Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn: 

• [04:40] Lindsey Lewis discusses her journey from financial advisor to academic advocate for women
• [09:16] Challenges women face in a male-dominated financial services industry
• [13:55] Correlation between education, referrals, and client retention for women advisors
• [20:36] Why financial firms struggle to shift traditional business models
• [29:50] Lindsey talks about financial planning as a caregiving profession aligned with women’s strengths
• [36:10] Tools and courses to improve financial literacy and stability

In this episode…

As the financial services industry prepares for a significant generational transfer of wealth and the impending retirement of many advisors, a critical challenge emerges — there are not enough diverse and qualified professionals to meet the growing demand. Despite women increasingly becoming primary financial decision-makers, they remain underrepresented in advisory roles. So, what will it take to create a more inclusive, future-ready financial workforce?

Lindsey Lewis, an expert in financial education and advocacy, addresses this gap by spotlighting the opportunities and systemic challenges facing women in finance. She shares actionable strategies to attract and retain female advisors, such as providing access to education, mentorship, and professional designations that enhance confidence and long-term success. Lindsey emphasizes the need for firms to modernize outdated business models while encouraging financial professionals to create personalized, inclusive client experiences grounded in trust and empathy.

In this episode of the Advisor Today podcast, co-hosts Chris Gandy and Bianca Alonso Weiss sit down with Lindsey Lewis, a Chartered Financial Consultant and Certified Financial Planner, to discuss empowering women in finance and reshaping the industry. Lindsey discusses how education drives advisor success, why diversity boosts profitability, and how to support underrepresented groups in financial careers.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Chris Gandy on LinkedIn  
• NAIFA  
• Lindsey Lewis on LinkedIn  
• Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans  

Quotable Moments: 

• "As women become more educated, their confidence increases — and that is correlated with having better performance."
• “Estimated that $30 trillion are transitioning to the hands of women over the next decade.”
• “We have an industry problem, right? A perception of trust for financial professionals.”
• “Women are going to be in control of their finances at some point in their lifetime.”
• “Knowledge is power and so is money.”

Action Steps:

1. Prioritize financial education for women clients: Equipping women with financial knowledge builds confidence and reduces their risk of long-term financial instability.
2. Redesign recruiting and retention strategies for female advisors: Firms must offer mentorship, support, and flexibility to reduce the high dropout rates among women advisors.
3. Promote the caregiving nature of financial advising: Framing financial services as relationship-driven work attracts purpose-seeking professionals, especially women and younger generations.
4. Encourage professional designations for rising advisors: Earning credentials like CFP or ChFC increases confidence and leads to better performance and more client referrals.
5. Challenge outdated industry perceptions and norms: Reframing the profession from sales-first to service-first broadens appeal and helps attract more diverse talent.

Sponsor for this episode...

This episode is brought to you by the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, or NAIFA, the #1 association for producers in financial services. 

At NAIFA, we enhance professional skills, promote ethical conduct, and advocate for legislative and regulatory environments.

By joining NAIFA, you gain access to a partnership that elevates your performance while providing greater purpose to your professional work. NAIFA members are happier, make more money, and stay in the business longer.

Get in touch with NAIFA and learn more about how to join NAIFA by visiting NAIFA.org.

EPISODE TRANsCRIPT

Intro: 00:02

Welcome to NAIFA’s Advisor Today podcast series, where we focus on how financial advisers work, live, and give to their local communities and our greater financial services industry. Now let's get started with the show.

Chris Gandy: 00:20

Hi everyone. Welcome to Advisor Today's podcast where we give you the voice. We talk about the most happening things in today's industry as it deals with financial services and you as advisors. We give your voice back to you. And with all the great things that are happening within NAIFA and we're super excited about today's podcast.

So welcome. Get comfortable. I'm here with my co-host Bianca. Bianca, how are you?

Bianca Alonso Weiss: 00:46

Hey, Chris. I'm doing well. How are you?

Chris Gandy: 00:49

We didn't scare you off. You came back for another.

Bianca Alonso Weiss: 00:52

I came back, I came back.

Chris Gandy: 00:55

You don't know. Bianca was had joined us last week and we look forward to her being a stable on our on the podcast going forward. Bianca, those who don't know her, she's on the GR team and she's going to bring a different aspect to what we've done as we've relaunched the Advisor Today podcast. So we're so excited about the future and what that looks like for this program. And with that being said, hey, listen, I recently just came from many of you have understood that I'm wearing a hat today.

Why? Because, you know, my alumni is the University of Illinois. But you know, we're within the madness. And if you want to learn how to get active in your madness with advocacy, contact your local FFA representation and get involved today. Don't sit on the sidelines like Illinois did because they lost to Kentucky.

So with that Illinois, you're out of here. Bianca, why don't you go ahead and introduce our guest? If we could get into the madness with our guests.

Bianca Alonso Weiss: 01:54

Absolutely. All right, everyone. So. So, as we just mentioned it, is March Madness, but it is also International Women's Month. And in honor of this, we are going to be bringing you some strong powerhouse women leaders in the financial services space.

