From Tax to Planning: Joanne Burke’s Path to Birch Street Advisors

“I realized I loved the conversations about what people actually wanted their lives to look like.”

– Joanne Burke

Joanne Burke knew early in life that she wanted to lead something of her own.

Growing up in rural Virginia, education and independence were deeply valued in her family. That path led her to study accounting at the University of Virginia, build a career in tax at KPMG, and eventually discover something that would change the direction of her career—financial planning.

While working with ultra-high-net-worth families, Joanne realized she was drawn to something deeper than tax work alone. She loved the open-ended nature of planning. The idea that numbers could support different possibilities depending on what someone truly wanted their life to look like.

Today Joanne runs Birch Street Advisors, where she blends her CPA and CFP expertise with a relationship-focused approach to planning.

In this conversation, Joanne shares the winding path that brought her here—from Big Eight accounting firms to launching her own firm—and the questions she continues to ask about success, growth, and designing a practice that supports the life she wants to live.

One moment that stood out to me was when Joanne described what success looks like for her right now: Fridays off in the summer and six weeks of vacation each year.

It was such a simple answer, but also a powerful reminder that building a practice on our own terms starts with clarity about what we actually want.

This episode is about courage, evolution, and the ongoing process of designing both a career and a life that fit.

Episode Highlights

• Joanne’s early goal of becoming the CEO of her own company
• Growing up in rural Virginia and the role education played in shaping her path
• Starting her career in tax at KPMG and working with ultra-high-net-worth families
• The moment she discovered financial planning and realized it offered more possibilities than traditional accounting
• Studying for the CFP while working full-time and raising a young child
• The transition from technical tax work toward deeper client relationships
• Building Birch Street Advisors and defining the type of practice she wants
• Entering the next phase of her firm by hiring and mentoring a new employee
• Reimagining what success looks like in this season of life, including more spaciousness and meaningful time away from work
• Why clarity about what you want comes before designing the business around it
• The courage it takes to keep asking: Is this still the life I want to build?

“I realized I loved the conversations about what people actually wanted their lives to look like.”

– Joanne Burke

Joanne Burke knew early in life that she wanted to lead something of her own.

Today Joanne runs Birch Street Advisors, where she blends her CPA and CFP expertise with a relationship-focused approach to planning.

One moment that stood out to me was when Joanne described what success looks like for her right now: Fridays off in the summer and six weeks of vacation each year.

It was such a simple answer, but also a powerful reminder that building a practice on our own terms starts with clarity about what we actually want.

This episode is about courage, evolution, and the ongoing process of designing both a career and a life that fit.

Episode Highlights

From Tax to Planning: Joanne Burke’s Path to Birch Street Advisors

by Joanne Burke

From Tax to Planning: Joanne Burke’s Path to Birch Street Advisors

by Joanne Burke

Episode Transcript

[00:17] Tara Bansal: Welcome to her life, her practice, Her Way A podcast for and About Female Financial Advisors Tara I’m Tara Conti Bansal and I’ve been a financial planner and life coach for over 20 years.

[00:32] I want this show to share other women financial advisors journeys, struggles and triumphs.

[00:39] I want to highlight the unique and similar ways to enjoying our life and our practice on our own terms.

[00:47] I hope to build a community of like minded, deeply caring and exceptional female advisors who want to help our clients and ourselves live a life that we love.

[00:59] One that is filled with love,

[01:01] learning, connection, meaning and joy.

[01:05] I hope you listen in hello, this

[01:08] Tara Bansal: is Tara Conti Bansal and I am extremely excited to have Joanne Burke with me here today.

[01:16] Joanne was connected to me through Michelle Gass and she was in one of our prior episodes.

[01:23] Joanne has her own practice called Birch Street Advisors in Vienna,

[01:29] Virginia.

[01:30] She’s both a CPA and a cfp.

[01:34] She has a tax practice which the fact that she’s sitting here talking to me today is a statement that she’s either really good with time management or just making a sacrifice for me.

[01:49] But I’m super excited to have you here.

[01:51] Joanne Burke: Thank you Joanne thank you Tara. I’m excited to be here.

[01:56] Tara Bansal: I always start with the same question. Brene Brown fashion, Please tell me your story. What got you here where you are today?

[02:06] Joanne Burke: Well,

[02:07] thank you for that opening. I hope you have enough time to hear it all. I’ll try to be concise but so I’m one of five kids,

[02:17] grew up in rural Virginia and education was a really an important value in our family.

[02:28] And so I knew at a very young age or at least by middle school that I wanted to go to UVA and I wanted to be my CEO of my own company.

[02:36] And I ended up getting into the McIntyre School and didn’t really like writing so much. So accounting seemed to be the path for me. Wanted to get my Master’s because I knew that once I left college I probably wouldn’t be able to pay for school because I had some student loan debt to pay off because I’d paid for all my undergrads.

[02:55] So I stayed,

[02:56] got my master’s in McIntyre in tax.

[02:59] That led me to what was then the big eight. So I’m dating myself here, Big eight accounting firms and I entered the tax department. We got to do rotations across the tax department and I landed in the ultra high net worth practice.

[03:17] So I think it was the CEOs of the audit clients basically and just other, you know, top I was in Washington D.C. so we had a lot of lawyers, a lot of, you know, lobbyists, a lot of heavy hitters.

[03:31] But I think that what really I can just, I’m thinking about money memories, you know, and how this played out for me because I was in, in the tax practice and at that point they just started considering financial planning and the partner I worked for, we were an all women team.

[03:52] Oh, nice. Yeah, it was super cool. But she was very forward thinking and she started financial planning practice at kpmg.

[04:00] And again, it was kind of a new thing. I mean we weren’t investing money for folks, but we were definitely doing all the quantitative number crunching. And I loved it because it reminded me of my finance class.

[04:11] It’s like there could be many answers.

[04:14] It didn’t have to be, you know, yes or no, black or white, right? There was always a gray or depending upon,

[04:21] you know, how what changed in your life or what you wanted to change. But so I, I found that to be just so fascinating. So I did my own self study for the CFP exam.

[04:32] I had a two year old, I was working full time.

[04:35] I took the courses and sat for the exam and passed it far easier than the CPA exam, I will say, because I took both.

[04:44] But I was remembering, you know, in my early days of planning, like kind of what got me started. I remember when I was a kid I had an allowance and I remember like taking the little bank book, you know, and writing in the allowance that I got.

[04:59] And I was just so excited to, to, you know, watch it accrue and watch my money grow in this, in this account.

[05:09] And I just felt like I love the creativity of that side. Okay.

