Stoy Hall, CFP®: 0:13

She's back. If you did not know, Missy Lynch she was part of our 12 days of giving. So go back and watch that podcast. But today's all about her. Her business and what we were just talking about off camera is a really cool subject that I think will cause a little riffing to go on. So without further ado, Missy, why don't you tell us about yourself more now, more about your business and why you do what you do.

Misty Lynch, CFP®: 0:38

Sure. Thank you so much for having me back on. It's been it was a fun experience doing the 12 days with you. And I'm Misty Lynch. I am in Walpole, Massachusetts. I'm the owner of Soundview Financial Advisors, which is a fee only firm that has been in existence since 2010. I actually acquired it from a woman who started it on her own and decided to retire. In 2022. It's been great kind of working in the community that I live in and, keeping a business going that, that has been around. And it's been a really great opportunity to work with some retirees and also my clients, which tend to be people who are mid career and have some self employment income in their family with also, maybe some traditional income nine to five, trying to figure out how to combine the two and make them work the best. That's that's a little bit about me and my firm. I I got two kids, husband, I coach basketball and field hockey when I'm not working and they're nine and 11. So just busy time, but I can feel what a lot of my clients are going through with a lot of competing goals and, certain financial, big decisions that need to be made just about every day.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 1:43

You mean like sports, like nine to seven, it feels like in your schedule. It's crazy. Yeah. Yes. I understand that. Yeah. You brought up a very interesting point that we've get, I get asked it every now and again. But I don't think is, has been as prevalent as it should be. Especially with this wealth wave, whatever you want to call it, that is going to happen. And I'm specifically talking about you bought your firm from someone who wanted to retire. Talk us through one, how that occurred, what that process looks like. And then ultimately. How did, and what did it feel like for the clients in terms of them? Because that's what matters, right? Like that transition is more important to them than it is really to you. So

Misty Lynch, CFP®: 2:27

definitely. Yeah. So I was I was in corporate I was working in a compliance department for about 12 years. I had a CFP since 2011, and I had been thinking about leaving, prior to when I did in 2020 for a very long time. And so I was following all these other advisors. I was listening. I was looking around at what businesses existed in the town, and so I'd come across Soundview financial advisors and the owner, Susan Brown was very active in NAPFA and other financial planning organizations. And I liked, I just liked her period. And so when I was looking at going out on my own, I looked at. Office space, and there was a space available in the building where sound view is and I was, I became friendly with her, and we were chatting and she was talking about wanting to retire for a long time and I was talking about wanting to go out on my own and start a firm and then months went by, I didn't leave, she didn't retire. And I ended up running into her at the grocery store and it was masks on everything, like middle COVID and she looked like she was just she, you could tell when she was talking to me that she was done. Like it's, it was just time. She was caring for her mother. Her husband was retired. She really just wanted to be done. And we said hello. And then the next day she called me and asked if I wanted to talk. And so we, it was very I walked over here from my house since it's that close. And we were just talking about the business. She had never been familiar with doing an acquisition or selling a business. This was basically her business that she built from the ground up and really hadn't figured it would just like end with her, but that's not what she wanted. It's not what she wanted for her clients either. But they were starting to ask her questions like, when are you going to retire? You've helped me with all of this, but Your husband's like, when is it going to happen for you? And so I think that for the first six months, I decided to come on board with her. I didn't take over right away. We did have a clear plan that it was going to be a six month transition and I wanted to be fully owner and she wanted to be fully out. So I joined the firm, not a lot of, not a giant firm, A reasonable number of households, about 25, that we were working with. And I went with her to meet all of them and she talked to them about me and, why she wanted, she liked working with me. And I respected her and the financial decisions, the portfolios that had been built, the plans that were in place. And really just we just wanted to make the comfort the clients feel like you have all the choices. You always have. But this was Susan's decision to like pass the baton to me. And this was our plans staying in the same location, keeping the same phone number, keeping the same account number, like nothing, like trying to make it as little impact as possible. Aside from the fact that I would be the new advisor that they would work with. And Susan would be hopefully reading a book or on a beach somewhere. And that kind of helped the clients understand what was happening. I think. I've built a good relationship with all of the clients. All but one stayed one who was in a different state that we really weren't able to meet, it was a wrong fit anyway stayed and been able to continue the relationship. They like the fact that I'm not retiring anytime soon and they're in retirement. And so when they have questions, they feel like they have someone to go to still. But And it's allowed me to also build the business, bring on more clients and not have to go through the whole registration process and going dark and all these things that would have had to happen. So I have to say it was one of the smoothest transitions. We did have help figuring out how to. Structure it because neither one of us really knew. One of my friends from when I was in corporate had worked at a firm. It was called like sell my financial practice. And so I called him and said what do we do? What do we do? And she didn't want to make a fortune. And I obviously needed to have it work out in a way that I could afford it, bringing the business on. And so we just came to an agreement and brought in an attorney to help us and then. Just figured it out as we went. So it was it was a little unique compared to some people I hear that do, FP transitions and they're bidding on a practice and everyone's going for it and it's competitive and it's different. This was a lot more organic, but she didn't have a successor and she found one and brought me in. That's

