0:00:00 - Speaker 1
Discussions in this show should not be construed as specific recommendations or investment advice. Always consult with your investment professional before making important investment decisions. Securities offered through registered representatives of Cambridge Investment Research Inc. A broker-dealer member, finra, sipc Advisory services through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. A registered investment advisor Cambridge and Greenway Wealth Advisory are not affiliated.

0:00:20 - Speaker 2
It's time to dive into some insider secrets of investing and retirement planning. To make your retirement as smart and as elegant as possible. This is Money Chic with Sherry Rash.

0:00:31 - Speaker 3
Hey everybody, welcome into the podcast. Thanks for tuning in to Money Chic Insider Secrets about Women and Money. We're going to be talking investing, finance and retirement here on this podcast with Sherry Rash, who's a financial advisor and money coach at Greenway Wealth Advisory. Looking forward to doing this too. This is going to be a really exciting show for me to get into and talk with Sherry. So welcome in. How are you?

0:00:53 - Speaker 4
Doing great. How are you, Mark?

0:00:55 - Speaker 3
I'm doing fantastic. Thanks for having me on your show. I appreciate it. I like doing podcasts. This is going to be really exciting to talk about this from this angle. I love the title too Money Chic. That's fantastic. Are you Money Chic, right? So you've got this down as confident, healthy, informed and capable. I think that's a great way of looking at that. So I'm really looking forward to this. How'd you come up with that idea?

0:01:15 - Speaker 4
I found that we could be one of those things or two of those things, but to be all of them. Not many people check that. Not many women especially, check those boxes. Okay, so my mission is really to empower my clients, especially my female clients, to have a healthy relationship with money, to be confident when it comes to their money decisions, be informed in whatever way they desire to be informed about their money and really have the know-how to feel empowered when it comes to making financial decisions.

0:01:54 - Speaker 3
That's awesome. I really like that approach. So that's what we're going to talk about, really, this. First go around here on our initial launch of the podcast, if you will, and so let's just talk about the business, you and your clients just a little bit. What does it mean to you to be a financial advisor? We were chatting briefly before we got started and you were telling me some really interesting stuff that you've wanted to do this for quite a while and you've been in the industry for a number of years. So what does it kind of mean to you?

0:02:20 - Speaker 4
It means to me making an impact in people's lives in whichever way they want me to. To make an impact helping my clients achieve their goals, giving them confidence in a space that they've never had confidence before. So I enjoy the ability to educate my clients and empowering them when it comes to their money.

0:02:46 - Speaker 2
Okay.

0:02:46 - Speaker 4
All right. Well, how did you get?

0:02:48 - Speaker 3
the business to begin with.

0:02:49 - Speaker 4
I actually graduated college with a finance degree, which and I wanted to be an advisor which many advisors don't end up with that in that track. So I graduated, I wanted to be an advisor. I knew that that was my goal in my end game and I started. I started to meet with clients, sit down with clients and get myself out there. But it probably isn't surprising to hear that most people don't want to turn their life savings over to a 23-year-old fresh out of school. So I had a little bit of a hard time there and rent was due and you know I had to make a tough decision. But I actually got into a different side of financial services I didn't even know existed.

I ended up working for a very large annuity company in a position of what's called Wholesaler. So I would work with advisors and I would educate them on the products. I would do case development with them. Sometimes I would even sit down with their clients and meet with their clients and that was my way of kind of creating a happy medium. I still was dealing with clients, I still was helping them with their money, but I was also helping advisors as well, and then I ended up, after a few years of doing that, moving to another company and doing the same thing, but more on the investment side. But I always had the desire and the kind of bug in my ear of still not giving up on what I originally wanted to do, which was to be an advisor, have my own firm and serve, service the public in that capacity.

0:04:36 - Speaker 3
Yeah, thank you.

0:04:37 - Speaker 4
After 13 years of waking up in different cities every day and thousands and thousands of miles on the road, I then made my 23 year old dream a reality and started Greenway Wealth Advisory. And here I am.

0:04:54 - Speaker 3
That's awesome. Yeah, I, you know. It's so funny that that happens often to us in life, right, we, we have a passion, we want to do something. We come out of school or whatever, and maybe, just depending on what the career is, we're a little too young or fresh-faced maybe, and so in this industry, definitely, I Can certainly see where folks are like you know what, that's great, but you're so young, looking right, you just it's very interesting and you're right, I do talk with a lot of advisors all across the country, and many of them kind of don't always want to be an advice. They kind of fall into it or they get headed in a different direction. So that's really cool that you know. You've kind of known that for really a long time that this is what you wanted to do. What do you like most, then, about actually being a being a money coach?

