And a lot of times you don't control when that happens. And I think people think, oh, I'll just work longer, I'll work more, or you know, I'll just, you know, I'm not gonna retire at 65, I'm gonna retire at 70. A lot of times you're not making those decisions. That's right. Your body is, or your family is.

SPEAKER_04

No, I think that's that's a really important point. I let me ask you a question on that. If somebody's listening and they hear you say that and they're going, well, you know, I'm I'm just I'm living in the moment right now, I'm gonna enjoy life. Like, how is how do you reframe it, Trigo? That's not what you just explained isn't a scarcity mindset of like, oh my goodness, you can't spend any money, you can't do anything right now because at some point your ability to earn income is going to stop. And you don't, like you mentioned, sometimes you don't get determined when that is. It could be a health issue, it could be some sort, something out of your control, and you don't know when that is. Sometimes it doesn't align with your perfect, you know, idea of, hey, at 67, at 62, at 60, whatever it may be, you know, I'm going to stop working at that point. And somebody's in their 40s thinking that or 30s, thinking that or 20s. How do you reframe it to go, having a having the plan and and making sure that you're um thoughtful about that isn't the same as being scared, going, oh my goodness, I have to hold on to everything so I can't have an open hand when it comes to money, a loose grip on it. It has to be something that I just I I every penny I'm pulling in, I have to have the scarcity mindset. How do you reframe that if somebody heard that?

SPEAKER_03

That's a good point because we don't want to be in this industry where if you buy the latte, that's gonna derail your plan. That's not the case. We want to look at it as you have to have buy-in. You have to have buy-in in in order to understand why you're doing what you're doing. And if that is motivated by generosity or if that's motivated by financial peace, or just having that feeling of I've got my finances in order. It's not just about saving money, it's also about making sure that we have the right insurances in place, making sure that we have the right estate plan. There are a lot of elements that people want to think of as we need to pinch pennies and we need to make you feel bad that you're not doing the right things. I have, I had a meeting uh a couple weeks ago, and it was just the client, uh, the clients were very grateful that we brought up budgeting. And it was just something that they were struggling with and they didn't understand why. And so for me to just have that conversation with them as like a a neutral third party and be like, Hey, like what's going on here? And it was a bit of a wake up call because they Realized that, you know, they they could, they had extra money in their cash flow. And they just needed somebody to come in and point it out and have that conversation. So there's a lot of ways that we can inspire hope. And sometimes that's just bringing to the table some ideas and having the conversation and facing it and having that buy-in.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Having that visualization of what financial freedom looks like for you. We can't, it's very difficult for young people, especially to visualize themselves in the future and understand like I'm going to be 60 or 70 years old, God willing, someday, right? And that is challenging to find that that why of what we're doing in a financial plan or what we're doing in a retirement plan. And I think having really specific, colorful goals is a really good way to motivate.

SPEAKER_04

I agree. Yeah. I think if you think about, you know, when somebody reaches out and they say, okay, I need, I need help. I need help with my finances. There's usually a pain point or something that's happening that's making that occur. And one of the things that's really important to do is to paint what is the desired future that you want. And I like that that terminology because I think a lot of people do struggle going, oh my goodness. I can think of myself right now. I can think of the problems that I have right now, I can think of the life around me, but what is that going to look like in 20 years and 30 years? And the human brain's really, it's really hard to do that. It's very difficult. It almost looks at somebody in the future and says, Oh, that's that's future me, right? And and disassociate. That's a different, that's a different thing entirely. And so planning for 30 years in the future becomes incredibly difficult. We know in and finance just, oh my goodness, the sooner you start, how much more benefit you can have long term. You go back to some of those studies of somebody that adds money to a Roth IRA from 18 to 27, look at the amount of money you have versus somebody starting at 27 or 30 and how much more work they have to do, how much more money you have to put in to have the same outcomes, you know, potentially over time. And it's amazing to think, oh my goodness, if you can get a plan early, and it's really never too early to start that process, the benefits you can have long term are amazing.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely tremendous. We all wish we had started sooner.

SPEAKER_04

Yes.