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 6:35

amazing. That might be the most seamless, like transition. I think I've ever heard of in our industry. Really? That's not in house and already built in. I what's amazing about it is both of you care more about like the client, like it was the relationship stuff. Usually you don't hear that the advisor goes and meets with the transition person ever, with all the clients. And we hear about the bidding wars and all that stuff. And to me, what that screams is. The people are don't matter. It's the assets that they're going after. And yeah, that's not cool. Like that ultimately that's not cool. It's that point where you just said they're in retirement and they want someone there they can trust and ask questions too. Yeah. That's

Misty Lynch, CFP®: 7:16

not, it was never, Yeah, no, it was certainly not okay, let's look at this book of physically, I don't even think we use that term once to be like, it was basically like, okay, this person, this is what's going on with that. I knew I felt like I had the opportunity to get up to speed on these people by working with her and meeting with them, looking at the contact, looking at everything, looking at, getting to know them. And really that was. In her, that was all she cared about was really that they would end up being okay. Financially, she was fine. She'd make some good investments. She was very good with her finances personally. And so she just didn't want to see it because some people were offering to take the biggest clients, get it chopped up and she didn't want it. She wanted somebody who wanted everything. And and for me, I was at the point where I could take it on.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 8:03

And I hope we see more of those. I really do. As these older FPs, this, actually should retire, right? You shouldn't be doing this forever. We're professionals. Like we also have lives. I really hope we see more of that and not just asset grabs and chunking them because. It's going to hurt a lot of people and I don't have data or facts about this, but I do know that the M and a's that do happen and they just chunk people off and they are just assets. I'm going to assume puts a bad taste in their mouth about our industry. And then it makes it harder for the rest of us to do our job and to help market. So I really hope that your story and more of those can happen. And here in a decade, we can talk about it and be like, look at all this awesomeness going on.

Misty Lynch, CFP®: 8:45

Yeah. Yeah. And I think it starts with building a network. Like actually, she was engaged with now, but I've, I am a member as well, but even like some of we just knew that we. Got along. And I think that's one of the things that if you don't necessarily have a huge team where, you know, who would take over if something happened to you, even just knowing more people that do this, and even if it's just having some sort of idea, because things do happen, what if something happened to me tomorrow? And so I feel like really, instead of looking at all the other advisors as a competition, as A potential like bigger network or maybe partners or maybe something someday to really keep the clients, best interests at heart. Yeah. Let's be

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 9:27

real. We. What us specifically, you said you had, they had 25 households. We can't work with a thousand households. I don't know your number and I'll ask you now, but like mine is 46 without hiring more staff and more advisors, et cetera, of course, like 46 households is like X and that would be like stretching. What about you? What do you know? What do you think your household limit?

