How to Find a Financial Advisor
How Kaya Ladejobi helps executive women push past fear and shame to freedom and flexibility
I didn’t know I needed a financial advisor, but my mentor - a Black executive from Kraft and board chair for many for-profit organizations -- did.
So, she sent me a financial planning book from Schwab.
When I received the 1,000-page missive. I did then what any self-respecting and well-educated woman of a certain age and means would do: I put it in a box (read: trash) and never looked at it again.
Paula Sneed, philanthropist, Board Member, and friend.
Indeed, a company that required that I have at least $1M in investable assets was not for me - and probably never would until I was old. And not intimidated by possibilities.
I am not old, but I have a financial advisor now—another Black woman.
Kaya Ladejobi is the Founder of Earn Into Wealth. She focuses on an underserved market poised for explosive growth: women without certified financial advisors who are culturally competent. Across the US less than 2% of CFPs are Black.
Since working with Kaya, our family has:
Moved money from the proverbial mattress to shoring up 529 plans, setting aside money (and boundaries) for family giving, and ensuring that the one thing for which no scholarships (retirement) was covered.
Moved to a farm and built a family home.
Made plans to exit one company while starting a venture capital fund.
Helped employees build wealth with additional investments into their 401K (beyond matching).
Moved from talking about money regularly and comfortably with ourselves to talking about it regularly and comfortably with our friends and children.
But these are the surface-level things. The most significant change was a change in my mindset -- from inaction and shame to flexibility and freedom.
Many of us have received messages from society that we are not enough from having our homes undervalued (happened to us) to the expectation that we will tip less than our white peers for worse service, to being denied loans or access to our own money because financial institutions have baked racial discrimination into their systems.
To be clear, access to resources and wealth does not always wash away the stench of unfair treatment. Oprah was once denied entry into an expensive store, and Beyonce and Serena were ignored while giving birth.
It’s also true that we will not eliminate the racial wealth gap in our generation by individual acts. But we can run our leg of this race and pass the baton to each other. To that end, and in honor of Paula Sneed and Kaya Ladejobi, I’m passing on the information that I’ve shared with others:
Kaya Ladejobi. Kaya, Founder of Earn Into Wealth, is not cheap and shouldn’t be. With one right decision, she pays for herself again and again.
Paris Woods. Dr. Woods has written a book helping Black women establish themselves and build wealth.
Facet Wealth. This tech-based solution isn’t something we’ve tried at Offor, so if you use them or plan to, please let us know how they are so we can decide if we should continue to refer them.
May we be a Paula Sneed - may we introduce ideas others are not yet ready for, but which shall grow. May we create space for more Kaya’s and women who do not have to choose between health and wealth.
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