By Ed Vargo
Financial advisors often talk about working with specific groups of people and call it a “niche.” Ask around and you’ll learn “the riches are in the niches” is a common saying in the industry (I know, it’s a bit crude).
At Burning River Advisory Group (BRAG), we specialize in working with single, divorced, and widowed women, but I’d hardly call this a “niche” as women make up 50.6% of the population! (1) Despite this fact, I’ve found women are often overlooked by most financial advisors. Whether it’s old-school thinking about women not handling their own finances or a lack of understanding about the unique financial challenges women face, all too often I’ve met with women who have never had a good experience with a financial advisor.
It shouldn’t be this way. It doesn’t have to be.
We know how to make a difference. But before we get into the “how,” you should first know the “why.” Maya Angelou famously said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
We want you to know our firm’s backstory so you get a “feel” for why we do what we do and for whom. It’s a simple story and starts with a boy and his mother.
Why We Work With Single, Divorced, and Widowed Women
I sometimes get curious looks as to why our firm is focused on working with women, mostly from other financial advisors. The skepticism is understandable. Historically, financial advisors haven’t been a woman’s best friend.
I’ve chosen to work with women for deeply personal reasons. I’ve seen the worst of what can happen when a woman is not in control of her financial life. When my parents divorced, my mom was forced to give up custody of her four young children because she couldn’t take care of us financially. It was devastating to us children, but even more so to her. I often think about that, how my mom was forced to give up the most precious things in her life all because of money. It didn’t have to be that way.
Fast-forward to today and I’m raising five daughters of my own. I’m doing everything in my power to ensure they’re ready to face the challenges before them, ready in a way my mother never was. Whereas my mother’s understanding and utilization of money was a weakness in her life, it will be a strength in my girls’ lives. They will be empowered by money, not weakened by it.
I take these personal experiences into every phone call, email, and interaction with our clients; they’re a constant reminder of the important work we do, why we do it, and who we do it for.
It’s about helping a real, live human being, a woman with hopes, dreams, and aspirations for herself and her family. A woman whose life is directly affected by what we do, and it’s often life-changing.
“What we do” is not about spreadsheets, making the most money, or beating the other guy. It’s about living a fulfilled life, a life of purpose; about a mother trying to raise her children right, a widow terrified she’s going to run out of money now that her husband’s gone, an executive caught up in the rat race, on the edge of burnout, and wondering if there’s a better life out there for her.
For my colleague Melana, it’s about lighting a spark in women so they can experience the type of empowerment that comes from getting your money right. It’s about honoring her mother, who instilled in her the importance of being her own person and not relying on others (financially and otherwise). It’s about being connected with our clients in a meaningful way and working together to help them find the right financial life path.
Who We Serve
We specialize in working with single women, particularly women who have experienced, or are planning for, a significant life event. Whether single by choice, through divorce, or widowhood, we have the expertise to make even the most complicated situations make sense.
Our typical client is a prudent decision-maker looking to partner with someone who understands “her.” She’s looking for experienced, life-centered advisors who care more about her than her money. She thinks beyond herself. She is concerned about having “enough” to live a meaningful life, but isn’t concerned about being the richest person in the graveyard. She is family-focused and often interested in charitable giving and altruistic investing. While she wants to earn enough to make work optional, her ambitions go beyond the blind pursuit of “more money” or the “highest rate of return.”
*Note: We regularly work with couples, especially women-led households. We specialize in working with single women as they often have no one else to turn to. We’re the last line of defense in an unforgiving financial world.
What We Do
We recognize that women view money differently than men. Women tend to think about what money will do for them, their families, and their financial independence, while men think in more competitive, ego-centric, “the more money I have, the more successful I am” terms. These differences are important as they help explain why the overwhelming male financial advising industry works well with men but often leaves women behind.
Our research on these differences led us to develop a proprietary, values-based financial planning process called the Servant Money MethodTM, where money becomes your trusted “servant” and the springboard toward a meaningful life. It was specifically designed for how a woman thinks about money, to empower her to take control of her money instead of abdicating it to men. It’s a financial life plan that places a woman’s goals, dreams, and ambitions front and center, with her money serving in a supporting role.
And it’s not a plan that only exists on paper; we’ll help you take action and get things done. You’d be surprised by how many financial advisors dismiss this part of the job. We take the opposite approach and get our hands dirty with you.
Think of us as your financial “event planners,” a single point of contact for managing your financial life. Whether it’s retirement readiness, investing for safety or growth, when to take Social Security, what Medicare plan to choose (the list goes on…), we pride ourselves on providing solutions tailored to your unique financial situation.
In short, we want to be your first phone call when “anything financial” comes up. We want you to know you can count on us when you need it most. That you can rest easy knowing your financial life is being handled with urgency, diligence, and care.
How We Can Help
If you are a single, divorced, or widowed woman in need of a financial partner who understands you and your life experience, who won’t judge or lecture you, and who will care for you like family, we’d love to hear from you! You won’t be just another number on a spreadsheet and your “net worth” won’t define your “worth.”
For more information on how we can help, please email me at [email protected].
About Ed
As Founder and CEO of Burning River Advisory Group (BRAG), Ed’s mission is to help women gain the confidence to take control of their money and use it to live their version of a meaningful life. His personal life experience has shown him how money can be the best of servants or the worst of masters, and how each of us needs to decide which one it will be.
As the father of five daughters, Ed is raising his girls to be strong, independent, formidable women. He believes being knowledgeable and in control of their money is essential. He is committed to teaching them how to make money a strength in their lives; how to be empowered by money, not weakened by it.
Ed takes this mindset into his work at BRAG. He’s passionate about helping women find the confidence to take control of their financial lives once and for all. He understands that women view money differently than men and has built BRAG to support a woman’s financial perspective. The result is their Servant Money MethodTM, a proprietary financial life-planning process driven by what motivates women when it comes to money: the ability to live a meaningful life without a money anvil hanging over her head. The process is designed to take work and stress off their clients’ plates so they can focus on what matters most: pursuing their dreams—whether that’s becoming a snowbird, living near the grandkids, or simply sleeping better at night knowing their finances are prepared for whatever comes their way.
Ed’s clients know their success is more important to him than anything else professionally, and he will work tirelessly to advocate for them. He strives to be the first person clients call, knowing they’ll get accurate information, objective counsel, and will hear a calm, experienced voice who’s been there before.
Ed’s clients believe in using their money to make a life instead of using their life to make money. Ed’s values-based mission allows them to do just that.
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(1) https://countrymeters.info/en/United_States_of_America_(USA)