And today we are joined by Lindsey Lewis. Lindsey is the managing director and chair for the American Colleges Center for Women in Financial Services. She began her career in financial planning, and has transitioned into a space within the industry, where she champions women and diverse communities to advocate for themselves to achieve financial empowerment, stability and independence. Lindsey, thank you so much for being on with on with us today.

Lindsey Lewis: 02:46

Thank you so much for having me. I feel like I'm missing out because I didn't bring a hat. So next time, next March Madness.

Chris Gandy: 02:53

Lindsey, we have to ask the question. Where did you go to school? Is your team in the tournament?

Lindsey Lewis: 03:00

Yeah, so I grew up in Utah and I went to Utah Valley University. I actually was a D1 athlete there in track and field, but they did not make the tournament this year. But my family are avid BYU Cougar fans.

Chris Gandy: 03:15

Oh yeah.

Lindsey Lewis: 03:16

They are still in it right now.

Chris Gandy: 03:17

They're having a great, great tournament. So welcome. Welcome to the Advisor Today podcast. I know that the American College Show. So she mentioned so tell us what you do at the American College.

And Bianca, if you could kind of give us some insight on kind of how the two of you have worked together and know each other.

Bianca Alonso Weiss: 03:41

Sure. So I actually was connected to Lindsey through Diane Boyle, who's our senior vice president of government relations at NAIFA. And, Diane was actually the one that recommended Lindsey for the podcast. And Lindsey and I got together, discovered our love for TV and it just blossomed from there. And now she's on our podcast today.

Chris Gandy: 04:07

So, so but she plays an important role in the world of financial services. And so Lindsey, tell us a little bit about your journey. I think it's always important that people understand, you know, they see, you know, you have this big role and that you've done so much. And they need to get to know who you are. So, share with us a little bit about your journey.

How did you end up in the role you're in? How did you end up in financial services? I mean, tell us a little bit about your journey and how you how you.

Lindsey Lewis: 04:40

Yeah, I like to joke that I'm a recovering advisor gone academic. So I actually did a CFP-registered undergrad program, and there I took the coursework in order to sit for the CFP exam. So I ended up becoming a CFP professional and held my MBA degree before the age of 25. I worked initially in the RA space with institutional clients, helping with their DB and DC plans. So for one KS for three BS defined our deferred comp plans.

So helping with the investment selection there. From that role, I geographically relocated out east and worked at a large broker-dealer as a senior financial advisor, helping folks in the $1 to $8 million space. And frequently people ask me, why did I leave advice? Because of all of the different work that I've done in the past, and it really comes down to my passion for advocacy in this space. And I grew up in a community.

I grew up in Utah and in the community that I grew up at, the timeframe I grew up, there weren't a lot of income producing women outside of the home, and my mom ended up becoming the female breadwinner in our household, and it really inspired me to continue that legacy of making sure that women had their educational knowledge in place so that they could, you know, make choices and decisions on their own. In that experience, I saw a number of folks who may experience a couple of, I like to say, the three D's, you know, death, disability or divorce. And that led to financial insecurity. And so I have been volunteering at my alma mater, Utah Valley University, for over seven years now, helping young women and women get interested in entrepreneurship, leadership and finance. And that's really what brought me to the college.

So for those folks who are not aware of the college, we are almost 100 years old. We turn 100. In 2027. Our college was founded on the idea of making financial services a better profession through education. So we are an applied knowledge financial institution.

We help folks with degrees and designation programs. And so my role as the managing director of the center for women is I help women through advocacy, promotion, sponsorships to get scholarships, find their educational path, and to stay in the industry. As we know, there is a big discrepancy with gender and racial breakdowns as it relates to diversity within the space. So long story. Long as per usual.

But that's how I got into the industry. Chris.

Chris Gandy: 07:20

So not just in the industry, but you head up a fairly unique approach to financial services, right? So, so being from Utah, being part of a culture where the industry is, is, let's say, different than what you've, you've been accustomed to and actually gathered some success doing. What are some of the obstacles? If I'm talking to some of my young women advisors out there about why this industry is so good, question is there is opportunity because of it. And so why would someone who's a woman want to be in financial services outside of statistics?

Because there are baffling statistics about the why and the percentages of controlling households, and because the decision makers and most people don't know those statistics. I'll talk a little bit about them on here because I'm fairly aware of them. But share with us some of the some of the challenges that exist, simply because it is a fairly unique approach. And it's a, it's a, it's a let's call it a non it's an approach that hasn't been Necessarily supported right by some of the institutions, but now they see that, oh, wait a minute, we got to pay attention to that, that niche or that opportunity, because that is where growth is happening. So I don't mean to be long winded, but that question is one, just to kind of gain your experience about why this has been a good industry for you and why it's such a great industry for women to be aware of and even possibly look at, if they've never looked at it before.

Lindsey Lewis: 09:16

Yeah, I'll start with opportunities and then I'll go into a couple of the challenges. So like you mentioned a lot of statistics with being an academic. Obviously I love to get into the stats. So estimated that $30 trillion are transitioning to the hands of women over the next decade. The United States population is shifting to a minority majority by the year 2000 through 2050.