Misty Lynch, CFP®: 9:48

Yeah. So I have, now. I do a lot of financial planning where there is no assets. So it's just the flat piece. So I've been able to do more of those, like more volume of those because sometimes they don't come back or they come back. And it's easy to hop right back in and talk for a few hours. But yeah, I think once you get around like 50 or 60, it is It is a lot of work to make sure that everybody's getting, the right amount of attention and time and service before you might need to add on additional resources. I think 100 would be probably the maximum that I could imagine trying even attempting. And at that point, I think even, Even now I look at am I the right person? Am I the right fit for some of these clients or some of these people that I've worked with? Might they be better suited in a different relationship? Because yeah, it is important to look at the amount of time and resources that we have.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 10:38

So 40 to 50 to 60, maybe a hundred max. There's how many millions of people in just the United States alone. This is why we don't have competition. This is why we never think about each other as competition, because we all have our different niches, our own people that we want to work with and we ultimately can't service correctly past a hundred actually makes me very nauseous. I don't know how that would, you would have to be Like one off, create a plan. They come every two years or something like that. That'd be the only way I could think that would work, but yeah. And I've started with our industry fails at, I believe.

Misty Lynch, CFP®: 11:12

Yeah. I've started to meet with some financial coaches. I've started to meet with bookkeeper. I've started to meet with other people because I feel like I'll have these discovery calls or these phone calls. Initial calls with people and I even feel better being like, I, you don't, I think you might want to have a call with this person. You might not need me right now. Because for a long time, I wanted to just say yes to everybody and anyone they wanted to work with me. I was like very excited. But even getting to know some of the people that do adjacent work. To us and building those, connections has been really helpful. Some people need a bookkeeper and accountant right now, and the planner to come or investment advice leader. And then I've seen some coaches who are really good with the budgeting side, or just focusing on a few things in more of a group setting for people who maybe are looking for a different price point. So I love getting to know more about what people in my area do, helping them grow their business. And eventually they run across people that they can't serve. And so it's helped out in that way a lot.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 12:06

So you teed it up for me and I'm glad you did. I don't know if you did it on purpose, but you did, this is our transition into the big topic. So on your podcast, we had talked about modern family office and the concepts that black mammoth does. What you just defined there to me really is a modern family office, right? You're acting as they're like life coach, if you will in order to find the parts that need to be filled now. And ultimately people want that part. They need that person. We all want a person that we could go to and be like. Hey, I don't, I need, I don't know what I need. I need this. I need that. I don't know where to go. That's our role, right? You can point them as long as you have the right network. And so the bigger topic. That is, hot in our industry right now, by that means clients, if you're listening, prospective clients, our industry loves to fight with each other about certain topics, one being fees, the other being this new concept, new, right? Quotes, a new concept of being a life coach or our financial planning, being there above their, for their mental health and their emotions and more of that actual life coach role. And it just wrote an article about this, right? And our industry took a couple of different routes on that. And so I want to ask you this question, knowing your background. Is the financial planning industry one moving towards this more life coach consultant role? And two, why are a lot of our industry afraid of said move? Yeah.

Misty Lynch, CFP®: 13:42

So I I do think so. I think that we are headed towards the, having clients who want to actually talk to their advisor, not just about Performance and numbers, but really they're coming to us because they want change or they're looking to do something. They want to feel different. They want something to change in their lives. And so I when I was in a corporate environment, I wanted so much to go be an advisor and a planner. And so many times that I was about to thinking about leaving a nice, comfortable job. I thought about what if this means that I'll be poor again? What will this do to my family? This is definitely a bad idea because we don't, our brains don't necessarily like change. We like, even if we're not happy, we like our lives to stay on the same, I was getting a paycheck. Things were not bad, but I knew something was missing. I was not doing what I was, I felt like I should be doing with my life. And I actually did have a life coach. I did go into a coaching program where I was able to have somebody. Really hold space for me, ask questions that I was not asking myself. I was asking myself, what could go wrong? What could this do to my children? What could this do to my marriage? All of these things and thinking of the worst case scenario. And so just being in an environment where I was able to even just think differently or question all of these beliefs I had that, it would go wrong, like even contemplating what could go right. And having somebody who didn't just buy into my story. That well, I'll be poor again, without any real backup. So I've used, since it helped me so much manage my mind and be able to make a big change in my life, start a business believe that success was possible, talk to clients and get past that how am I going to find clients who's going to want to work with me? I'm female. I haven't. I don't have all these assets under management that other advisors have. I don't have the press. I don't have all these things. It really let me just get curious about how all these advisors that are where I'd like to be, how they got there. What did they do? It just completely changed the way I thought. And I use coaching techniques on myself every day because I still have a human brain. So if a client sends me an email that just says we need to talk immediately, What does your brain do? Oh my gosh, they're going to fire me. They're not going to something was terrible. I did something terrible and they're going to be, they're angry. Or I didn't invest in something that like, and it might just be, Oh, I need this, or I got a raise or this happened. So really trying to figure out how to like, stop those negative thoughts that we have immediately. And not go straight into fight or flight. So I can actually, Be a better listener, ask better questions not just be like you need to do X, Y, and Z, or you're going to run out of money. So do what I say. Knowing that people know what they should be doing, but it might take a little bit of getting to the root of the problem as to why they're overspending or why they're afraid to spend money. And that comes from asking better questions. And that's where I think the coaching piece can really help any advisor and client.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 16:49