[05:16] I really ended up, so I ended up with these four women. The four of us, we left KPMG and we started our own tax boutique firm.

[05:24] So we did a lot of actually estate planning because the partner was also an attorney.

[05:30] So I had a great experience with the, the, with the, you know, at KPMG life.

[05:36] But it was really neat then to go into the smaller firm because I got to help set up our retirement plan. I didn’t have a full book of business. I was the low gal in the totem pole at the time.

[05:46] So I got to do all the in house things, you know, the health insurance. So it really helped me be able to advise small business clients or you know, sole proprietors on setting up their own business.

[05:58] So I gained so much by my experience in that smaller firm. But also trusted estate work was a real focus for me there because we were drafting and we would do a lot of trust and estate tax preparation and advising.

[06:19] So this is where I got into my widow practice focus.

[06:24] It’s a really difficult time for people when there’s a death of a spouse or parent or. And some people either just completely shut down,

[06:34] and other people really focus on getting tasks done. You know, it’s just. Everybody’s different in how they’re working with the grief.

[06:42] But I always feel like it’s an opportunity for me to just take something off the table for people. You know, it’s like you’ve got a lot emotionally, you’re experiencing,

[06:52] and to just pull it all in.

[06:54] You know, do all that tax sort of strategy,

[06:59] filing, preparation.

[07:01] It’s just, I think, a huge relief. And. But even for those that want to be involved, it sort of helps them to, you know,

[07:08] be a part of it,

[07:10] but know that they don’t have

[07:11] Tara Bansal: to do it alone.

[07:13] Joanne Burke: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So that.

[07:17] That piece is. Is. Has been really a great part of my work life, and I work with a lot of trusts in the states,

[07:26] and there’s so much tax strategy that is so beneficial to saving the family tax dollars. So, you know, increasing wealth overall in the family that a lot of people are not aware of, they just.

[07:42] That’s just. It’s completely foreign, and it’s. You know, it’s more complex than individual taxation.

[07:48] But at any rate, so that’s how I got to that.

[07:52] And so I. I left that small firm. It was a great experience, but I started having kids,

[07:59] and I needed more flexibility,

[08:03] so I decided that I would eat beans and rice, go out on my own,

[08:07] start with you know, maybe 20 clients or something like that.

[08:10] Tara Bansal: How old were you and how old were your kids at this point?

[08:13] Joanne Burke: Yeah. Yeah. So I was probably 33.

[08:18] Okay. Okay. And so I just had my second daughter, so my young. So they’re about three years apart, so almost three. And infant.

[08:28] Tara Bansal: Yeah.

[08:29] Joanne Burke: And so I was like. Well, you know, I just.

[08:32] With encouragement from a coworker, she’s like, you can do this. So I ended up just leaving and setting up my own practice.

[08:41] And it was really great, Tara, because it worked around the school schedule.

[08:45] You know, I was working during tax season. We had summers off,

[08:49] and I came back, you know, to it, but I just let. It was very organic. You know, I made a decision at that point. You know, everybody takes their own.

[08:58] You know, they’re your courses.

[09:01] You know, wait till you retire, then you,

[09:03] you know, get back into being with your family or what have you. But I. I really had this tug at me that I wanted to be there to help really do the majority of raising my kids.

[09:14] That’s just what I wanted to do anyway.

[09:17] I really let it grow organically,

[09:20] Just word of mouth. I still don’t have a website for the tax business and so over time it was, you know, maybe 20 clients to 135.

[09:29] So it was really,

[09:30] really lovely. It just grew with me,

[09:34] with my family, you know, one of the kids, and they’re in high school, they don’t need you.

[09:40] I’m still here though. I was the house no one wanted to come to because I was here at 3 o’ clock in the afternoon.

[09:46] I was the parent on in the house.

[09:50] But it just allowed me to sort of, you know, take it my way. And then when my youngest went to college,

[09:57] I really decided,

[10:00] I don’t think I want to go out in my career with this tax season.

[10:05] It’s really,

[10:07] really draining,

[10:09] you know, just,

[10:10] just so intense.

[10:12] And I also decided that I really wanted to get back into planning because I really, really enjoyed it.

[10:21] So I had a couple clients that were, you know, tugging at me. They’re like, come on, when are you going to do this? When are you going to do this?

[10:26] You know, And I always was a little bit hesitant because I didn’t, I felt like the investment piece was the full time job in addition to the planning of the tax strategy, you know, so.

[10:36] But I finally decided in my early 50s that I was.

[10:40] My Olivia, my younger daughter, was in college and it’s like, it’s time to do mom. It’s time to do me.

[10:44] Yeah, I was able to help everybody. And so I started my Birch Street Financial Advisors practice and the goal was to have my tax clients become my planning clients.

[11:00] And that’s really not a niche, as some of the,

[11:03] you know,

[11:04] folks would say in the industry. You know, what are you focusing on? But really I, I work mostly with pre retirees and retirees,

[11:12] but it, it was just really cool because probably 70% of my clients are my tax clients,

[11:18] which is great.

[11:19] Tara Bansal: That’s great.

[11:20] Joanne Burke: Yeah, it is great. But I also have folks that I’ve met through them or the people that found me, found me online. Here I am about six years in,

[11:28] looking to expand. I’m going to hire an employee this summer.

[11:31] Tara Bansal: Oh, that’s very exciting.

[11:33] Joanne Burke: It is so exciting.

[11:35] And I love the fact that I can help people proactively instead of reactively.

[11:43] You know, in a tax practice. It’s like, well, this is what I did.

[11:46] It’s like, oh gosh, why didn’t you reach out.

[11:53] The planning is, is, and it’s a constant tax focused lens because you know that that’s really what I bring to the table. I hired a fabulous investment team that solved my,

[12:05] you know, investment.

[12:06] Tara Bansal: I, yeah, I was going to ask like, do you enjoy the investments? And I don’t. And so I’m happy to have someone else do that.

[12:15] Joanne Burke: Yeah, I mean a lot of it is really, it’s,

[12:18] it’s administrative honestly. I mean, you know, they’re using great programs to be able to determine when we need to rebalance and when we can tax loss, harvest. And you know, a lot of that is provided to them.

[12:29] But, but it’s a great team that,

[12:32] you know, the lead has been in the business 25 years. They manage, you know, a couple billion dollars in assets. They’re my sub advisors.

[12:41] So I like it from a perspective of being able to help clients figure out,

[12:46] you know, what their risk tolerance is, how we’re going to manage that, what kind of a portfolio we’re going to put them in, which is I think the bigger, you know, picture.

[12:55] And then my team does all that, you know, sort of detailed investing, vetting. It’s been, they’ve been fabulous.