SPEAKER_03

Myself included, right? I mean, I'm no stranger to that. I think one of one of my favorite quotes about or motivating quotes about financial planning is uh by Morgan Housel. And it's that the highest dividend money pays is the ability to control your time. To me, that was inspirational because what else is there besides time? And that time can be spent well. It can be spent with your family, it could be spent on your health and exercising and pursuing hobbies. And that's the other component of financial planning. There's a softer side of it because we get to the stage of retirement and it's actually not really talked about that much, but there is a certain level of how are you going to handle your retirement in a purpose way, how are you in a purposeful way? How are you going to spend your time? Because you go from your identity being wrapped up in uh, you know, being a doctor or being, you know, a financial planner. And what do you do at that stage when that network goes away? And those are some of the softer retirement skills that I like to cultivate or work with clients on and ask those deeper questions. Where are we volunteering? How are we, how are we going to spend our week in retirement? And, you know, and how are we going to force you to spend money? Some people really struggle to spend money because they've they're they have the mind shift, they have to have the mind shift of going from accrual to spending. And that can be a really hard mind shift as well.

SPEAKER_04

So you mentioned something a few moments ago that I I know that somebody listening is going to go, what? How does somebody lose $70,000? How? Like, where does that like if somebody right now is going, oh my goodness, I hope I'm not that person, or maybe they're going, I hope I am that person.

SPEAKER_03

Love that, right?

SPEAKER_04

But where do you see that occurring?

SPEAKER_03

I see that occurring more often than you would think. And we have, if you think about how much, I want to say it's billions of trillions of dollars of qualified like 401k, 403B money that is abandoned or orphaned. Yeah. And it goes to the government, it goes to the government, basically, if you don't claim it. And I would say that I I find that, and it's a beautiful thing to find that because you say this is the value of working on a plan, is that we're getting organized.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And you'd be surprised how, and it's not even that people are people are really brilliant, they're really intelligent and they're really good at what they do. They just may not have the time or capacity. Life goes by so fast. And you have family obligations and work obligations and you know, all the crises that come with all of that. And to engage with money can be an obstacle in itself.

SPEAKER_01

Sure.

SPEAKER_03

If you ask people how much money is in your bank account right now, I would say probably at least two-thirds wouldn't know the answer to that.

SPEAKER_04

Hey, if you've been listening for a while, you know that we care about doing things the right way and helping people make choices that truly matter. But here's the thing, you don't have to do it alone. At Smart Pro Financial, we build a custom step-by-step plan that has the potential to help you today, but also guides you into the future you're hoping for. We use Ramsey-inspired investment models so your money's invested the same way the Ramsey team talks about. And get this, there's no account minimums because we believe that everyone deserves trustworthy financial advice no matter where they're starting. If you're ready to get started, then click the link below to meet with a smart pro financial professional today. You know, you see it a lot of times. People have old 401ks like you mentioned from, oh yeah, I forgot about that. I never did anything with that from you know, three jobs ago. Or I opened that Roth IRA and put, you know, $5,000 in it once and forgot about it. Right. And it's been sitting out there for 10 years.

SPEAKER_03

Sometimes that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_04

It can be a really great thing, but at the same time, you go, man, you don't want to be the person that's so disorganized, you don't even know where your own money is. And the last thing you want to do, y'all, we give enough money to the government, you want to give more to come on now. So you've probably mentioned a few of these things in our conversation, but what are three ways that financial plans really can impact a client positively?

SPEAKER_03

Sure. I love three naming three things because that's all we can remember. Three things. So three things or three ways that a financial plan can add value. Number one is your money can be aligned with your values. And that goes back to everything we've already said, in the sense that we want our money to have purpose and have a job. And we want to make sure our values are in alignment with that. That makes it easier to stick to a plan. And then the plan itself informs those values. So it goes back and forth. It's it's a it's a circle. I like to think of money as funded contentment. And what brings you contentment could be a myriad of things, and that's where that plan comes into place of why are we doing this? The second value add would be just that in decision-making improvement, having that baseline and that framework. If we see this in sports, you train, you work really hard, and you're out there on the field and something goes wrong, something you didn't plan for, or something, you know, your opponent does something, or you're you're, you know, does something you didn't anticipate or you didn't foresee. You have that framework of that muscle memory that you fall back on. And that's really what a plan does. So when the market shakes you up, or tariffs or news headlines, or new um financial investing products that aren't investments at all, you know, these types of things.

SPEAKER_04

That happens.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, exactly, all the time. So that actually helps us come back to the framework and keeps us stable and keeps us on track. And then the last that I would consider the most important value add to having a financial plan is peace of mind.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And that doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to be a rosy introductory like conversation, but it does mean that you have that honesty with yourself of what your starting point is. And then so many times I meet with clients and they at the end of the meeting say, Oh, I feel so much better now.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And you can actually physically see the weight of their shoulders fall down and see that release of knowing, hey, you know what? Maybe I'm not that bad off. Or I've taken the step in the right direction to have a plan and have that clarity. Yes.