I really do too. And I believe nowadays it's part of our duty to do and I know I had talked a little bit on your podcast about this as well, but That is our duty now. And it always has been really, we just focused on the assets. Yeah, we are in tuned with every aspect of almost every aspect of their life. If we're doing it correctly, we have to be, we have to know what's going on with their family. We have to know what's going on at work. We have to be able to see. Somewhat in the future, right? Then we have to go to the complexities of life events that happen, deaths, marriages, weddings, all those things. How is it not on us to help coach them in life, right? Like we have all the knowledge we've literally listening to them more than probably anyone else in their lives. Almost. To a degree and probably even more. Because like our friends and families and stuff won't go we all know this, we all get up to the money issue and then we stopped talking, right? And that is our predominant issue. And so if they're opening everything up to us, Isn't it our duty to be able to help and listen? And.

Misty Lynch, CFP®: 17:59

Yeah, I think that, and I think that might be where some of that that anxiety comes in when people are like, we're not like, because it's just we're math people. We look at the numbers, we look at this and we're not, talking about feelings and behavior and thoughts. It's not what we were trained to do as advisors, but I do think that's why I felt, All of my clients, if they said I hate my boss. And if they just realized how wonderful I was, then this would be so much better. And like their friends might be like, yeah, you're right. What a jerk. Where I felt like as somebody who's outside of that in a different role, I can't buy into their story. I can't necessarily just be their best friend and be like, Oh yeah, you're right. He's probably terrible. It's actually okay, what are you in control of right now? Like what? Because a lot of times I'll see clients and they'll just start talking and they're putting all their power into someone else's hands. The ex husband who's ruining their life, something like that. And trying to help them even get some of that power back will eventually lead to different behavior, maybe different thoughts, maybe different financial behavior at some point, because then they realize that it actually Is in their control, what they can do. And so if you just avoid that, then your next review meeting, you're like, what happened? You're still doing all of these things. You're still in this job. You hate. Because somebody else, something else, boundary issues, all of those things that really impacts your money really does

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 19:26

our behavior in our mental health and all of that. And money are intertwined. They might not have been 50 years ago when our industry really took off. But they are now every bit of every decision is money and emotionally based. And so really what we're doing now is coaching their behavior to shape what they want their plan in life to look like. Not just creating a plan and saying, go ahead and do it.

Misty Lynch, CFP®: 19:49

Yeah. Because it's just not as certain as it was before, that the money will be there, that the spending, my clients are being influenced every day. They're looking at, like this comparison, these things that they feel like they should be doing. They're looking at everybody else's highlight reel of their lives. And they're thinking like, what am I doing wrong? And immediately, those are all financial decisions. Whether you're like, all right, I'm going to, I'm going to upgrade this, or I need to start doing this, or I'm going to spend, or everybody else is doing it. There's never been so much competition for our wallet and our money nonstop, all day long on our phones, on our watches everywhere. And so if you don't look at behavior, like we're going to be manipulated. Spend more than we want to, because seriously, there's a lot of money and there's a lot of business in getting our attention and getting our dollars. So if you're not paying attention to what you're thinking and feeling, you're, you could financially be in a lot of trouble.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 20:47

Absolutely. And it's designed that way, right? It's designed to wear you down. That's why there's so many ads. That's where all this is there is to wear you down, put it in front of you. So when you're ready. And usually it's because it's beaten you down and now you're awake to make that decision, to buy this, to buy that, to do that. And as simple as life is becoming with, Amazon delivering day of all of these things that are happening, it's just making it that much harder to make the right behavior decision if you aren't working on that. And that's why I believe it is our duty to help them in behavior. It is our duty to learn more and either become life coaches or Study and get some type of education behind it to