So sorry, 2050. And there are 100,000 financial professionals that are looking to retire in the next ten years. If you look at the amount of folks who are planning to retire, that is approximately one-third of the advisor base of all of financial services. So if you look at this, you have a $30 trillion market, a shifting population, and not enough talent for the demand that's out there, especially for women. When you look at clients and what clients are looking for.

The top two things that they look for is empathy and trust, right? So they want folks who can connect with them as an individual and someone that they can trust and feel good about their financial picture. Now men, women, non-binary folks all have the ability to exude empathy and trust for our women population. Frequently, that comes more easily to that group of folks. So when you think of the opportunity within financial services, right, we have all of the business case that was laid out.

And then you have the factors that come as female constituents. And so there's a vast opportunity here. It is still. And these are some of the challenges, right? The industry at large is still very male-dominated.

If you look at different designation breakdowns. Right. Most designations are about, you know, 20 to 20 to 25% women and then 75 to 80% men, not including non-binary folks. So when you look at that educational divide, you know, some of the designations have large denominators of these male constituents who are planning to retire right in the next ten years. And so we'll probably see the shift of that happen over time.

But we do see that disconnect. Also when you look at financial services at large, right. Individuals who are financial professionals on a trust scale often are trusted less than used car salespeople. Right. So we have an industry problem, right?

A perception of trust for financial professionals, as well as thinking about the pop culture references that are out there that depict financial services. Right. If you think of movies, we have The Big Short, we have Wolf of Wall Street, which is not an accurate depiction of what it's like to advise clients on a consistent basis. As a female professional, also, you might see some other, you know, pop culture references. Sometimes it's aligned with like a masculine economy or, you know, a capitalistic economy, but the real thing.

And that's really important to focus on. And the American college, we've done a research study on advisors perceptions of advisors perception of success. And they say the things that make or the reason why they got into the industry is to help and serve folks. And I don't think that message and that narrative is told when prospecting new folks into the industry. So that's part of the passion and the work that I'm doing.

I'm actually helping the college in an expanded role, helping with our strategic focus area called representation, which really is around the workforce development of the rising generation to help them have a better understanding of the landscape of financial services.

Chris Gandy: 12:51

The landscape. So, so perspective versus reality. You know, you mentioned that. And so I'm sure people perceive that there's a 50-50 split of men and women in this industry. Right?

I'm sure they perceive that. But what is the reality of that? And what do you see that of women that are getting in the industry? Right. So do you see there's a shift of more women coming into the industry.

So it's a two part question, right? Perception versus reality. What are some of the real statistics? Because I can comment on those if you'd like. But I'm sure I'll give that to you.

And then what are you seeing coming into the industry now? Is it are you seeing the talent come in that can take the baton and run from here and really grow what the industry is. And then kind of what your role last, the last piece of that is your role in helping develop that at the academic level, because that's important, especially with our, you know, the relationship of NAIFA and the American college.

Lindsey Lewis: 13:55

Yeah, there are a lot of institutions that are doing a great job as it relates to their home office employees. So you're seeing a lot of gender equality and gender parity as it relates to folks in those different capacities. When you look at leadership, it's it really just depends on the institution of the breakdown of how many women are serving in board positions or c-suites. You definitely are seeing a shift to more individuals and more diverse individuals in those. And the business case there's Deloitte's research illustrates this right.

You can have 18% higher profits with a more diverse leadership team. So diversity doesn't necessarily just have to be gender race, right. It can be age. It can be different lived experiences. So as you have more diverse individuals in your leadership, you actually are going to increase the bottom line.

Now, when we look at newly minted CFOs or newly minted different designations rates, not quite gender parity yet for those folks. So we're probably still about 60% male, 40% female, not including non-binary folks. So even if you were to try and shift that, you know, the percentage of women CFP holders, which it's been around 23, 24% for two decades, right? We'd have to oversample. Right.

You'd have to have more women who are becoming CFPs than men in order to start shifting those demographics. But there has been a valiant effort. And you see these, you know, CFP undergrad programs that are really working on that and different institutions are you're seeing a number of folks that are going through these financial advisor development programs, and frequently the hiring classes are close to gender parity, but what we find is around year three and year seven, that's where you have the discrepancies of who's falling out, right? So 90% of financial advisors fail within this industry. So if we have gender parity and let's say that's skewed to where more women are leaving the industry or exiting, right.

We're not going to achieve that financial or that advisor gender equality or, you know, equalness between male and female. So still a lot of work in that space and things that we're doing within the academic realm. Obviously, there's been a couple of headwinds in the last little bit as it relates to some of the policies that are in place and some of that were rolled back because there were funding opportunities where we could have scholarships for specific cohorts. And obviously with the Supreme Court rulings, it's changed that a little bit. So still trying to find ways to have the next generation of financial advisors be educated.

And the one thing that we'll find and what we found here at the college, we recently had a third-party research project go through Fuse research around designation outcomes. And one of the key differentiators for financial professionals at large when hopping into this industry is really that education piece, especially for women, as they become more educated, their confidence increases and that is correlated with having better performance. But what we can see is that individuals who have at least one designation experience higher, higher profits. If they have more than one designation, they also experience even higher profits than that, but they also experience higher referral rates. And for women, they can experience a 61% more referral rate the more designations that they have.