SPEAKER_04

So I'm gonna read out a few statistics for you because I think it's a it's important for people to have an understanding here. So you're a CFP, 23% or 24% now of people that have the CFP are female advisors. People that have the series 65, which is the license that people use the word fiduciary for, or to say I'm a financial advisor, a financial planner, generally that's the license they're gonna have. There's other ways to get it, but that's that's one of the main ones. 37% are female. But according to our friend over at Grok, so some AI uh information from various websites that they pulled this from, 70% of women are considered the financial planner or the person that deals with money in the household. 53% would say that they are the household CFOs. And so the decision makers and the majority of people that are saying, hey, I'm the household CFO, when it comes to money, whether that's where money's going, bills, investments, like this is where the decision making is happening. What's the disconnect between the numbers here? Because the amount of people that say the financial decision makers in the household are female, but when it comes to financial advisors, when it comes to CFPs, financial planning, the numbers are far less 24% and 37%. So number one is why do you think that is? And then number two, what advantages do you have in that space?

SPEAKER_03

This is a great one. There's a lot to unpack here. I think that when it comes to women in financial planning, it's difficult to visualize this as a career when you don't see a lot of references, even in pop culture to women in finance or even just well-known, like renowned leaders in finance. It's almost like you have to see it to envision it. You have to see it first. And I heard this term and it's kind of interesting. It's called the of the feminine famine in finance, which I thought that's a lot of alliterate alliteration, right? But it makes sense because I see this even as a female, you know, financial professional going to broker dealer conferences or just, you know, being in the industry. You look around the room and there are, it's true. Those statistics ring true when I look around the room and I don't see enough women with a seat at the table. And this is something that we see as another panic button in our industry because there are a lot of, there are a lot of people that are going to be inheriting, a lot of women in particular are going to be inheriting lots of wealth, lots of generational wealth. I think the latest statistic is like 30 trillion is going to be passing to the hands of women in the next 10 years. And the beautiful thing about the way that women handle money, I've seen, or even just studies have shown that the world does flourish when more money goes into the hands of women because they do tend to prioritize family insecurity and philanthropy. I think that you see a lot of leadership in, you know, boards for non-for-profits. And there are there's just a lot of in education, you see a lot of women. Those are kind of the careers that attract women. So it's interesting because women are really well versed and really built for financial planning. But I think the issue with attracting women to financial planning as a career is that it's skewed as very number-crunching and very like lack of career, like life work balance and good old boy club. Like we see a lot of those stereotypes, and that is not the case. And hear me now say that like you can create this career the way you want it to be. And you can absolutely have a work-life balance. And I think that women tend to be more risk-averse. And I that is one reason why they may not be attracted to this business. But I think really just having more talking heads that are representative of being an empowered female, and finance doesn't have to look like, you know, a black and white like suit and tie situation.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And that's not how I, you know, I wear dresses every day. Like I like to continue to be very feminine and be in this industry. And women are great educators, we're very compassionate, great listeners, and you know, not to overgeneralize, but actually you look at studies, women make great long-term investors because we don't act, we stick to a plan. We're very goals driven. And not having an overcompetence bias or having a lot of ego drive. And in fact, maybe to the detriment of maybe being a little less confident, can actually help a portfolio, can actually help a portfolio management.

SPEAKER_04

Explain that last. How does it help portfolio management?

SPEAKER_03

Because the statistically, men tend to potentially overtrade.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_03

And that actually can hinder performance because it's that overconfidence of I am in control and I'm going to, I know better than the market. And the market can be very humbling, as we all know.

SPEAKER_04

No, that's an interesting point. I I think back to, you know, um clients that I have and interact with, and that dynamic, as you say that, I'm thinking of multiple examples of people like that. And going, oh yeah, you're right. And long-term investing, we know typically that's going to be the best way to actually, you know, build wealth is to long-term stick with the plan, add money consistently over time. Don't look for what's the next thing, right? What's the next interesting product, as you mentioned, which sometimes aren't even shiny object, investments right and trading, trying to get information, and that information then allows you to think, okay, I'm gonna have that ability to um be smarter than the market or smarter than the people around me, and tends to add more risk to portfolios.

SPEAKER_03

It does.

SPEAKER_04

And take more risks, which don't always work.