Misty Lynch, CFP®: 21:31

help. Yeah. And even if it's, yeah, like I, I think that not everyone needs to go get a certification and become a coach. It is an interest. I do understand that there is some negative connotations with the field because it isn't even close to as highly regulated as, you Financial services. And so really anyone could say they're a coach and maybe some of them are, taking people's money and not helping, but I do think that the principles behind it, because like you said, with the same day, like all of our spending behavior is usually to, we think it's going to make us feel better when we're thinking like I can't rent anymore. I'm wasting money. I'm telling me, and I feel bad about myself because I don't own a home or all those things are thoughts. They're not facts. They're not true, but they sound true because we hear them in our heads over and over again. And then with the impulse spending, it's if I get this, if I get this treat or I do this, I'll feel better instantly that instant gratification. And then long term, it's going to hurt when you're in the credit card debt and things like that, but we really just respond to right now. So even learning how to help people put some distance. In between the thought and the action can help them at least start to trust themselves a little bit more. Instead of being like, I'm just bad with money. It's just who I am.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 22:47

And that's not true either. That's not true. But so I'll go to the opposite side of not the argument, but I'm an advisor who doesn't want to learn all that or doesn't feel comfortable doing it. And that's okay. This is where we talked about. We're not in competition with each other and we can partner, we can help each other on this. Or like you had talked about go. In your network, find someone to help them with this part of it and just create a team around them that can help support them as opposed to saying, no, this is my job. I don't want them talking to one else. But you're leaving this huge issue on the table that is going to drive every decision that they make. If we're not addressing that either because of our own. Abilities or someone else's your job is superficial. In my opinion, it's just superficial. And at some point they could fire you any day because you're not doing anything for them and managing money in today's world is. It is what it is. It's a commodity.

Misty Lynch, CFP®: 23:49

It's just not as exclusive as it was before, where you needed to have a stock broker and you needed to, you couldn't do it on your own. Like those days are over. And even, asset allocation and portfolio, like all of those things, that's the part that the robots can do and the computers can do. They can't say, they're not going to listen, at least not yet to somebody who's, telling you everything about how they're thinking and feeling and looking for some help. And then, getting a blanks. It's that's the part where I think we can add a tremendous amount of value to people's lives. Even just being somebody who can listen to them without judgment. A lot of times I've had clients where they've talked to me about things. And I've actually said, I do think that maybe this is something that you should talk to a therapist about when they go, life coaching is future. looking, it is not looking in the past. It's basically like talking about setting goals and looking at what's happening right now, your thoughts, your current thoughts. Sometimes I've had people that are telling me about some very, traumatic experiences that they've not been able to process. And so I know that is outside of my listening. Scope what I can do, but I can notice it and maybe suggest moving some of the budget around or looking at the benefits to see if we can pick up maybe maybe some work there to help the client feel better, even if it means spending money or taking some out of an account that I'm looking to see pile up. Because there are some things that I feel, pretty comfortable talking about. And then there's other things that I could say, you know what, this is what, this is what I think would be a really good use of your Of what we have here to work with and trying to help them find, somebody to help them

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 25:21

out because it's the, that investment is the one that people don't put a lot of money into and that's now investing in themselves. They really don't and clothes don't count. Let's be right. It's a therapist. It's your physical health. All of those things. That is the one investment bucket. That people are weakest in almost everybody. And I want to say it's not exclusive, but it is driven hard from our own industry. We don't talk about it's not a bucket. We ever, I remember being all the training and we're talking about mutual funds and annuities and life insurance and all these other buckets. We have not once ever said that you need to invest back into yourself, whether that's a therapist or your health or whatever. Yeah.

