RIA's Courtney McQuade learns how this advisor was inspired by her nana’s financial struggles.
What led you to financial services?
As a child, I had no idea that financial planning was a career option. At first, I thought I might be a doctor, having watched my nana go to work as a nurse every day. It wasn’t until I took a college elective course called Personal Finance 101 – where I learned about credit scores, disability insurance, social security, 401(k)s, saving and so on – that I felt I had found my passion. I wanted to ‘share the wealth’ and help people understand the way their student loans worked, and I found myself becoming an evangelist of personal finance.
Also while in college, I watched my nana fall ill and still have to work because she wasn’t in a strong enough financial position to retire. When she later passed away, her house – which meant so much to the family – was lost to foreclosure.
Because of this, it’s my life goal to educate people about finance. If my nana had the information she needed when she was starting her career – or even in her 50s when she needed to pivot – she would have been financially stable and ultimately able to retire and take care of herself.
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