[13:04] Tara Bansal: That’s great. Yeah. Where are you in the order of five?

[13:11] Joanne Burke: Four.

[13:12] Tara Bansal: You’re number four.

[13:13] Joanne Burke: Yeah.

[13:14] Tara Bansal: And how many boys and how many girls?

[13:16] Joanne Burke: So there are two boys and three girls. So as girl,

[13:20] boy, boy,

[13:21] girl, girl. So Jean, Jeff, John, Joanne, Jennifer.

[13:25] My parents like the J’s.

[13:27] The funny thing, so I’m the cpa.

[13:30] I’m the one that everybody would go to with the numbers. So you know, I’m the executor for this and that and doing everybody’s taxes. I’ve,

[13:38] my brothers are doctors, my sisters were in contract work. So yeah, everybody comes to me or came to me for the advice. I remember my parents, I had a real, when I started to get into planning, I was really had to come to Jesus with my parents.

[13:54] And this is one of the reasons why I really felt like I could add so much value. It’s like I think they did everything wrong. They bought an airplane and used it as a rental.

[14:03] They bought whole life insurance. My dad cashed out his federal pension.

[14:07] I mean my mom bought a rental property, just one and the tenants destroyed it. $40,000 in damage. You know, no diversification,

[14:15] no investment.

[14:17] Like the one thing though I got them long term care insurance. I pushed that back in the, you know, 30 years ago, I suppose. And my dad used five and a half years of his policy wow.

[14:32] Saved them immensely. But yeah, so I was.

[14:35] I think I want to write a book of, like, what my parents taught me not to do. Maybe.

[14:41] Tara Bansal: So they didn’t consult with you at all or. This was like pre. You even taking the courses?

[14:48] Joanne Burke: That’s right. It was pre. It was when I was, you know, middle school, high school into college. So, you know, so then when I finally got into this in my, you know, early 30s,

[14:59] then I turned around and was like, okay,

[15:02] we need to start focusing on you guys.

[15:05] You need to increase your retirement savings. You need to refinance the mortgage to a 15 year. You need to get long term care insurance.

[15:13] So they were my first clients.

[15:16] Unpaid.

[15:18] Tara Bansal: Unpaid. But did they take your advice?

[15:20] Joanne Burke: They actually did. Okay. They did. And I really set them up for success. I mean, so this is a story I feel good about.

[15:28] Tara Bansal: So are they still alive?

[15:31] Joanne Burke: No. My mom passed away in heart surgery at age 67. Yeah. About 18 years ago. My dad died. Since last fall.

[15:40] Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Thanks. It was. Yeah. But you know, like, it was amazing that he, he had money saved, but this insurance policy,

[15:50] he had had multiple strokes. And who would have known that he would be in assisted living for five and a half years? Yeah.

[15:56] Tara Bansal: That’s a long time.

[15:57] Joanne Burke: That’s.

[15:57] Tara Bansal: That’s at the very tail end of

[16:00] Joanne Burke: what anyone predicts that he was curve breaker for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So. Wow.

[16:08] Tara Bansal: Oh, so you have real life experience of the benefits?

[16:12] Joanne Burke: I really do. And I think that’s. That is one thing about starting this business when I did.

[16:19] And now, you know, I’m living what a lot of my clients are experiencing,

[16:24] you know, And I think that’s why I’m attracted to the pre. Retiree. Retiree space. Right. Because it’s kind of like what I know. I’ve been through all this. I have adult children,

[16:34] have parents who are aging who need care,

[16:37] choices about health insurance. Like, it’s stuff that I experience. How do I help my children,

[16:43] you know, financially? When do I help them?

[16:46] We don’t want to make them entitled, but,

[16:49] you know, how do you.

[16:50] Tara Bansal: Yeah, yeah, I, I can relate to that too. What do you prefer, the taxes over the financial planning or you love doing both?

[17:04] Joanne Burke: Yeah, it’s. That’s, That’s a good question, I think. I mean, for me, it’s all embedded.

[17:10] Tara Bansal: Yeah, that’s what I. It’s hard for you to separate.

[17:14] Joanne Burke: Yeah, it really is. Because when it comes down to it, when I’m trying to help folks.

[17:20] Can we retire? Do we have enough to retire?

[17:24] Well, let’s think about you know, Roth conversion strategies and how’s that going to look in your overall picture? And that’s obviously a tax driven strategy.

[17:35] And so it’s always incorporating ways to.

[17:40] If you’re terribly inclined, well, why not use your appreciated stock? You conserve your cash,

[17:46] you know, you get the tax benefit, you escape the gain taxation. You know, not to get into the details of planning, but yeah,

[17:54] it’s hard for me to separate and sometimes I like to just go sit down, do a tax return. You know, it’s like, okay,

[18:02] I know

[18:02] Tara Bansal: that is not me. I mean, I love planning, but I don’t enjoy doing tax returns at all.

[18:09] Joanne Burke: Yeah. So,

[18:10] yeah, yeah. I think that is also too. Another differentiator from. Because I am still doing the taxes and you know, when I give folks advice,

[18:19] you don’t have to go to your cpa. Yeah, I am your cpa, so I think it’s a value.

[18:24] Tara Bansal: Are all of your planning clients, you’re also their CPA.

[18:29] Joanne Burke: Not everyone. 80%.

[18:31] Tara Bansal: Okay. So the majority.

[18:33] Joanne Burke: Yeah, I don’t require it. You know, I, when I started.

[18:37] Tara Bansal: Do you charge separately for it?

[18:39] Joanne Burke: Okay, I do. I, I still have other clients that are just CPA clients.

[18:44] Kept them for various reasons,

[18:47] just too hard for maybe them to transition at their age and things like that, you know.

[18:53] But I,

[18:55] I did make a hard,

[18:57] a hard move to say, hey, I’m no longer going to be able to do your tax work because I’m really focusing on my planning business. This is a couple years ago and I never really drew that hard line in the sand, but when I did, I got, you know,

[19:11] quite a few clients because they’re fascinating. They’re like, I’ll ditch my advisor, but I don’t want to lose my cpa.

[19:20] And you know, Tara. Yeah, I know. I think it’s interesting too. I was like, why did I do this before? But I think it’s funny too. I, I feel like I struggle a little bit with people.

[19:28] Um,

[19:29] they think of me as their cpa, their tax advisor,

[19:33] and the. Not necessarily their investment advisor or their wealth manager. I mean, the planner is kind of in between all that. You know, we plan for everything, Right. We’re always thinking about situations and planning.

[19:47] But with the whole asset management,

[19:51] that’s been an interesting.