Misty Lynch, CFP®: 26:01

So I've had clients that have been like, should I spend a thousand dollars on this treadmill? Mine is worn out and I'm like, Oh yes. Like this is your health, your body. But what we will see is people overspending on food and stuff. And, I think that a lot of that spending is because I had a bad day. I want to go out to dinner four nights a week. And it's just, it is. It is caused by the thoughts that we have. It's not, the bucket that we said, okay, this is your, this is your spending that you can do on meals. It's because they want to feel different. And so getting behind that okay, why is this happening? What's going on? How are you feeling? And some people are under a lot of stress or some people, maybe they do need convenience and they shouldn't kick themselves for it. But they are. So I think that those, all of those things that we see, like if somebody is looking to invest in their own health or their own wellbeing or their mind, or going to, even joining a gym or doing all of those things, I think should get a bigger piece of the budget because it tends to pay off so much more either down the road with a better healthy lifestyle, or really just them being able to, go about their lives in a way that isn't just trying to numb whatever's causing some pain right now.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 27:13

So emotions, and our society loves to see this. You're a woman CFP, right? You own a business. Emotions are a woman thing, right? That's just a women thing. No one talks about emotions. My side of the table, be a man, rub some dirt on it, get out there. You're fine. Be a man. And we hear those repeatedly and it still runs really deep in our industry. Specifically, just go to a conference. It's very prevalent with that. How important or how different is it out there in actual clientele land, right? Not in our own heads that having a female advisor, a black male advisor, how important is that, that we're not specifically talking about money or specifically talking about emotions? How important have you seen that? Yeah,

Misty Lynch, CFP®: 28:03

I think that, I have, I have a lot of, Clients, that men, women families, different ages. And I think one of the things that I've noticed is a lot of times initially they'll, maybe be ready for that sales pitch or that conversation. And they're like defensive or maybe here's all my paperwork and this is what my last advisor told me and I'm like. I don't want to see this yet. I don't even care about this yet. Like that, that looking at what they own and everything, it doesn't come first in our conversation. I actually want to know if this is a person that I want to work with, if this is someone I want to invest my energy into building a relationship hopefully for a long time with, and so once that wall comes down, that they're trying to, Once you get people to start talking about themselves, some of their goals, some of the craziest things that they've thought of, what's the the best things they've done with their money, what they'd love, instead of just being like, what keeps you up at night? It's your biggest fear. Let's have a big pile of money and just hold it, let it sit there. Like I, I feel like people want someone to ask being somebody to ask them how they're actually doing. And a lot of times like men, women, no different. They've got a lot of feelings every day and sometimes it's harder to name them. And sometimes it's just, I think that some of my clients don't even notice that we're talking about it because it feels like we're just having a conversation, I want to really understand, how we can use what they've built, to improve their life. And have them, I don't necessarily, I don't really get into those details, right away, but I think that's how people, that's what they expect from us, no, I don't put like life coach right out there, but I do, when I get to know people or when I initially meet a client people have, tended to just start to unload. And then they're like, wow, that was a great conversation. I really like you. And they know nothing about me yet, but they're like, wow, I had a lot on my mind, cause they're not coming to us because everything's great. They're coming to us because something is on their mind, whether they think they're going to leave a job, whether they're getting divorced, they're buying a, they're making these humongous decisions that are, maybe brand new to them. And they're looking for somebody to really help them figure all of this out. And I think knowing that it's somebody that they can trust or that they can you Could really be honest with it goes so far, a lot further than being like this is my price point. This is what I can do to beat your advisor in this label. And then they're just shopping for a product. But I, yeah, I I don't leave the feelings, but I definitely get there pretty quickly. Because it's important. And if they're not going to be honest or not going to talk about it, or they're looking for one guy was like, you're not very slick. And I said, you are absolutely right. I will introduce you to slick. I'll head you over to, back bay. We will find you slick. And that's great that we recognize it at least now before later, because I want my clients to feel comfortable and want to talk to me. And not want I've talked to some people that hate talking to their financial advisor. Like

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 31:12

it gives them anxiety, like hard anxiety to talk to them. Like change, like it shouldn't be that way.

