Last year, we were pleased to announce that we’d become Longmont’s first Certified B Corp, and today, the only local B Corp located in Longmont (we do have a neighboring B Corp headquartered out of state). Now, we’re not the only one in Boulder County nor the entire state of Colorado, but the announcement last year was certification as proof of something we’ve held fairly close as a practice and firm since day one: Impact on people’s lives, not the bottom line, is the most important thing to us.
But this sort of declaration is the kind of corporate double-speak you get used to living in America. As Bo Burnham put it in the song “That Funny Feeling”: In honor of the revolution, it’s half-off at The Gap. Yet, when we completed our B Corp assessment, our three highest categories of impact were Workers, Community, and Customers. In today’s blog, I’m talking about why I find it easier than not as a financial planner whose job it is to help people live their best lives, to help the community do the same.
Personal Financial Planning is More Personal than Financial
That might come as a surprise to some readers, and others might laugh knowingly. When I first got into the world of financial planning, I was quite taken in by the austere and fashionable exterior of the world. Do a Google image search for “Financial Planner” and you’ll see endless stock imagery of people in suits shaking hands over piles of spreadsheets or across desks. Do another of “Financial Advisor” and you’ll find more stock imagery of couples talking to a man or woman in a suit, smiling gleefully at what must be the world’s most exciting performance report.
Yet, as time went on, I came to realize that fashionable trappings like owning two different BMW 4s were more the domain of the financial product salesforce than of financial planners. Real financial planners, as I came to know them, often had more of a “Patagonia-and-Jeans” aesthetic. And no matter how hard I tried to make it so, it just never came to pass that “the numbers” were more meaningful than what people really wanted to do. It didn’t matter if this strategy or tactic was going to ensure you died a multi-millionaire; it was never the money that mattered, but what people wanted out of their lives, which we were responsible for helping with.
The phrase for this section, “Personal financial planning is more personal than financial,” is paraphrased from many like statements, but I’ve found it to be remarkably true. Just yesterday a client was telling me that they’re expecting their second child, but not to worry, they’re planning on telling their parents and friends in a few weeks. Another client was discussing how to establish a benefits program that could be extended at no-or-low-cost to the non-profits in the community. And just this past week, we were fielding consecutive conversations with parents, one who wants to pay for their kid’s college, another who wants to help their erstwhile progeny out of the nest sooner rather than later.
All of these circumstances and situations have financial elements. How much is a second child going to cost us, and how does that affect our other goals? What risks and burdens does creating a community benefit plan have for the organization entertaining the thought? What does it cost to pay for school, or to nudge a duckling out of the nest sooner than later? Yet none of the decisions in these conversations hinged on numbers. Every conversation we had was about the outcomes and how those outcomes reflected the values of each and every client.
When we work with individuals, it’s often a question of how do I best use what time and resources I have available to me to live a better life? When we work with leaders and business owners, it’s often the same question multiplied by the number of people they’re responsible for. “How do I help my team live their best lives?” Frankly, that’s one of the best questions anyone can ask, and we’re privileged to help answer the questions therein.
Corporate Citizenship
Corporate Citizenship is a phrase that reads much like “benevolent tumor” or “heartwarming disease”. History for many, both personal and generational, turns on a legacy of corporate malfeasance and indifference to the needs of an organization’s workforce and community. As we come to the end of Pride Month, rainbow marketing and displays will vanish as if turned to pumpkins at the stroke of midnight as the calendar turns the page from June to July. So, how are we any different?
At MY Wealth Planners, we’ve made it a point to be good citizens of our community first, and “corporate” citizens second (whatever corporate means for a pass-through LLC and four people plus an intern*). This has taken shape in a variety of ways: a mandatory 100 hours of volunteering amongst the planners on the team annually, for which I think Emily is currently on track to more than double individually this year. Spending over 3% of revenue sponsoring local community events such as Unity in the Community and the State of the City. Donating an additional greater-than-1% of revenue to causes such as the Foundation Forward and matching donations as part of fundraisers, non-profit organizations such as Recovery Café.
But it also goes to advocacy for that community. Every member of our team has served on committees and boards, ranging responsibilities between giving scholarships to students to informing public officials on the impacts of tax policy or business regulation on the community. It’s not enough to simply be present and write checks, but to give a voice to our constituency, which we view as the collective ambitions of those in our community to live better lives.
A Fancy Logo Proves Nothing
It’s easy enough to read this and think, “Well, that’s a fancy letter-B logo and a lot of humble bragging, but who cares?” That’s okay. You don’t have to care about things the way we do. Back to numbers never quite being enough and personal financial planning being more personal than financial: you’re welcome to care about what you like. We choose to care about our community, and we try our best to show that through our everyday actions. We hope you’ll do the same, to help not just yourself, but others live their best lives.
*Interns are people too, I suppose.