[19:54] And I think it’s just partly me getting a comfort level with it,

[19:57] you know, bringing it in. But when I started, I was planning or investment management or both.

[20:03] I had options.

[20:05] And about halfway through, maybe two years ago, I realized I’m really not getting the implementation done unless there’s some skin in the game and we have the ability to help folks out with the management of the accounts.

[20:18] So now I have a requirement. It’s financial planning and investment management combined.

[20:26] Tara Bansal: That’s great. What does your ideal practice look like? Like how many households?

[20:32] Joanne Burke: Yeah, that’s a good question. So for me now I have about 40 households.

[20:36] Tara Bansal: Okay, 40. And, and how many tax clients do you still have?

[20:42] Joanne Burke: I think I’m going to do about 75 returns.

[20:45] Tara Bansal: Okay.

[20:45] Joanne Burke: That’s quite a bit because I have these trust, you know, folks. Yeah, it’s a lot, It’s a lot.

[20:50] I have, I have a remote team member. She does a lot of my marketing and things that nature my newsletters.

[20:57] I did bring on a, you know, part time tax help this year. Yeah, which has been great.

[21:07] So 40 is a good number. I feel the onboarding is very intense. These first two years we’re really digging in, getting to know people,

[21:16] really uncovering,

[21:18] you know,

[21:19] so much about their lives. There’s a state piece but, but it’s, you know, I use these tools, these, they’re called money quotient tools that really help me uncover,

[21:30] you know, sort of the why the money. Why like we talk about biography, like what do you put your first money memory, you know,

[21:38] and how do you like to invest your time and energy?

[21:41] It’s not just about money,

[21:44] you know, it’s really about what am I going to do with myself.

[21:47] My time is a, is a resource, you know, at any rate,

[21:52] using that, those tools really helps me to go deeper. I was thinking about when you first asked me about,

[21:59] you know, clients and I was thinking about when I started my career. I used to sit in these meetings and I was like, God, this is so boring going over this tax stuff.

[22:07] Like I want to know what their, who their wife is, how many kids they have.

[22:12] And I really like that part about,

[22:15] and that’s, that’s what I do with my clients now. You know, I don’t do project work, I don’t do hourly work. I, to me it’s the relationship and that ongoing relationship and that is how I’m going to better serve people.

[22:27] You know, knowing them and helping them know themselves is really how the value is going to be being provided.

[22:35] Tara Bansal: Yeah, yeah. What, what parts of the job do you not enjoy?

[22:43] Joanne Burke: Tech.

[22:46] Tech and processes. I, you know, I don’t, I was solo for so long and you know, it’s my own internal process that could change tomorrow, you know, who knows, depending upon what.

[22:58] But you know, when I like to be able to help People, I can’t just do everybody,

[23:06] treat them differently. You know, I need to have a structured process, a structured framework. So really getting my head around that and putting that together has been so helpful and powerful.

[23:19] But the tech piece, you know, everything’s changing. Like I have to know every software faster and faster even.

[23:24] Yeah, yeah, constantly. And there’s so many great tools out there. You know, I have a great financial planning software, but I also have this, it’s called Income Lab, which is a guardrails analysis.

[23:35] Tara Bansal: Yeah.

[23:36] Joanne Burke: Which helps folks to see, okay, if my spending is within this lane,

[23:40] I’m going to be okay.

[23:43] But again, you know, you have to know how to input and all the, you know, changes that they’re making. And,

[23:50] and I don’t mind the tech. It’s just keeping up to date with it that is.

[23:55] Was hard for me to.

[23:56] Tara Bansal: I agree.

[23:57] Joanne Burke: When I want to be client facing, you know, but then still running a business and you know, all the great stuff.

[24:04] Tara Bansal: What financial planning software do you use?

[24:07] Joanne Burke: I use E Money.

[24:08] Tara Bansal: Okay. That’s what I use too. I just wondered because not everybody does.

[24:12] Joanne Burke: No, they don’t. And I like some of the other software for sure. Right. Capital has done a great job of coming, you know, it’s really holding its own. And I like Team Money because of customer service, but also because the cash flow and you know, retirees is really about cash flow.

[24:29] Tara Bansal: I agree and I feel like it shows it very clearly.

[24:32] Bright Capital does too. But I started on E Money, so I just. It’s easy for me to stay there.

[24:39] Joanne Burke: Yeah. Yeah.

[24:41] Tara Bansal: How did you find your extra help? Like both the tax person and the other marketing person.

[24:52] Joanne Burke: So I reached out to,

[24:56] to a paraplanner company got. I was assigned somebody and then she left the firm for, you know, personal reasons. And so I ended up using. I, I bought like a few months of guidance or what have you and so I, I played that out.

[25:13] And then after tax season,

[25:16] I reached out to this person individually because she started doing this on her own,

[25:22] advising,

[25:23] you know, helping other advisors.

[25:24] Tara Bansal: Yeah.

[25:25] Joanne Burke: So I, I had kind of an in, you know, because I had sort of used.

[25:28] Tara Bansal: But you got to try the person and see if you like them. And that’s really nice.

[25:33] Joanne Burke: Yeah, yeah. So nice. And we really connected and she just really.

[25:37] We’ve been together now over a year and she’s in New Mexico, I’m in Virginia. It’s been fabulous. And she really understands what I’m trying to do. She works for. I’ve gotten her.

[25:48] Referred a couple other advisors to her so.

[25:52] But she’s a mom and she’s got two kids in elementary school and she doesn’t want to work full time. I get it. Yeah.

[25:59] So it really works out well.

[26:01] I’m planning to.

[26:04] My investment team I, you know, found just through talking to other.

[26:09] Other advisors. Yeah. XY planning. I was working with a coach at the time,

[26:14] Arlene Moss, and she led me to CGN Advisors. So that’s my investment team.

[26:21] And then the other person that I have is just through a colleague through the network who’s a CPA that doesn’t have necessarily enough planning work.

[26:30] And so she is sort of helping me, you know, to fill in her time, to help fill in my time.

[26:35] Tara Bansal: That’s great. Yeah. I feel like that’s a challenge is,

[26:40] you know, finding the right people and making the jump and, and the time commitment even to bring someone on.

[26:49] Joanne Burke: Yeah. I think that’s why I hesitated because, you know, you gotta teach, like, and train. I mean, I’m really looking.

[26:55] I’ve got some candidates for this summer that I’m gonna, you know, hopefully bring person in. And I really want to be able to help build them,

[27:03] mentor. And I’m thinking, oh, this would be great. I’ll get help and I won’t have to,

[27:07] you know, do all these things. But it’s like my time is going to be shifted from.