Misty Lynch, CFP®: 31:19

You're paying them. Yeah. Like why, and I hear that. I hear that more than I ever thought possible. And But I get it. They feel like they're going to get yelled at because they didn't change.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 31:33

Our industry has done a lot to demean people and make us on a pedestal. And we're not we're normal people with them. I think this adage or this analogy is used in our industry, a lot of like, think of us as an attorney or a doctor. Like I've been trained to use those and to a degree, yes, except for we put doctors and attorneys and stuff like that on a pedestal, like they're above us. And that's what they're normal people too. Yeah. They have personal financial problems, almost greater than the normal person. They just have an education on something that they're passionate about and care about. It's the same for us and it's the same for you, client, whoever you are, right? Like your passion about what you're doing. If I came to you, I'm going to put you on a pedestal because I don't know anything about X, Y, Z widget and you're there for, and once you can break that barrier of putting us up there and we're next to you and we're in this thing together you literally can see a change in people. And then at that point, as the advisor I know, I no longer feel like they're a client. They're a family friend. Like we are, we're in tuned and I don't worry about money and fees and all of that. I'm just going to do and treat them like I would everyone else in my family and try to just do my best. Ultimately. And that's what people truly are interviewing us for. Whether you think about it or not, other advisors, like that's what they're looking for.

Misty Lynch, CFP®: 32:58

Yeah, definitely. And like you said, with the doctors or attorneys, a lot of times it's, again, I have no clue what to do here. I want someone to fix me. I want to feel better. And a doctor might say, okay, this is what I'm going to prescribe where we're dealing with money, which our clients have to interact with. Every day on their own. We're not right there. To think like most of my clients know, and I'm pretty clear about this, like you will know what you own. You'll know why you own it. You might not care. You might not be into it. You might love it. I don't know. But like you, this is not like, Beyond your capacity to be able to understand or do. And I've gotten people to feel a lot more confident with their money. Even if they've been the ones that tell themselves that story, that they're bad with it and they can never understand it, or their dad would handle it or their uncle or other people, and they've always outsourced it to be like, okay, no, this is, we're going to, we're going to learn about this. This is really important. You need to get this. And then if they choose to then have me do the training or whatever, That's fine, but they made that choice being like, okay, I understand what's going on. It's not just me blindly being like, I don't know what they're doing because I think like that sense of, just that blind faith, I just don't think it exists anymore. And I think our industry was built on

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 34:18

that. I do. And because exclusivity is one, that is one reason it was built on that. To it, we have marketed it like it's this very complex, crazy thing. And yes certain funds and ETFs and how they're actually ran internally. Okay. That takes a big brain, but like why and how you can implement it. Yeah. You, everyone can read that. You can figure that out. We've just been so into driven in. And I think part of it has to do with. our education system, which is a whole different topic, but also our family structure, right? And families that talk about things and can teach inside of their own family, these things about money. Usually are the ones that end up leaving a legacy and building this, whole family thing as the rest of us who grew up poor and not a lot of money and families that didn't talk about money. And now you reflect on it and holy crap, they did really bad things with their money, but they had no clue. We're the ones out here trying to like, Figure out life and feel bad about making a purchase, even though we have the money still, and those things are important and it comes down to being able to talk about it and open people's emotions up. And guess what? People love talking about themselves.

Misty Lynch, CFP®: 35:33

Yeah. And then sometimes I'll ask people like what their, you know, what their first thoughts are when I like say the word money and it's just Oh, anxious. No, I hate it. Can't stand it. Don't want to think about it. Oh my God. It's pathetic. Like about their own money. And it's okay, if that was your boyfriend or somebody you were talking about and that's how you describe them, like, how do you think that relationship would end up? And they're like, not good at all, and so even just trying to reframe okay, yes, we might not have exactly what we want right now. Why do we want this much? First of all, what do we think it's going to change about us if we get there? Can we appreciate what we have today? Because I know for a lot of times we didn't have much when I was growing up either, but we might've had enough to get through the week or to do this, and it's not, it starts from there just. To stop feeling terrible or hating it to move to a more neutral state. But I think that a lot of times, if you're not, if you're not asking those questions, then it's just going to be okay. I'm just going to need more. There's never going to be enough. And I think a lot of times. People are doing better than they think they're just so used to that. Like it's not good enough. It's not as good as everybody else. And so trying to get that level to be set more internally. Yeah.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 36:45

Yeah I tell clients a lot, you're doing a lot better than most people, like the average and they are like, you just don't feel it. We're