This also happens with next-gen folks, so next-gen folks can experience up to 20% higher earnings with at least one designation or more, and they can experience up to 29% more clients. So the work that we do here at the American College is to provide the applied knowledge, right? As financial professionals, it is so important to have an understanding of, you know, products and experiences. But it's also how does this apply to clients and what I have found through my own personal journey as being a CFP professional and a chartered financial consultant, and helping out with the CFP ethics course is as you become more educated, you're able to help and serve those clients better, which goes back to our research study around traits of successful advisors. Right.

And, you know, they're in this industry to help and serve folks, and they can do that even better with applied knowledge. So long-winded answer to the statistics of women within the industry, but kind of the work that we're doing to help folks continue in the industry, and especially as you see this rising generation get more interested within the industry.

Chris Gandy: 18:46

Well, I think the industry is changing, right? And so the statistics aren't those are real. Like we're watching them change before our very eyes. But also I've always said this and I don't know if it's true or not. Maybe I just made it up in my head, but I've always said that.

Women would rather, or likely would rather work with a successful woman than necessarily a male. It's good, bad or different, right? So if I call on a, a, a woman who's a CFO of a company and someone equal, equally footed, equally licensed, similar to me, calls on that same person with the same value proposition. Given all things being equal, I would think relatability just simply is. We have more in common because of our likeness than we do because of any differences.

Right? So I've always said that I think the mirror and matching, which is actually a tool used in sales and connection. Right. The mirror and matching works, right. But why haven't the companies jumped behind this movement?

I mean, I watch still the industry and it's the good old like let's here's where we're going to do. Right. So why is the industry stubborn in our space and not moving in that direction? Just an observation from you. And then I'll ask Bianca because she deals on the other side too, on the political side too.

And just why is it so, I guess, why is this pill so hard to swallow? And then why is it not being embraced on a global level, even an industry level? What are your thoughts around that?

Lindsey Lewis: 20:36

Yeah. So going off of the first comment around women seeking financial professionals, there are often where women are not seeking for financial advisors at all. Right. And so they may look for someone who has had similar lived experience to them. But really they the top two things personalization and customization for clients and trust.

And so. They may look for someone. What is very interesting around an advisor study is that it's like eye contact right. So for financial advisors out there, financial professionals out there, if you do have a hetero couple that comes in male, female, whoever of the advisor, they're still spending 60% of their eye contact time on the, on the on the man in the room. So it really is like, how do we I'm in yoga teacher training.

So how do we shift our focus on the women in our lives? And so it is really that cognitive effort. As for the companies and the firms that I work with, I do feel like a lot of them are well-intended, and a lot of them try to do stuff about getting more women into the industry. However, frequently they may be resistant to change their business model, and the business model was built and established on how things operated, you know, 20 years ago, 30 years ago and have proven to be successful from a monetary aspect. Right?

So those institutions are still making a lot of money. And until that pain point, and even us as individuals, right, until we experience some sort of pain point, it's really hard to make a proactive change. So we have this like impending wealth transfer. And you know, the stats out there that 70% of widows file fire their financial professional within 24 months. So it's like and so those folks pass away and some of that wealth starts moving.

They're not experiencing the pain or potential pain that could happen. You also see you know, they have proven to be successful in the current landscape. And so until the rising generation, you know, changes how work life integration looks like or, you know, have consumer demand shift. I feel like it's really hard for these institutions to make change that is on a big scale, you know, for some of the smaller orgs. Right?

I like to compare them to like a small vessel, like boating vessel. Right. They can like shift around and like we got these big yachts. Right. And so it's like turning the yacht is going to take a lot of work and a lot of effort.

And it isn't until you experience like a big storm or some sort of, You know, natural disaster. They're like, oh no, we got to like shift course quite a bit. So I will say the institutions that we partner with really do try, but obviously based on statistics and the percentages of women within the industry over the last two decades, like the valiant efforts aren't pushing the needle. So it's like, how can we rethink this and make the industry more accessible and more attractive to the rising generation? So, and, you know, diverse communities and underrepresented communities.

So I am very hopeful, despite kind of the headwinds that we're experiencing. There's some like good efforts out there. But it's a long road. I have a daughter who is three. And so I'm like, maybe by the time she reaches adulthood, it will be a little bit easier for her to become a financial professional.

So, Bianca, I will turn it over to you.

Chris Gandy: 24:20

Well, I'll come, Bianca, before you go. It's tough. It's tough. Right. And so help.

Right. Would be would be fantastic from other sources. Right. To help prop up or promote these endeavors. But like you said, if the money's good and you know that there's no what I call no need to change, then there's no change, right?

And so if that's going to affect our bottom line, we're uncertain. Then it creates uncertainty and uncertainty. And then at the end of the day, why take that chance if unless we have to. Right. And so it's almost like a loss leader there.

But Bianca, sorry about that. I just wanted to comment on that. But those were great. Those were great comments.