SPEAKER_03

I'm telling you, we are built like, and and I'm not saying that this is not a trait that you know men can have, but it women are built, like a lot of the the traits that women have are built for investing and for this industry. And I actually have uh an interesting story to share. I I have a client who is a she's not retired, but she was in uh accounting. That was her career. She was well renowned in her industry. She was incredibly successful, very left-brained, so very numbers-oriented. She would go meet with her financial planner or her financial advisor, and he was male, and she would go with her husband, and the conversation was constantly directed at the husband. And they would finish up the meeting, she would take notes, completely understand everything that happened during the meeting. They'd get in the car, and then her husband would turn to her and go, What the heck was he talking about? Can you please tell me what was going on? Can you give me the skinny on what that, you know? And it was a pride and like ego thing. But what do you think the first thing she did when she unfortunately lost her husband was she was in the market for a new financial advisor?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Because she actually was that was what she did for a living. That was she was a very numbers-oriented business and incredibly astute, really smart woman.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And the conversation, I feel like she even said he wouldn't even make eye contact with her.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_03

And I know that's an extreme example, but you have to keep in mind that the other component to this is that women do live longer than men. And so there is going to be a point at everyone's life where they need to have a baseline of understanding of financial literacy and involvement and understanding, and just make sure that they're not leaving that completely in the dark.

SPEAKER_04

That's um that's really interesting. Point, I think about another statistic that comes to mind from that is generally when a spouse passes away, which almost always tends to be the male first. Sure. About 70% of the time, they don't stay with the same advisor that they had when they were a couple. They go and look for something new. And I wonder if it has to do with the fact that the majority of advisors are men. The relationship was with you know the husband, or that's who or that's where they directed the conversation. They isolated and didn't have this as a joint team effort. Right. And they feel like, okay, I have to go find something that's going to be on my team.

SPEAKER_03

Right.

SPEAKER_04

That's interesting.

SPEAKER_03

And it's so important, and this goes, this goes both ways. Whenever I feel like husband or wife, spouse doesn't matter gender. What matters is having engagement and having buy-in and having even asking questions. So if I find that someone is a bit quieter in a meeting, maybe I'll try to direct some more questions to them, not to make them uncomfortable, put them on the spot, but just so that they have a voice in it. And like I said, it could go either way. You, your statistics about the CFO of the household, it's not surprising to me. We see a lot of um, a lot of women that are in the throes of handling the budget and like the daily expenses and paying for you know school activities and things like that. So that's true. It makes sense. Everybody has to be engaged in some capacity.

SPEAKER_04

So that's that's great. So you also mentioned about the panic button in industry of people, specifically female advisors. You're different in that where you're actually creating not only for yourself as someone who's in the in the business and has clients and is building a great book of business, talking to um so many people and and and doing things in a way that's really impactful, but you're also training new people to do this. Like you're coaching people, you're you're finding people that at the heart of a teacher and and showing them how to be advisors like you are right now. And I think of the group of people you have, and it's a lot of it is coming from that same knitting that you're talking about, right? So you're even in a position right now that if somebody out there is listening and going, oh my goodness, you know what? I'm a female, I want to do something different. You're in a position where you can actually train them and show them how you're doing what you're doing.

SPEAKER_03

I would love to. I would love to train more, you know, more young professionals. And and this is so important. And that's a bit of our battle cry here at SmartPro is to bring in not necessarily people that are really seasoned in finance, more we can show you the ropes. We have a lot of opportunity where you can start really from even understanding the paperwork process or and then building your way up to understanding. And hey, our doors are always open. And I even remember when I first started, I used to bug you all the time. I'd be knocking on your door asking questions. And I think that's the key is to have an environment where you feel like you can ask questions and you don't have to feel like you're afraid to reach out for help and to reach out for a mentor or somebody who's gonna take you under their wing. And we have a lot of that. And myself, thank you for bringing that up because it is incredibly important and something that I am working on building out more of a team and then keeping that longevity in the business and having that succession is important too, because we don't want to be in a situation where you know you have a life crisis event, you want to have continuity in your team.

SPEAKER_04

That's right.

SPEAKER_03

And so it's beneficial to clients as well to have that continuity.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I love that. So we talk about hope a lot. It's uh you know, going back to like our mission is. We feel like people right now lack hope when it comes to money. Lack hope when it comes to a lot of things, but specifically money ties into so much when it comes to words that you hear of someone saying, I'll always live paycheck to paycheck, I'll never be able to retire, I'll never have enough, I'll never be able to buy a home. We see these things kind of mounting right now. We see right, you know, the latest statistic is 40 years old for the first-time home buyer in the United States, highest it's ever been. Consumer debt, incredibly high, some of the highest numbers ever, student loan debt. And so people are really struggling out there when it comes to hope for any of this, going, oh my goodness, I don't know how I'll ever be able to have the quality of life that maybe I've seen from my parents or my grandparents. What's the point of all this? So, my final question to you as we're wrapping this conversation up is for someone who doesn't have a plan yet, but they want to get started, what hope or encouragement would you give them?