[27:10] Tara Bansal: Yeah.

[27:11] Joanne Burke: Teaching, you know, from doing to teaching. Right. Like mentoring. Yeah.

[27:17] Tara Bansal: And it’s like planting the seed for the future.

[27:19] Tara Bansal: But you also don’t know how long everybody’s going to stay or things can.

[27:26] Joanne Burke: Yes, yes, absolutely.

[27:29] Tara Bansal: Yeah. How much do you work now?

[27:34] Joanne Burke: A lot.

[27:34] Tara Bansal: A lot More than you want?

[27:38] Joanne Burke: I think so. Yeah, I think so. I mean, I, you know,

[27:41] I try not to work on the weekends, but sometimes I have to during tax season, I do.

[27:47] I’m usually at my desk at 7am and I leave to work out at 5.

[27:51] I probably eat my two meals here at my desk. You know,

[27:56] it’s, you know, it’s a different rhythm. And tax season, it’s, it’s, it’s every day for two months just kind of the way it is. And last year was a tough year.

[28:07] I onboarded like eight new clients. My father passed away.

[28:10] He needed a lot of care up until then. I was audited by the state,

[28:15] you know, regulatory board.

[28:18] I got my RICP retirement income Certified Professional designation.

[28:25] So I was really,

[28:26] really busy and,

[28:28] you know, it was kind of overwhelming.

[28:30] Tara Bansal: Sounds like any one of those could have been. Right. Exactly.

[28:35] Joanne Burke: You know, it’s funny because my tax practice, it’s it’s so much easier to manage a tax practice than an ria and there’s just so much more compliance and,

[28:46] you know, so many different things to do.

[28:49] And, you know, having to build a business is not easy. I am really fortunate that I had a client base.

[28:57] Tara Bansal: Yeah.

[28:58] Joanne Burke: I mean, and really great clients. I mean, I have maybe 30 households and I have 70 million under management. With 30 households, it’s very.

[29:07] Tara Bansal: Yeah, that’s great.

[29:08] Joanne Burke: Just, yeah, just a lot of, you know, really.

[29:10] Tara Bansal: But, but, but that’s a credit to you. And people knew. Got, already got to know you like through the tax practice. So.

[29:19] Joanne Burke: Yeah, some of these folks have been my clients for 15, 20 years we’ve been together.

[29:24] And you know, I like to work with folks have complex tax needs.

[29:30] That’s where I think I bring the value to people.

[29:32] Tara Bansal: Yeah.

[29:33] Joanne Burke: So,

[29:34] so yes, right now it’s a lot. My vision is Fridays off in the summer,

[29:41] six weeks vacation.

[29:43] So this is my goal that I keep reminding myself that I’m going to go into that, but I think that probably when I hire my team member, I probably like to add 10, maybe 20 clients.

[29:53] Tara Bansal: Okay.

[29:54] Joanne Burke: So, you know, 60 between us. That’s, that’s great. It’s a, I think it’s a boutique practice. I’m not looking to scale or move beyond that, I don’t think.

[30:05] Tara Bansal: And you’ll always keep the tax.

[30:08] Joanne Burke: I think I have to.

[30:09] Tara Bansal: Yeah.

[30:10] Joanne Burke: I, you know.

[30:12] Yeah. No, I mean, I think it’s a great question. I think it depends, you know,

[30:16] I think while I’m still involved.

[30:19] Yes,

[30:21] but what this becomes after me

[30:24] Tara Bansal: and what are your thoughts along that what’s your succession plan or transition?

[30:32] Joanne Burke: I’d love for, I’d love for,

[30:36] you know, right now, I mean, if something were to happen to me tomorrow, my investment team obviously would take over.

[30:42] And I get asked that by clients. How long are you going to be working? Right. You know, that’s, that’s fair. I, you know, I’d like to work another 10 years solidly.

[30:50] I don’t, I think this is something that I can do with, you know,

[30:54] Tara Bansal: it’s not with flexibility and hopefully. Yes.

[30:57] Joanne Burke: Set up.

[30:58] Tara Bansal: If it’s set up properly.

[31:00] Joanne Burke: Yeah. I would love to bring one of my daughters into the practice.

[31:04] Tara Bansal: Do either of them have any interest?

[31:07] Joanne Burke: One does.

[31:08] Okay, one does. So we’re working on that. We’re working on that. I,

[31:12] I went to this symposium where I met Michelle again and again we’ve been seen her twice at this AICPA Personal Financial Planning Symposium.

[31:23] Over 70% of the folks in the room, have family, in the business.

[31:27] Yeah.

[31:28] And while she’s not a cpa, but so much of this can be taught,

[31:35] but practice, you know, client management and just having sort of that emotional,

[31:42] you know, intelligence, that eq,

[31:45] she has it.

[31:47] I think that’s the harder piece to teach, you know? Right.

[31:50] Tara Bansal: But that’s what I think. Women, it comes a little more naturally to women. And there are men that have it, of course, but. No, I agree. That’s true.

[32:03] Joanne Burke: Yeah. Yeah. I’m, I’m a helper.

[32:07] Tara Bansal: Yeah. And that’s why we’re here. Right.

[32:09] Joanne Burke: I mean, exactly.

[32:11] Tara Bansal: What, what advice do you have for bringing more women into the profession?

[32:20] Joanne Burke: Yeah, I, I think it’s a great profession for women.

[32:23] You know, again, you can create and craft whatever you want. I think the CPA profession is the same way too. I mean,

[32:33] there’s, there’s opportunities to be a full time to, to scale to, you know, to be climbing the ladder.

[32:40] But you could also get in different positions where you could be part time.

[32:46] I think there is so much opportunity and there’s opportunity for being able to work remotely.

[32:53] You know, I think the bigger firms are moving back to the office. My practice is 100% remote.

[33:00] I.

[33:00] Tara Bansal: You always meet with clients on a screen?

[33:05] Joanne Burke: Always.

[33:05] Tara Bansal: Okay.

[33:06] Joanne Burke: Even the clients that live two blocks away.

[33:09] Tara Bansal: Yeah.

[33:10] Joanne Burke: I mean, the, the reality is I can show them things on my screen easier. Yeah, yeah, much easier. You know, but,

[33:19] but yeah, I think that,

[33:23] I think we need more women in the profession.

[33:28] I think that I prefer the sort of the smaller firm,

[33:33] you know,

[33:34] trying to find that firm that,

[33:37] that wants to provide that flexibility,

[33:41] you know, to you. Because let’s face it,

[33:44] it’s generally speaking, no matter who is what is usually.