Bianca Alonso Weiss: 25:08

Yes. Lindsey, I love everything that you just said. And, you know, just from a like just from the perspective that I see, you know, being in the government relations space. You know, I, I like at the, at our women's Fly-In a few weeks ago during the panel there was a comment there. There was a comment made that reference to this profession, the financial planning profession as a caregiving profession.

And, and I've been in, you know, working in this space for upwards of six years and I and like I had never thought about it from that perspective. And it is so, so true. You know what? Like, like traditionally women are like women are the ones who, you know, who handle, you know, run, you know, the running of the home and taking care of the kids and essentially, you know, like, like caregiving. And they're and they're not all and traditionally Additionally, they're like they haven't always been involved in finances and conversations around financial stability.

And in the past, you know, I mean, in at least in my lifetime, I have seen a huge shift from, from that, you know, from that, I guess, traditional mindset to, to, you know, to, to seeing a rise in women in leadership positions. There there's currently a record number of women serving in, in public office these days on both the state and federal levels. The female, you know, demographic lit. You know, lit lives longer, earn or earns less and are often, you know, I guess expected to take breaks during their career to be caregivers, whether it's to a family member or their or their children or what have you. And so I think helping people and by extension, you know, companies focus on the, on, on, on the messaging that financial stability is for everyone and, and everyone has or that I'm sorry that everyone has the ability to access that that financial stability is huge and kind of going and that kind of brings me back to, to a comment that I think you just made, Lindsey that that, you know, marketing and like the, the marketing and, and messaging that, that, that these companies have, you know, have put out it's typically been geared towards men.

And while I understand, you know, you got to run a business. You got to, you know, bring in that revenue and keep and keep and keep that bottom line where you want it to be. I really do encourage companies to I mean, it's not even it's not even like taking a risk, but just kind of kind of just really see like taking the time to see that the times are shifting and that and, and that, you know, as, as the, as the younger generation enters, enters the workforce, we and I'm and I'm lumping myself here. We crave that stability. We crave that relatability.

We want to work with people that have similar life experiences as we are going through. And so with that, I, I, I really believe that you know that in this, you know, policy shift that we've seen in the past couple of months. I don't think this, this rise in women being in leadership and leadership positions and, you know, moving up in their careers, I don't think that is going to stop. And in that, I think it's going to be more crucial than ever to ensure that financial stability is attainable for all.

Lindsey Lewis: 29:50

You bring up so many important points there. I love that you said this profession is really about caregiving, right? We show that our advisors who are successful, they get into this to help and serve folks, especially for women clients at any point. So 90% of women will be their primary financial decision maker at some point in their lifetime, right? So that could be prior to being married.

Maybe they don't get partnered. Maybe they have a spouse who's disabled or passes away. You have underemployed people, right? So women are going to be in control of their finances. And you brought up a point where women are typically they're more geared towards the consumer spending side.

So a lot of budgetary items for households and for families are led by women. So what's important for women is to continue to keep a responsibility as it relates to investing, right. So where you have more of the wealth gap is within the investing wealth gap. You have a wealth, you have the gender pay gap, which leads to the investing wealth gap, which then leads to the retirement wealth gap. Right.

So women can see, you know, about a third less so two-thirds of what a man retires with is what a woman's retiring with. And then they're living potentially longer. So. Right. If both spouses are alive today at age 65, there's a 50% chance that one of them is living to age 90.

So you are getting paid less, you know, have less for retirement, living longer and abdicating financial responsibility to someone else. So it is really important. And I think that's the crucial role that advisors across genders can play for these women is making sure they don't abdicate that financial investing responsibility to someone else completely, right? They need to have a pulse on it. And you keep bringing up the women's flying, which I have been trying to go to for three years and have had scheduling conflicts.

And so I'm like, next year is the year. Yes, really. It's so important to have that advocacy for your legislators. There are things that are happening, and I know sometimes it can feel like things are out of your control, which there are many things that are out of your control. But having those conversations and finding areas that we can have bipartisan alignment on, because there are many issues that will affect the rising generation, individuals who have special needs women.

Women are more likely to be caregivers. So 70 to 80% of caregivers are women, right? So we have way more women are about caregiving. And so I think what's really important, as well as the financial stability component, and we have a research study here at the college called the Retirement Income Literacy Survey. And there's like one stat in there that like, women fail more than men, but like both men and women fail the retirement income literacy survey.

So if you are abdicating responsibility to, let's say, a male spouse, they are also failing at it, right? So they don't have more knowledge. They just have overconfidence. So it is really important to become educated. And one tool and resource that we have here at the American College is our Know Yourself, Grow Your Wealth program, which is a complimentary financial wellness program that individuals can go through.

We're also launching a retirement course, which is for all individuals to understand their landscape as it relates to retirement. And really what we know is knowledge is power and so is money. Money is power. So as women become more educated, as all individuals become more educated around their financial wellness, that is when they become more powerful. And that is where you can achieve that financial stability.

And sometimes it's difficult where people will just, like, hide under the rug because they just don't want to know. But one time I was traveling in Europe and I got lost in Prague. Right? And I ended up finding these individuals. And I was like, where am I on this map?