0:05:35 - Speaker 4
I like the word money coach, first of all because I kind of consider myself the anti-advisor. I'm not a Dude in a suit, I am a mom, I'm a woman, I don't wear a suit, I wear t-shirts and jeans, and I try to avoid most Industry jargon when I'm talking to clients as well. So by using the word money coach it, I think, what's people at ease and also sets an expectation of what are we going to do. I'm going to coach you with the best ways to Invest your money, or think about your money. I'm going to set goals with you and we're going to put a plan in place to achieve them. We're not talking about performance or rates of return. We're talking about using your money as a way to achieve those goals. So that's what I enjoy about thinking of myself as a money coach versus just an advisor.

0:06:32 - Speaker 3
That's awesome. I really really do like that actually quite a bit. So you know it's it's definitely a good, refreshing approach to things, and I think there's more of that is certainly needed. So I'm really excited to be doing this with you. So what does it look like then for you, sherry? With it it comes to planning. What does it look like for your clients, I suppose?

0:06:51 - Speaker 4
Yeah, what? When I'm talking with my clients, I get that this concept can be overwhelming, or the concept of financial planning can be overwhelming. So I really want to create more of a goals-based approach. So, by asking my clients, what do you want to achieve? Tell me your goals. They don't have to be cut and dried. It could be more abstract, but obviously I want to pay for my kids education that's a big one. I want to retire Well, what does that look like? And by asking more questions and getting and painting a picture with the client of what their retirement can look like or what their goals are, are really how I create my plans. A financial plan. If you look at what a financial plan is with an advisor, it's a huge stack of paper with a lot of numbers, a lot of words, and usually when the plan is presented, the client puts it on the shelf and doesn't look at it again.

0:07:50 - Speaker 3
Right.

0:07:52 - Speaker 4
I want, you know, my clients to know, that through our financial planning process, which I call wealth coaching, they're actually serving a purpose and the goals are measurable. So when we are working through our journey together, we're checking off different boxes. Hey, I was able to pay for my son's college education because of my work with Shari, where, if I didn't have that strategy in place with her, or if I didn't express that goal with her, I might not have been able to achieve it or I might not have known the steps I need to take in order to achieve it. So to me, the financial planning and the process it's continuous, it never ends and once we get rid of one goal, another goal usually inevitably pops up after that. So it's a cycle. So, constantly checking in, talking with the clients, evaluating what are your goals, what's coming up, what are we going to achieve now?

0:08:50 - Speaker 3
Yeah, that's a great way of looking at it, because it doesn't have to be to your point. You know, a financial plan doesn't have to be war and peace. It doesn't have to be this massive, thick thing that you throw in the shelf or the financial drunk drawer and never touch again. It should ebb and flow. It should kind of live and breathe, like you do, because you're going to change, hopefully through your retirement years. Right, just like we changed the rest of time of our life, hopefully we're going to evolve a bit more through our golden years and our plan should be able to adapt and ebb and flow with us.

0:09:18 - Speaker 4
That's exactly right.

0:09:19 - Speaker 3
Yeah, that's a great way of looking at that. Well, that's a little bit about the business. Let's shift gears and talk just about you for a little bit real quick. You and I were chatting briefly before we kicked off the podcast here. We have some South Jersey connections there a little bit, so we had some formative years in South Jersey and so I think any folks that are familiar with that kind of accent will hear that a little bit in your voice, which I've always, always love. I always hear I don't have it. I live there for a number of years but for whatever reason, I never adopted it. I don't know why.

0:09:48 - Speaker 4
That's not a bad thing, that's okay yeah that's what my nephew says.

0:09:51 - Speaker 3
He's still in that area as well. But tell us one thing about you, sherry, that you might want people to know that are going to be listening to the podcast. Folks that might, you know, tune into this and enjoy this.

0:10:00 - Speaker 4
Well, I think the one thing that people's jaws usually hit the floor when I tell them is that I have four children and that's yeah. So I have two older girls and I have twin babies. So I get that life is hectic and life is crazy and that's the fun of it. But you that's usually one of the most interesting things people find about me is my, my crew crew.

0:10:28 - Speaker 3
There you go. That's certainly a lot to keep you busy, that's for sure. I have the one, and that was a challenge. She's all grown now, but that was a challenge, so I can't imagine four. So hats off. Kudos to you, indeed, for doing that and having a business as well. I was going to ask you what your typical weekend looks like, but now I might know with two little ones there.