[33:48] And maybe I’m just, you know,

[33:50] dating myself, but the woman is the caretaker at home, generally speaking.

[33:54] Tara Bansal: Primary.

[33:55] Tara Bansal: Yeah.

[33:56] Joanne Burke: You know, even if,

[33:57] even if she is the breadwinner works, more things tend to fall on the females. So being in an environment that is, that supports flexibility,

[34:09] I think is something to really look for and to really try to focus on that when you are trying to, you know, get in. I think it’s a great. Like with me, I went into the big firm at the beginning.

[34:23] I learned so much. I mean, that’s a super awesome opportunity.

[34:27] And then you can take all that and then kind of build your own way when you have those tools, you know?

[34:34] Tara Bansal: Yeah,

[34:36] that’s,

[34:37] that’s why I named this podcast Her Life, Her Practice, Her Way. Because I, I, I do want more women in this profession, and I do Believe like I work part time and it’s because I only want to work while my boys are in school and I,

[34:57] that’s what I’m. I’ve chose and the firm has been very accommodating for that. And so.

[35:03] But not,

[35:04] not all firms are and it can be challenging.

[35:09] Joanne Burke: So.

[35:09] Tara Bansal: But if you’re in your own shop, then you can decide that. But it’s finding the right place, I think.

[35:17] Joanne Burke: Yeah. And I think that we’ve seen, we’re seeing such a sort of a ballooning of these smaller registered investment advisory RA firms. You know, we’re seeing people branching out,

[35:31] leaving that big, you know,

[35:33] broker dealer culture where we’re. Because we’re giving advice, we’re giving planning advice, we’re being paid for advice. Not commissions, not products, not any of that stuff.

[35:43] And there’s so many people that need good advice.

[35:46] And I’m just excited because I’m a member of XY Planning Network and I think there are 1100 firms that were registered when I started and I think they’ve got 1800 now and they work with these startup groups that, you know, I just love it,

[36:02] love seeing it.

[36:05] Tara Bansal: How do you think we can get more women into the profession?

[36:11] Joanne Burke: Yeah,

[36:12] a great question.

[36:17] I think that a lot of these programs that they have in, you know,

[36:23] like a lot of universities, like K State, Virginia Tech,

[36:26] um, I,

[36:28] I think ut,

[36:30] University of Texas,

[36:33] we’re seeing a lot more of personal financial planning programs at the college level,

[36:40] which, you know, was completely unheard of back in the day before. Yeah, yeah.

[36:45] So I think it’s that kind of,

[36:47] you know, getting,

[36:49] getting it out there, making that awareness,

[36:54] you know, because you’re always seeing the guys go to finance.

[36:56] You know, that’s this. When I was in college, a lot of the women were CPAs and the lot more of the men were in finance.

[37:05] Not everybody, I’m generalizing, but I think that it’s kind of getting it at that earlier age where they can start to realize, hey, this is another option.

[37:19] And it’s not this hard,

[37:22] you know, analysis driven banker kind of world or it’s, you know, it appeals to people because you have the ability to really help people like it. You know, there’s so much intrinsic value in it,

[37:38] value and relationships.

[37:40] Tara Bansal: I mean, I think that’s. I love me too.

[37:44] Joanne Burke: To be connected. I, I just got back some client satisfaction surveys. I, I have never done them before and I.

[37:51] Tara Bansal: So this was your first time?

[37:52] Joanne Burke: Yeah, this is my first time.

[37:53] Tara Bansal: And who helped you set this up and decide? I’d Love to hear more.

[37:57] Joanne Burke: Yeah. So my team member, Allison, she and I, you know, put it together through one of my software applications and I read Michael Kitz’s, you know what you should ask and they had their own in,

[38:10] um, precise. FP is a software application. So.

[38:14] And then I, you know, Googled and we searched for other things to ask. So I was really kind of doing my soul searching through.

[38:22] Through other. Other people and what’s best practices.

[38:26] Right. And what did I want to know, you know,

[38:29] and so I got some. I had a section. Allison was like, you really need to put a section about,

[38:35] you know,

[38:37] endorsements. You know, I. And I. I don’t. I haven’t put anything on my website, but if you could, you know, if you wanted to provide an endorsement or a testimonial, you know,

[38:45] and I really love that the few that I got because, you know, not everybody wants to do these surveys. But it was like,

[38:53] she really understands you.

[38:55] You feel like, heard and known. And that literally is one of my main goals. I have this little goal sheet that I have right on my desk.

[39:03] And it’s like helping people feel known,

[39:07] like, heard. Like, I am here to follow you, to know you, to understand you, to follow you, to then tailor,

[39:15] you know, your advice options to what I know about you.

[39:21] So that was.

[39:22] Tara Bansal: To hear that back, I’m sure was.

[39:24] Joanne Burke: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Great. Yeah.

[39:26] Tara Bansal: So when did you send them out and how long was the survey and how many have you gotten back?

[39:36] Joanne Burke: So I sent them out probably right after the first of the year, like maybe the first week.

[39:41] And I. Scott. So I sent it to both,

[39:44] you know, partners, if I had a couple.

[39:48] And then I had a two week,

[39:50] a reminder in two weeks and then another reminder in three weeks. I didn’t want to, like, barrage the inbox.

[39:57] So I probably have about a.

[40:01] Maybe a 30% return.

[40:03] Okay.

[40:04] I’m not sure that that’s. I don’t really know yet. We’re, you know, Alice is still collecting the data for me,

[40:11] but.

[40:12] Because I did send out a few separately, you know, after the fact, just to kind of get. But I.

[40:19] Yeah, I was.

[40:21] Some of my colleagues are like, well, I don’t send out these surveys. I just ask people in our meetings.

[40:27] Tara Bansal: Yeah, but I think you can get feedback different than you would in the meetings too.

[40:33] Joanne Burke: I mean, absolutely.

[40:35] Tara Bansal: Yeah.

[40:35] Joanne Burke: Yeah. Like a little more honest. Like, hey, I really would like to see X, Y and Z.

[40:39] Or, you know, is the communication. Like, questions were like, excuse me, is the communication enough?

[40:45] You know, would you like to see something Different.

[40:47] Is there something that we’re doing that you want us to keep doing?

[40:51] Is there something we’re not doing that you’d like us to do? Yeah,

[40:55] you know, how do you like the ease of using my software? What do you think about the newsletters, the blog posts, things like that.

[41:03] Tara Bansal: So how long, how long was the survey?

[41:06] Joanne Burke: It’s just about 12 questions. 10 different questions. Yeah, just like a one pager and then you know, would you refer me?