And they're like, you're not even on this map. You're over here. So it was actually really good for me to know that I'm no longer on the map in order to get back on the map, to know where I'm going. And the same thing can relate to yourself as it relates to financial knowledge and financial well-being. Let's say you're totally off the map, but at least you know you're off the map.

And then you can have the mile markers and the Guideposts to get you back in alignment. And that is the role of a financial professional. And that is the opportunity and the excitement and encouragement for all individuals to join financial services, but especially for women and underrepresented groups.

Chris Gandy: 34:33

You know, it sounds like you guys have just put out tons of knowledge. And if people are listening to this podcast, you have two very, very dynamic and different. Right. Young women who are in our space in the financial service space, adding value a different way. Go back and listen to some of the nuggets that they were able to share.

Because if you're thinking about growing your business, building your business, and developing your business. If you look at your current clientele and you say, oh, they're 99% male, you might want to now look at a different strategy because it's a fact that women outlive men. That's not in some situations that does not happen, right? That's a fact. And it's also a fact that they tend to make more logical decisions than men on things that matter for more than just them themselves.

Right? They think about other things other than themselves. Right. And so that's not a statistic that we have to fight. And so if we understand that, that means that when we start to take a step back and look at this thing, we have to embrace opportunity not only for all, but we've got to embrace the dynamic is just changed.

So I'm going to ask this question to all. Why is change so hard? Why is it so hard? I mean it's okay. It is what it is. Let's just change it. Right? Why is it so hard for people to change?

Lindsey Lewis: 36:10

I mean, I think you're asking a life question here, but from my lived experience and like seeing others, humans love homeostasis. They love knowing and having certainty. And so for institutions. Right. We know what it is.

Right. We implement change. It introduces volatility. If we look at financial markets right. You add a level of uncertainty.

What happens to the stock market those days. Let me tell you it's typically a red arrow pointing down right. So humans love consistency. They love doing that. But in order for us to have evolution within the world right.

How did we go from a horse to a carriage to a car to a plane to, who knows, going to outer space on commercial flights, right? It was someone who took a leap of faith and made that adjustment. And there are going to be trials and errors and things that fall apart in that process. But I think it really is having the courage to make that adjustment. One thing that I think that's so important is like, what can I control as an individual?

And so some things that I've implemented in my life, I've read like a book called Designing Your Life. And so you create different prototypes of what you want your life to look like, and you make little adjustments and little changes, and then you're like, oh, that does fit or it doesn't fit. And you could do the same things with businesses, right? We can make a marketing campaign that is for women and perhaps it flops. Okay.

Was it because of what the campaign looked like, or does it look like who our audience is? I think it's just really important. And as a financial professional, if you're listening to this, the resources that I shared, the Know Yourself, Grow Your Wealth program and the retirement course, those are amazing client activations, right? To get your clients Re-engage. For me, an educated client is my ideal client, right?

Because they get it, then I'm spending probably less time, you know, coaxing them off of the ledge when we have market volatility and we're talking more time about their goals, their ambitions, their dreams, like what they want to do and quote unquote change in their life. Right. So for the individuals that are listening, if you are looking to adopt a change in your practice, perhaps we have a client event where you host a virtual workshop around financial wellness. April is Financial Literacy month. It's a perfect little way to squeeze it in there.

You could offer them a complementary know yourself, grow your wealth course or the retirement course and you can help make a meaningful little change there. So I think folks just like the same and certainty and don't want to get out of being comfortable. And you know, that's why the society like, needs a little nudge, a little, you know, push against the inertia. But I absolutely do think people can change, grow and adapt, and the industry has the ability to do the same.

Bianca Alonso Weiss: 39:07

I absolutely agree. As someone that really loves her comfort zone and loves being able to control the variables around them, I, I, I won't. I wouldn't say that I am resistant to change, but I am the person that will ask like a, b, c, c, d, e questions to, like to figure out okay, if I, if I, if I make this change, whatever it may be, what will be the ramifications of it? What are the pros and cons. What is the ROI?

Like that's just how my mind works. And I will say that in the times in my life where I have made a change or whether, well, whether it's relocating from my hometown of the DC area to Austin, Texas to kind of do something different and leave everyone that I've ever known. And, you know, I will say that like it was utterly terrifying leaving my home of 28 years to go to a go to, to go to a city, a great city, but nonetheless a brand new city where I knew no one and just and was like, you know, let's see how this pans out. And it was while in Austin that I found NAIFA and I have been employed by NAIFA for almost six years now. So and so it's just, you know, I tell I tell that story to essentially convey that, that, that if you are someone like me that, that that enjoys, that enjoys the confines of their comfort and like just and just being able to control, control everything around you, it's so much easier said than done.

But it's okay to take a risk and relinquish some control, because the last thing that you want in life is be sitting there like sometime down the line being like, God, I wonder what my life would have been or what or what my path would have been if I did not make this one choice.

Lindsey Lewis: 41:17

So yeah, the regrets of the dying is that they wish they would have taken more risks.