0:10:48 - Speaker 4
It's, it's shuffling to different sporting activities and play dates, and all of that If there's not much relaxation, that's for sure.

0:10:59 - Speaker 3
Well, we'll get into that, We'll find some ways to make sure we do that as well, and we'll talk about that, because I think really what I want people to kind of learn from this initial podcast is what do you want our listeners to gain from the content on this show?

0:11:13 - Speaker 4
I want the listeners to gain the comfort to know that money doesn't have to be a big, scary, hairy monster. I tell my clients that money is neutral. You know it's. It's not positive or negative and a lot of times the connotations that people have with money are from past experiences, your environment, how you were raised, and that determines what your opinion is about money. But money is neutral. It's not positive nor negative it's, it's a tool.

0:11:51 - Speaker 3
I was just going to say. I was like, do you say, do you view it as a tool or a vehicle? A lot of times I refer to it as a vehicle to help you get somewhere.

0:11:58 - Speaker 4
Exactly, exactly. It's a tool to accomplish things, and knowing how to use that tool and that's the problem is that a lot of people don't know how to use the tool to get them to where they want to be. And that's the purpose that I look to serve. Well, good.

0:12:15 - Speaker 3
Yeah, I think that's gonna be a good way to do it and I like the fact that we're going to talk about a lot of different topics. We're going to try to keep this to your point. Your, your mom and jeans and a t shirt.

You said earlier, right, so we're going to try to keep this, I think, informative, educational and hopefully you'll get useful nuggets or two out of this as folks, as you're listening to the podcast and as you start to find this and great thing about podcasting is you can always go back and listen to past episodes. You can catch up on something that you maybe wanted to learn more about. Maybe if you caught it a little bit here or there, you didn't have time to really focus in on it. You can always follow up on things, and so that's a really good little tool I think that we've created as a society with these podcasts in general. So we'll wrap it up this.

First. Go around with one more question for you, and when you mentioned the word tool, when it comes to how to use money, it's a tool to do something. So then, who would your ideal listener or client type of person be? Someone who needs help understand, like you know, a lot of times you'll you'll hear something like if, if all you have, you know, as a hammer, everything looks like a nail right, and so a lot of advisors kind of have had that mentality where, hey, it's wedge everybody into this one kind of thing. So how would you kind of, how would you kind of say your ideal listener, I suppose.

0:13:27 - Speaker 4
I want to talk to women that are like me. I want women that want to learn a little bit more about money to tune in. I want to be in your earbuds when you're cleaning up after dinner or when you're running errands or going around town dropping the kids off at various places. I listen to podcasts all the time and I have a rule that 50% of my time has to be educational podcasts and the other 50% is talking about the garbage reality TV that I watch and I have the most I enjoy learning from these podcasts and I always pick up a little nugget of information. So I want to talk to the mom that is, you know, running around on running around and doing her errands, that maybe is curious about something or has questions, or doesn't feel fulfilled in the knowledge that she has, or feels a little bit lost when it comes to how to match the household finances or her investments, or is she on track saving for her kids' education? That's who I want to talk to and help enlighten and empower.

0:14:40 - Speaker 3
Well, I think that's a great way of looking at it and I'm looking forward to doing that as well. I was raised. I was raised with my dad for a number of years and I was raised by just my mom for a number of years. My wife and I are one child, our one daughter, and so the way we approached a lot of things in our financial life and with our money has been different than I think a lot of other couples have done. So it would be really nice to kind of have back and forth and some interesting conversation on that and share some ideas and hopefully, to both of our points, provide some useful nuggets of information to folks out there that might need a little help or might need a different viewpoint when it comes to their financial health and wealth and, of course, their money, and so I think that's going to do it for this. First go around here on Money Chic Insider Secrets about Women and Money, sherri thanks for hanging out with me.

Thank you, I appreciate the time. I'm looking forward to doing more of these. So, folks, if you've got some questions, if you're hearing this first initial podcast, you want to learn more. You're going to be able to find us on Apple, google, spotify, iheart, stitcher, all that good kind of stuff. There'll also be a way to do that from Sherri's website, which is GreenwayWealthAdvisorycom. Greenwaywealthadvisorycom. And, as always, anytime you hear anything on any kind of financial programming, like ours or any others, always check with a qualified professional before you take any action. You can reach out to Sherri at 703-255-2808. That's 703-255-2808. But for now we're going to let you go. Have a great week, enjoy yourself and we'll talk to you soon here on Money Chic.

0:16:23 - Speaker 1
Thank you.