Misty Lynch, CFP®: 36:52

talking to us. If they even think about us ever, they are way ahead of the game. Like the fact that they, is just to me, the fact that they even care is putting them so far ahead of, people who are not thinking about this at all or don't care or don't, don't even want to take, take a look at things. So yeah, you're right. And I think that could be, It can be helpful too, but it's certainly surprising how little comfort there is in general across the whole spectrum of how people feel about their wealth.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 37:29

All right. As we're wrapping this up about 45 minutes, I want you to leave, or at least this last conversation to be one thing that you believe people can do to take that next step to come talk to us. And again, people, it doesn't have to be specifically us too, but taking that next step to reach out and. Start interviewing, figuring out who this person's going to be to help you.

Misty Lynch, CFP®: 37:53

So I think if anybody is listening or they've been thinking, for a long time, I want to get, I want to meet with somebody. I want to really look at this. I want to find out if I'm on the right track. I want to make some big changes in my life. I think that it's, a lot of times there's a lot of information out there, which can put you in that overwhelmed state where I don't, I. I just, I read all these things or I listened to all these podcasts, but now I'm not going to do anything. I think you have to, instead of just taking in information, you have to take action. And so even if you're just looking at writing out what you owe and what you own and doing a simple Budget or cashflow, just to figure out where you are today to have a starting point, even if it's a little painful, like even just taking that one action can then give your brain that proof that, okay, I can take another action. I can maybe call somebody, maybe I can set up a discovery meeting, or maybe I can, look at coaching programs or something out there and then, start to, engage. You don't have to commit. To anything. I don't think that a lot of times people would be like, I don't know if I need you. And I'm like, put some time on my calendar. I'll help you figure it out. And just, try to, talk to people more about, I think in your network, if people are open to talking about Money or what they do, or if they use certain tools or techniques, I think the more comfortable you are talking about it, the more comfortable the people around you might be knowing that you're open to that conversation. So I think instead of just consuming and taking everything all in, and then just waiting for something to happen, you have to really, even if it's just one simple step forward can really make a big change in your finances.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 39:32

You hear to her first, listen to her. And I would challenge you. I'm gonna leave everyone with the challenge and that is just reach out to us on social then. Ask us a question engage with what we're putting out there. If that's an easy step for you, go right ahead. We are open for it. We're ready for it. We'd be glad to have conversations with you and figure out. Who and what is the best fit for you? I appreciate Misty. This has been fantastic. I cannot wait for this one to go out. And everyone tune into your podcast. You want to leave your socials and your podcast?

Misty Lynch, CFP®: 40:02

Sure. So you could find me pretty much on all social media at Misty Lynch CFP. Also my website is mistylynch. com and that's where you can find links to my book. My podcast and the show that I worked on heartbroke where I talked to couples about their finances and it's all there. I would love for you to check it out. And definitely even if you are, even if you just find a few people that you really what they're saying, go ahead and try to implement some of those things that you're learning and see how far you get.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 40:28

Simple as that. Missy Lynch. com everybody.

Black Mammoth: 40:45

The proceeding program was sponsored by black mammoth. Any awards, rankings, or recognition by unaffiliated third parties or publications are in no way indicative of the advisor's future performance or any individual client's investment success. No award, ranking, or recognition should be construed as a current or past endorsement of Black Mammoth. Information regarding specific awards, rankings, or recognitions is available on the Black Mammoth website, www. blackmammoth. com. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss. Investment strategies such as asset allocation, diversification, or rebalancing do not assure or guarantee better performance and cannot eliminate the risk of investment losses. There are no guarantees that a portfolio employing these or any other strategy will outperform a portfolio that does not engage in such strategies. This broadcast should not be construed by any client or prospective client as a solicitation to affect or attempt to affect transactions and securities or the rendering of personalized investment advice due to various factors including changing market conditions. The information discussed in this broadcast may no longer be reflective of current positions or recommendations. While information presented is believed to be factual and up to date, Black Mammoth do not guarantee its accuracy, and it should not be regarded as a complete analysis of the subjects discussed. The tax and the state planning information discussed is general in nature and is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal or tax advice. Listeners should consult an attorney or tax professional regarding their specific legal or tax situation. Past performance is not indicative of future results.