Bianca Alonso Weiss: 41:25

Yeah.

Chris Gandy: 41:26

You know, we're going to go to the lightning round here in a second, but I'll kind of wrap up this section a little bit. And on a couple just listening to the two of you. You know, the idea, you know, to summarize some of that is one of my mentors told me a long time ago, you gotta let go to grow. Okay. So we try as a personalities, right to kind of control a lot of things.

And uncertainty makes cowards of us all. So it allows for us to sit with the discomfort of being uncertain and knowing that change is evolution, right? Change is inevitable. And so one of the challenges with change, as you mentioned, is it creates uncertainty. It creates volatility.

But also is we as human beings. Right. We are habitual and we create good habits and bad habits and they're equally as addictive as. And so the reason why I like ice cream so much is because I grew up as a kid and I didn't get it. So now I get ice cream anytime I get a chance.

I know it's not good for my key, and I know it's not good for my lactose-intolerant self. And I know it's not good for all these things. But at the end of the day, I'm human. Okay, so at the end of the day, I think people need to take a look at the industry financial services and understand that it's the goal is that we want to help people show up as the best version of themselves financially, regardless of what it looked like before we got here. Right.

And I just think it's very exciting that this moment is being highlighted even this month. But I think a true industry change is this is a part of the DNA of financial services going forward. I don't know if that makes sense. Maybe I'm out, I'm out, I'm out, I'm out in land. Maybe it's the final four.

And, you know, my team has already lost and I'm losing here. But you guys are great. Both great guests. Lindsey, can you just really quickly highlight. Where in the world would I find this at the American college?

I mean, is this something that's on the. You know, when I go to an American college, I Google American college and go, what? I mean, give us give me a track.

Lindsey Lewis: 43:48

The American college.edu. And then if you go to the centers of Excellence, you Excellence. You can go to the center for women and then launching soon will be more information about our representation. Strategic focus area is about how we envision the financial services industry moving forward with rising leaders and career changers. And so definitely take a look there.

You can find me on LinkedIn. Lindsey Lewis, CFP. And I would love to connect. I keep my calendar open for conversations. I love to chat with new folks and talk about the future of the industry and the profession.

Chris Gandy: 44:22

Awesome. So and then also last thing is that you mentioned a study on the industry. Is that available on the on at the American.

Lindsey Lewis: 44:32

Yeah. Our Traits of Successful Advisors Study is available on the website. You can also find our retirement income literacy survey. And coming soon we have Gen Z's perception of financial services that will be launching the fall of 2025. And that will really help us get a deep dive into why folks are not interested in financial services.

Chris Gandy: 44:55

Well, that'll be interesting. We'll have to have you back. So I know our engineer behind the scenes, Zach. Mad man, you know, reminds me of the Mad Men, the movie, the show. You know, he will help us.

We'll have to have you back and to talk about the findings. Right. What's there? We want to hot off the presses before the day it launches. We need you on here talking about because we want to be first.

We want to be proactive. We want to be the voice. We want to be where people go for information and knowledge about what's happening in our industry. So anything else for the greater good. Bianca, before we go to the lightning round.

Bianca Alonso Weiss: 45:35

No, I'm. I'm ready for the lightning round.

Chris Gandy: 45:38

I'm sure Bianca probably has some questions for you, as she's been working on probably for at least a week, so I'll start it off. So, Lindsey, this is how it works, is that at the end of the day, people want to know you. They want to know who you are. They want to know what you're all about. And again, it's just whatever comes to mind at first.

That is the answer. Don't overthink it. Right. And they're often questions that you already know. Okay. So we'll start off with like your favorite show that you're watching or your favorite show that you like right now. What is it?

Lindsey Lewis: 46:08

So I'm actually watching Sex and the City for the first time ever. That is what I'm watching. But my favorite show of all time is Schitt's Creek. So.

Chris Gandy: 46:16

Okay. Got it. Your favorite food?

Lindsey Lewis: 46:19

I would say salmon. That's the first thing that came to my mind, but. Sure.

Chris Gandy: 46:26

Okay. Your most favorite place you've gone on vacation?

Lindsey Lewis: 46:30

Oh, the south of France, hands down. Nice. France did a study abroad. There. Would live there tomorrow.

Chris Gandy: 46:36

Okay, great. Great. Okay. See? So those were easy.

Okay, so we'll get into some harder ones. Okay. You ready? So if you could go back and tell your 21 year old self Something about your career. What would you tell? What advice would you give yourself?

Lindsey Lewis: 46:53

I would tell her to become a village architect. And this is one idea that I have around building folks around you. Often in our lives, we put a lot of weight into one person or a few different individuals in our life, and we're, like, multifaceted. And so if something falls apart with that relationship or that friendship, then we can get really sad. And so I look at my life with nine different dimensions.

I'll go through a couple of them. I don't have them all memorized, but like social, environmental, occupational, financial, emotional, physical. So it's like finding someone in each of those facets of your life to help and support you. And you can't use the same person for multiple dimensions. And I think this isn't so important for me, because growing up, I struggled a lot with mental health.