[41:14] That’s always a big question. Would you refer me? And then, you know, be being able to ask those questions. Kind of open ended and then if you were to, you know, inspire to give a testimonial,

[41:25] what would you say? So yeah.

[41:28] Tara Bansal: What are they anonymous or. They could choose to be anonymous or not?

[41:33] Joanne Burke: That’s a good question. No.

[41:37] Tara Bansal: Okay.

[41:37] Joanne Burke: They were, they couldn’t because we sent them out like to the email. So yeah, so I know exactly who was sent to and I know exactly. And you know, I think that’s by design really because I have reached out to clients with some of the responses that were where they were asking for more or additional.

[41:54] So I’ve used it to say, hey, thank you for completing this and I understand you’d like to see xyz. Let’s talk about that on our next call because I’d really like to be able to deepen how I serve you.

[42:07] Yeah, yeah. Thanking them for sharing it.

[42:10] Tara Bansal: So very nice. What’s hard for you right now?

[42:16] Joanne Burke: Juggling all the different things I need to do.

[42:20] No, yeah, it’s the, it’s the hats. It’s all the hats.

[42:25] It’s the marketing, it’s the sales quote unquote. It’s the servicing. You know, it’s the tax work, it’s the.

[42:33] I don’t mind doing the books because

[42:36] Tara Bansal: that’s, that’s your wheelhouse. Yeah.

[42:41] Joanne Burke: But yeah, it’s just like. And then, you know, that planning that I’ve been, again, this has been an organic growth for me.

[42:49] I haven’t been super forcing things. I don’t believe in that. Yeah, I don’t. That’s not the way I work my life.

[42:58] But I do think that bringing someone on, I need to have a bit of a more structured. Where are we going?

[43:07] You know, what’s this going to look like and how are we going to get there?

[43:11] So I think I need some coaching assistance for that.

[43:14] Tara Bansal: Have you done any coaching before?

[43:16] Joanne Burke: I have, I have,

[43:18] yeah. I worked with early and Moss at XY Planning Network for some time and,

[43:24] and that was great. You know, as I was getting things started.

[43:27] I thought money quotient is. That was like a coaching tool as well.

[43:32] Helped me build my framework on my meeting cadence,

[43:35] how I onboard people,

[43:37] how I, you know, revisit their, you know,

[43:41] values each year.

[43:43] So.

[43:45] But I do think that,

[43:47] you know, we just go through different phases in the business,

[43:51] and we. We need. I almost think you need different types of coaches.

[43:54] Tara Bansal: I agree.

[43:55] Joanne Burke: Yeah, yeah.

[43:55] Tara Bansal: But there’s definitely different phases of your business when you first start out versus, you know.

[44:01] Joanne Burke: Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. It’s a whole different ball game right now. Yeah, Yeah.

[44:08] Tara Bansal: I can relate.

[44:09] Joanne Burke: What.

[44:10] Tara Bansal: What does success look for you look like for you?

[44:15] Joanne Burke: Success looks like being able to help people really achieve their goals, to feel confident when they make that decision. To retire to sleep at night,

[44:29] to be able to say, I’m so glad I went through this process, and now I can do the things I want to do and feel comfortable. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Watching people go through that phase, like, to.

[44:43] I had a gal and I showed her the guardrails, and she’s like, oh, my gosh, I can buy new appliances now. I’m like, of course you can.

[44:51] You know, just watching people be able to.

[44:53] To kind of live their lives the way they want.

[44:57] Yeah,

[44:58] yeah. But understanding, you know, that they have options and kind of, you know, that they understand that they have options and they can make choices.

[45:08] So that’s success.

[45:09] That feels good to me.

[45:11] Sure. Yeah. I want to make money.

[45:13] Sure. I want to have, you know,

[45:15] have a decent profit. I’d like to bring someone in. I’d like to build someone.

[45:19] Um, I feel like that’s my next phase. Like, mentoring.

[45:23] Tara Bansal: Yeah.

[45:24] Joanne Burke: Done that yet? Excited about that. So. Yeah. And then taking a little more time off would be nice.

[45:31] Tara Bansal: Yeah, that’s.

[45:31] Tara Bansal: I mean, you said Fridays off in the summer and six weeks.

[45:37] Joanne Burke: Yeah.

[45:37] Tara Bansal: So that would be success.

[45:40] Joanne Burke: Yeah, that would be great. Good.

[45:43] Tara Bansal: All right, we are almost out of time. What is a favorite book, podcast, or resource that you’re loving right now?

[45:55] Joanne Burke: I love so many.

[45:57] Well, I always love the Psychology of money by Morgan Housel.

[46:02] I listen to my Kitsis.com podcast every weekend. I love Jeff Levine and Ed Slott,

[46:10] their retirement debate. You know, that’s all up my alley with the tax stuff.

[46:17] Colin Roche, I love is your perfect designing your perfect portfolio. That’s been really a great read. Just. And I love Christine Benz’s you know, retirement guide.

[46:26] Like, you can just take it chapter by chapter, pull out a lot of really good stuff. She interviews a bunch of different advisors, and it’s It’s a really great guy.

[46:33] Tara Bansal: I’m not familiar with her.

[46:34] Joanne Burke: So that’s. That’s. Yeah. Christine Benz from Morningstar.

[46:38] Yeah. She’s a retirement specialist. I. It’s. I. It’s a lovely book. I think you’d really. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

[46:44] So,

[46:45] yeah, I don’t have much outside of financial. My husband said every book that comes in this house has money on it in the title.

[46:51] Tara Bansal: Well, that means you must enjoy it because you keep learning, trying.

[46:56] Joanne Burke: Yeah. Really? Yeah. Lifelong learner.

[46:59] Tara Bansal: Yeah. What’s a go to self care ritual for you?

[47:05] Joanne Burke: Love to work out.

[47:07] Tara Bansal: Okay.

[47:07] Joanne Burke: I have to.

[47:07] Tara Bansal: What do you do for your workouts?

[47:09] Joanne Burke: I do CrossFit.

[47:11] I. At home or where we have a local gym. We’ve been there 13 years. Members. I just modify it so I can come back the next day.

[47:22] I. Exercise has been a big part of my decompressing, my de. Stressing.

[47:27] I have long walks on the weekends.

[47:30] I’ve incorporated yoga now just.

[47:34] That’s my,

[47:36] like, have to do.

[47:39] Have to do.

[47:40] Tara Bansal: Yeah.

[47:41] Joanne Burke: Yeah.

[47:41] Tara Bansal: What’s one thing bringing you joy right now?

[47:49] Joanne Burke: Right now bringing me joy? It’s tax season, Tara.

[47:55] There’s not a lot of joy there.

