[00:18] Tara Bansal: Welcome to her life, her practice, her way.

[00:21] A podcast for and about female financial advisors.

[00:26] Tara I’m Tara Conti Bansal. I’ve been a financial planner and life coach for over 20 years,

[00:32] and I believe that when women thrive in this profession, we all win.

[00:38] This show is about sharing our journeys, our struggles, our breakthroughs, and the many ways we build a life and practice that feels true to us.

[00:48] And now I’m extending that mission. Beyond the podcast.

[00:52] I coach female advisors who want to grow a fulfilling practice and a beautiful life that they love.

[01:00] One filled with meaning, freedom, connection, and joy.

[01:04] Whether you’re just starting out, reinventing yourself, or dreaming of what’s next, you’re in the right place.

[01:11] Let’s build this together.

[01:13] Hello, this is Tara Bansal, and I am beyond excited to have Amy Irvine here with me. She is with the Rooted Planning Group.

[01:26] She has written the book uncork your finances, and she has her own podcast called Money Roots, which I also recommend you check out.

[01:36] And she has so many letters after her name that I am going to just quickly go through them because they deserve attention and I want to ask a couple questions around it.

[01:47] So she’s a certified financial planner, an enrolled agent, a certified college consultant.

[01:53] She has her master’s,

[01:55] a master planner in advanced studies, a certified divorce financial analyst,

[02:02] and a certified financial therapist.

[02:05] And that’s a lot. I consider myself a learner, but you’ve definitely taken it to a whole nother level.

[02:12] She’s located in Corning, beautiful Corning, New York.

[02:16] And I’m just thrilled to have you here. So thank you for coming.

[02:20] Amy Irvine: Amy, thank you so much for having me. I’m excited about this conversation.

[02:25] Tara Bansal: So I always start, just tell us your story,

[02:30] what you’re willing to share,

[02:31] kind of where you came from and what got you to where you are right now.

[02:36] Amy Irvine: Ah, so I mean, as a person. So. Right. That’s important. Other thing about financial planners, we tend to go right into our career. But as a person,

[02:43] I’ll, I’ll kind of say that as a child,

[02:47] I was always intrigued by puzzles and math. Like, that was always my favorite flappy space. Right. So my mother will tell this story that when my, my brother, who is five and a half years younger than me, was probably around two, maybe three years old, and my mom had this,

[03:05] like, little blackboard that she set up, and I was making my two and a half to three year old brother sit there and learn math because that was just like, it was, it was fun for me to do that sort of thing.

[03:16] So the poor Child was, you know, probably scarred from, for life because his sister was teaching him math at two, two and a half to three years old.

[03:25] But he does remember parts of it and laughs about it at this stage of our lives.

[03:29] But it was always just, it’s always a puzzle, right? And it’s always, it’s, it’s, it’s that observation and the curiosity of how do we,

[03:36] how do we manipulate, in a good way, you know, manipulate this problem that exists and make it work in a better way.

[03:46] So I don’t think it surprised anybody that I had this interest in accounting or, you know, something math sort of related. As I advanced through high school,

[03:56] math came very easy to me and accounting honestly came very easy to me. And I couldn’t ever figure out why it was so hard for everybody else. I just, it was just, it’s just who I was as a person.

[04:07] And later learned that, you know, brains work differently in different ways. Right. So,

[04:13] but math was, you know, something I enjoyed and as was accounting. So I went to college for accounting thinking that that’s what I wanted to do. Because back then that financial planning wasn’t, this was in 1990.

[04:25] Right. So back then it wasn’t something that you went to become a financial planner. That wasn’t a career choice that you necessarily knew to check a box on.

[04:35] I learned very quickly that although I love the science behind accounting,

[04:40] I didn’t really love accounting.

[04:43] So it didn’t take me very long to start searching for other options within my own career. And around that time, after I graduated, started working,

[04:52] my husband and I, you know, became serious dating and got married and decided to settle in an area that he grew up in, basically on the property he grew up on and, and worked.

[05:04] We’ve been there as well as half the year in Florida since we were married, which is 32 years this year. Congratulations.

[05:13] Tara Bansal: How did you meet?

[05:16] Amy Irvine: Common acquaintance basically introduced us and it was a New Year’s Eve party that we sort of just started talking at and you know, we have, I guess, a lot of similarity and we were young.

[05:28] I mean, I was only 22, 30, so we were fairly young. And we’ve, I,

[05:33] I feel like we’ve grown up together. We’re very fortunate and we’ve stayed on the same path and,

[05:38] and so,

[05:40] yeah, we settled there. And like I said, About 10 years ago, I started my own practice. So I, I got a job in a trust,

[05:47] in a Trust Department in 1994. 3:94 time frame. And that’s what started this journey,

[05:54] which has really been A journey into the financial planning, financial services profession.