And so when something would fall apart, like all of the castle would crumble. And so now I have more diversification like you would have an investment strategy with different individuals. So I call it becoming a village architect in a modern world.

Chris Gandy: 47:59

Got it. Your proudest moment in the financial services industry?

Lindsey Lewis: 48:04

I received Investment News Female Trailblazer of the year last fall, and I've had it on my vision board since 2020 and have really worked tirelessly for the last five years to make that happen. And so that is my biggest accomplishment thus far.

Chris Gandy: 48:22

Well, we've only just begun. In the last question I have for you, maybe Bianca has one for you, but if you could go back and have dinner with one person, whether they're alive or they've passed away, could be a celebrity. It could be somebody in your family. It could be whoever you want. You can go back and have dinner with someone.

Who would it be and why?

Lindsey Lewis: 48:39

This question always resonates so many emotions with me because I see this with kids. The videos and kids are just like, I would want my grandma or my mom, you know? And so part of me is like with my kids. But the first initial person that came to mind is Eleanor Roosevelt. I feel like she was really one of the pioneers and one of, you know, women's rights and women's advocacy and empowerment at large.

Had a lot of say in the governmental space. So Eleanor Roosevelt, my family or my grandma Eleanor, but probably Eleanor Roosevelt.

Chris Gandy: 49:14

Awesome. Bianca, do you have one for her?

Bianca Alonso Weiss: 49:17

I do. Okay. So we love TV, right? And so my question for you is, if you had to be on any TV show, scripted or unscripted, what show would you want to be on?

Lindsey Lewis: 49:33

Yeah, scripted would be Suits or Pearson. One of those iteration. Unscripted would be The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. I love that you said that. I know.

Bianca Alonso Weiss: 49:46

This is coming back.

Lindsey Lewis: 49:46

But I can't take it back. I can't take it back. But. Yes.

Bianca Alonso Weiss: 49:50

No, no, it makes me happy that that's out there now. And season two is coming up, I think, in May. So I'm very excited about.

Lindsey Lewis: 49:57

Correct.

Bianca Alonso Weiss: 49:58

Yeah.

Chris Gandy: 49:58

So now we have to ask Bianca that same question.

Bianca Alonso Weiss: 50:01

Oh, easy. Okay. So scripted. Veep. What was it on HBO or Showtime?

But it was with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. And she. And she plays like the first female vice president of the of the United States. It was on for like 6 or 7 seasons. One of the best shows, I think, that has been made in recent time and unscripted.

I think I've thought about this a lot, and I think the one reality show that I think I would be really good at is The Amazing Race.

Lindsey Lewis: 50:40

Oh, absolutely. You'd crush it.

Chris Gandy: 50:42

Wow.

Bianca Alonso Weiss: 50:43

My type A my high functioning anxiety, my over preparedness. I think it will lead me to the million dollars. Well.

Chris Gandy: 50:55

You know, the Amazing Race. You have to have partners. Bianca, you know.

Bianca Alonso Weiss: 50:59

Oh, well. Yes.

Chris Gandy: 51:00

Amazing.

Lindsey Lewis: 51:00

Volunteer. I volunteer.

Chris Gandy: 51:01

As tribute.

Bianca Alonso Weiss: 51:02

Lindsey and I got this. We will. We will represent the financial services world domination. Yes.

Chris Gandy: 51:10

All right. Well, we have come to the end. So Miss Lindsey is listening. Do you have any words of wisdom, anything you would like to share with the contingency of Napa?

Lindsey Lewis: 51:23

Absolutely. So for our Napa folks, just remember how important applied knowledge relates to your clients and offering them the best service possible. As your clients are happy, you're more happy. We all make more money, have more fun. So just remember that.

Chris Gandy: 51:39

It's Bianca for the greater good. Do you have anything for our constituents at for our colleagues?

Bianca Alonso Weiss: 51:45

No, no, no, I think we covered a lot of ground today and I love I love this conversation. Thank you, Lindsey, for joining us. And I and I look forward for the next time we have you on.

Lindsey Lewis: 51:58

I'm excited to be there.

Chris Gandy: 52:00

So part two tune in. So everyone out there nation for nation. This is the revamp. This is what it looks like. This is the world as we live it.

This is the change. We decided that we were going to move in a different direction on purpose, and be purposeful and mindful of our efforts and our thoughts and our behaviors. And this is allowing us to tap into resources that we have not tapped into in the past. So if you have an opportunity to rewind the tape and listen to Lindsey and the words that she had today, she had some great words as it dealt with including individuals and actually change and the importance of embracing the opportunity. And so she talked a little bit about that.

She talked about the resources that American College and the opportunity. And we also found out that she was a highly nominated right person on investment news. So we're super excited. I can't wait to read the article. If you're on the cover.

I look forward to reading that and hearing more about that. NAIFA Nation, thanks for tuning in to advisor today's podcast, where we give you the voice of what's happening in the industry to make us all better so we can be collectively in a better place and a better resource for our clients moving forward. Have a great day and we'll see you next week. Same time, same place. Thanks for tuning in to Advisor Today Podcast.

Outro: 53:24

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