SPEAKER_03

I've mentioned a couple of these points in our conversation already, but let's use hope as an acronym. And this is simple to remember. Hope H honesty. Honesty is finding out where you are and facing that reality. And it could be a good thing, could be a little bit more of an obstacle to overcome, but that honesty of recognizing your baseline. O is opportunity. We have opportunity to figure out where you can go. And I can't tell you where you need to go or where you can go. You have to tell me what you want to do. And that's where we build out P, the plan, which is planning, and then bridging that gap. When we know and we're honest with where we're starting, we figure out what the opportunity set is, and then we have the plan that bridges the gap. The E in hope is empowerment. And that can be confidence and understanding your plan and empowerment in financial literacy and having clarity. And I think that's a key to have and move forward with clarity. And a lot of times I like to break it down even further from baby steps to micro steps and finding those little items that we can check off the list that get momentum because we get stock and analysis paralysis. And I think myself included, when I first started investing, I was always aware of needing to save. And I I did save, but I didn't know I was supposed to be investing.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So I was really smart with budgeting and those, but I didn't connect the dots until I started working with a financial professional. And actually your dad. And so I ended up reaching out and realizing that I had to start investing. And that was the the bridging the gap part that I didn't know. Okay. So there is no such thing as hopeless because let's put it this way, any investing is better than none.

SPEAKER_01

That's right.

SPEAKER_03

And a lot of times we start off really small. So if it's $50 a month and then that gets a little easier, what we want is to we want to be in a situation where everything turns into a little bit of autopilot, but it takes time to get there. And autopilot is just saving your 15% towards retirement. And you don't have to, it's not that you can't start if you can't start right there. You can start from any point, even if it's $50 a month, or even if it's just paying off debt. Paying off debt is actually almost more fun than investing because it's instant gratification. It's slow, but it's your net worth immediately goes up because you're, you know, you're able to take that cash flow and turn that into investing. And I like to use those benchmarks for my clients to say, hey, this is where you started. This was your net worth. Each year we're getting better and better. And it's kind of like working with a personal trainer where they're showing you the movements. You're doing the movements. I'm just here, you know, cheerleading and and and giving you insight and having those meetings, but you're doing all the heavy lifting.

SPEAKER_04

That's right.

SPEAKER_03

And we can start from anywhere.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, you have to be the hero of your story.

SPEAKER_03

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04

So hope you had uh honesty, right? Find out where you're at.

SPEAKER_03

Yep.

SPEAKER_04

Opportunity.

SPEAKER_03

Yep.

SPEAKER_04

Okay. What's out there? What can we do and accomplish? Right. You had planning, right? Have a plan and empowerment.

SPEAKER_03

Empowerment.

SPEAKER_04

Okay. I love that. That's awesome. So I know you're still in a position in your business where you're able to help people really no matter where they're at. Okay. It doesn't have to be somebody that's uh comes through as a smart vestor and knows Ramsey. Like you'll work with people no matter where they're at, whether they're um, you know, a Ramsey fan and FPU, whether there's somebody that's never heard of that, and going, okay, what do I do to get started? And you have an opportunity right now to really help people all over the country. So how do people find you? How do they access you? How can they get an appointment with you?

SPEAKER_03

Yes, call me, text me. My phone number is 941-289-3289. And we'll also have a meeting link.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, we'll show when the show notes we'll have the meeting links.

SPEAKER_03

You can self-schedule and typically we start off with a quick phone call just to learn a little bit more about your situation. And then from there, uh, you know, come out with a come up with a plan, come up with the next steps. But really, it just starts with picking up the phone or even setting that appointment.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, that's right. Y'all take the bold step, reach out, do something great for yourself, have some hope when it comes to your financial life, get a plan and work with somebody that you can trust. It will make a huge difference in your finances. Krista Campbell, thank you so much for your time.

SPEAKER_03

Thank you for having me on the show. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04

Hey, thank you all so much for tuning in to today's episode of SmartPro Radio. I hope you enjoyed it. And if you did, please take a minute and subscribe and share this episode with friends. We really do appreciate it. And make sure that you don't miss any future episodes. We put them out on the first Monday of each month. We'll see you then.

SPEAKER_00

Discussions in this show are for entertainment and educational purposes only and should not be construed as specific recommendations or investment advice. Always consult with your investment professional before making important investment decisions. Securities offered through registered representatives of Cambridge Investment Research Incorporated, a broker dealer, member FINRA SIPC, advisory services through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Incorporated, a registered investment advisor. Cambridge and Smart Pro Financial are not affiliated. Client stories may not be representative of the experience of other customers and are no guarantee of future performance or success.