[47:58] I think that it’s kind of the thought of the future. It’s not like in this moment, but the thought of being able to add to my business, to add,

[48:09] you know, a pair planner slash someone to grow into this space.

[48:14] And, you know, I ha. I’m a person. I have to think about things. They have to percolate. They have to. So it’s starting to really bubble up because the summer is when I’m gonna, you know, make that shift.

[48:25] So it’s this joy, but it’s like, okay, hang on. You’re not there yet. But, you know, kind of like.

[48:32] Tara Bansal: But knowing it’s coming and the anticipation and looking forward to it. That’s great. Yeah. I’m amazed that you’re by yourself and doing all the things you do. Like.

[48:43] Joanne Burke: So,

[48:44] yeah, I. You know, people are like, oh, Everybody. You know, 70 clients per per advisor is like 70.

[48:50] Good Lord. I know. No.

[48:53] Yeah. I don’t know how they do it. They’re not.

[48:54] Tara Bansal: That’s not my dream. I want like 25.

[48:58] Joanne Burke: Yeah. I mean, exactly. Exactly. So if I had help, I mean. Cause I really. You. You. I mean, what we’re doing is really.

[49:05] It’s much deeper than just running a bunch of numbers, right? Yeah, it is.

[49:10] Tara Bansal: And so to have that bandwidth and depth of the relationship, I feel like for me, I think it does vary by people but yeah, yeah, I was

[49:24] Joanne Burke: going to share my daughter’s getting is engaged, but. And it just watching her kind of, you know, evolve into this new space, that’s been pretty joyful, just watching my girls become their own people.

[49:37] Tara Bansal: So how old are they now?

[49:38] Joanne Burke: 26 and 29.

[49:40] Wow.

[49:41] Just really cool to see them,

[49:44] you know, launching, becoming their own,

[49:47] you know,

[49:48] learning about themselves, what they. Who they are, what they want that they want. Yeah,

[49:53] yeah, that brings me joy. But anyway,

[49:56] that’s a great one. Thank you.

[49:58] Tara Bansal: Outside of work and seeing that.

[50:00] Joanne Burke: Exactly, exactly.

[50:02] Tara Bansal: Well, thank you so much for being here and making the time during tax season.

[50:06] Joanne Burke: No, thank you.

[50:07] Tara Bansal: I would love to talk with you more, so thanks.

[50:10] Joanne Burke: We will definitely set that up.

[50:12] Tara Bansal: All right.

[50:13] Tara Bansal: One of the moments in my conversation with Joanne that really stayed with me was when she described what success looks like for her right now.

[50:23] She mentioned Fridays off in the summer and about six weeks of vacation each year.

[50:28] And I remember thinking, that sounds really good.

[50:32] That’s what I want too.

[50:34] Because if I’m being honest, something I’m personally trying to get better at in my own life is creating more spaciousness,

[50:42] not juggling more things, but actually doing less and having that time be more meaningful.

[50:48] Deeper relationships, more presence, more quality instead of quantity.

[50:54] What I also admired about Joanne is the courage she’s had to evolve her work over time.

[51:01] She originally did a lot of tax work, and over the years,

[51:05] she intentionally shifted more toward financial planning and long term relationships with clients.

[51:12] That kind of transition takes clarity, and it takes bravery.

[51:16] It’s not always easy to step away from something that’s working in order to move towards something that feels more aligned with what you want, but you’re not sure how it will work.

[51:27] Tara Bansal: And that’s one of the reasons I love this profession so much. For women,

[51:32] financial planning really can offer the independence and flexibility to design your work in a way that fits your life.

[51:40] But the part that must come first is clarity.

[51:44] Clarity about what you truly want,

[51:48] not what you think you should want,

[51:50] not what everyone else around you is doing,

[51:53] but what you actually want your life and your practice to look like.

[51:59] Sometimes that means giving yourself permission to dream a little bigger than feels comfortable or dream bigger than you think you should.

[52:08] And maybe the question this conversation invites all of us to ask is a simple one.

[52:14] What do you really want your life and your practice to look like?

[52:19] Because once that clarity begins to emerge, you can start building toward it.

[52:25] Thank you for listening to her life, her practice, Her Way,

[52:29] a podcast for and about female financial advisors.

[52:34] I truly hope you have enjoyed this podcast and got some value from it. If so, I would love to ask a favor of you.

[52:41] Please go to Apple Podcasts or Spotify and rate and review my podcast.

[52:46] This will help me get the word out to other amazing like minded female financial advisors.

[52:52] You can also send it to a friend or two who you think would gain something from listening to it.

[52:58] Until next time, I’m wishing you the very best.

Show Notes and Links

The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel – https://www.morganhousel.com/

Kitces.com – https://www.kitces.com/

How to Retire by Christine Benz – https://harriman-house.com/authors/christine-benz/how-to-retire/9781804090695

XY Planning Network – https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/

The Great Retirement Debate with Ed Slott & Jeffrey Levine (podcast) – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-great-retirement-debate-with-ed-slott-jeffrey-levine/id1652669094

Your Perfect Portfolio by Cullen Roche – https://harriman-house.com/authors/cullen-roche/your-perfect-portfolio/9781804091920

About the guest

Joanne Burke, CFP®, CPA/PFS, MTax, RICP®, is the founder of Birch Street Financial Advisors, a financial planning and investment advisory firm dedicated to helping people align their money with what matters most. With more than 30 years of experience in tax and financial planning, Joanne brings a unique perspective to her work by integrating tax strategy, investment planning, retirement income, and estate considerations into one thoughtful, coordinated plan. Her approach focuses on helping clients make smart decisions not just for today, but for the long-term life they want to live.

Joanne holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in accounting with a specialization in tax and has earned the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation along with the CPA/PFS credential. Early in her career as a CPA, she saw firsthand how many financial decisions were being made without considering the tax consequences. That realization led her to expand her work into comprehensive financial planning so she could help clients take a more proactive and integrated approach to their finances.

At Birch Street, Joanne works primarily with individuals approaching retirement, retirees, and people navigating major life transitions such as widowhood. She’s known for her collaborative, down-to-earth style and often describes her role as a “thinking partner”—helping clients step back, clarify their values, and make financial decisions that support the life they want to live. For Joanne, great financial planning isn’t just about numbers; it’s about creating confidence, clarity, and a sense of direction.

Outside of work, Joanne enjoys staying active through CrossFit and hiking, tending to her native garden, and connecting with people in her community. She also loves traveling and spending time with her family, experiences that continually remind her why thoughtful financial planning matters in the first place—so people have the freedom and peace of mind to enjoy the lives they’re building.