[06:00] So it’s gone down windy roads. It’s, you know, it’s, it’s always. I’m always looking for new ways to, to strengthen my skills and grow my knowledge and to.

[06:14] I’m just curious and working with people and.

[06:17] And 10 years ago, I started my own practice.

[06:21] So one of the reasons that I started the practice was because I wanted to be able to be where it was warmer in the winter. Because although western New York, Corning, New York is a fabulous wine region of New York, in the summer, it is cold in the winter and gray.

[06:39] And I done. I love what I do. So the idea of stopping, you know, like focusing on, do this until you retire just didn’t seem right to me.

[06:50] So we decided at that point in time that if we, we started a practice, and by we, I mean, you know, it takes two when you do that kind of thing,

[06:59] even if one person isn’t focused on working in that profession,

[07:03] that it would allow us that flexibility to be where we were warm in the winter and where we wanted to be in the summer, and then to travel to, you know, different destinations beyond that.

[07:13] So, so we did that. And when I launched, one of the big things that was important to me was that it wasn’t a business based on the traditional assets and our management,

[07:23] that it was based on financial planning, which includes asset management and tax planning and college planning and all of that fun stuff. But it’s not,

[07:34] you know, assets are not the plan. They’re the tool in a plan, but they are not the plan. And so I wanted to really set my fee schedule so that it,

[07:44] you know, wasn’t around assets, that it was around the planning components of everybody’s life.

[07:52] And several years ago also started utilizing like, money quotient tools and had already had already sat for and successfully passed the requirements for becoming the financial therapist.

[08:08] Having the financial therapist designation and money potion just supports that, you know, so wholeheartedly.

[08:14] But also one of the reasons I wanted to do that was because I could see, see where there’s a lot of trauma around money, a lot of emotion around money.

[08:22] And I needed the tools to sort of work with clients where their space is, around those kind of concerns that they have. So that’s a big picture overview of my sort of life and career.

[08:38] And, you know, my husband and I love to climb mountains. I mean,

[08:43] big mountains. So we spend some time usually in the summer doing some high peaks. And that’s, that’s where I get really excited too. So it’s that combination of, you know,

[08:54] always on a journey, always, like, looking to see what we can achieve and. And do next.

[09:00] Tara Bansal: And what are some of your favorite peaks that you’ve climbed?

[09:04] Amy Irvine: Well, Table Mountain in Wyoming was pretty incredible because it was front and center of Grand Teton,

[09:11] you know, so it’s about 11,100ft. The climb is just about 4,000ft, but it’s, like, in 3.9 miles. So you’re just straight up? Yeah, yeah, you’re straight up. And. But when you get to the top, it’s just amazing.

[09:25] Right. You get up there, there’s. There’s none of the sound pollution.

[09:31] There’s the beauty of what’s around you.

[09:34] The majestic Teton Mountains are, like I said, front and center. And it’s pretty incredible to be up there and at that elevation and just be with nature. It’s where I think a lot when I’m on these long hikes.

[09:51] That’s my process, where my brain gets clear and clean and processes the best. So those are ideas. Yeah, yeah. And. And we do. In the Adirondacks, we’ve been climbing some of the high.

[10:03] There’s a. They call it the 46ers, and so there’s 46 high peaks in the Adirondacks. And so we’ve been working on some of those over the course in the last couple years as well.

[10:11] Our goal is to.

[10:12] To hike all 46 of them,

[10:15] but you can only do, you know, three or four a week, right. Four or five maybe at most. Because sometimes you can hit two or three peaks. They’re kind of connected, but still, your body needs a little bit of downtime and doing some of those huge hikes.

[10:29] Tara Bansal: Do you hike every week? How often?

[10:33] Amy Irvine: Well, we are avid outdoor walkers,

[10:37] so I don’t know. When we’re in Florida, there isn’t a lot of hiking that can be done the way that I’m talking.

[10:43] Yeah.

[10:44] When we’re in New York, we. The area that we live in, in Queen, there’s quite a bit of. Of hills that we can cover. I wouldn’t say it’s every week, but certainly more frequent in the.

[10:55] In the summer months than it is in the winter months. Yeah.

[10:58] Tara Bansal: What motivated you to start your own firm ten years ago?

[11:04] Amy Irvine: Yeah, there were a couple things, actually, that motivated me.

[11:06] One was in 2014, Brent and I both. My husband. Brent and I both lost uncles that we were extremely close to, and my uncle was only a year older than my husband.

[11:17] Tara Bansal: Wow.

[11:17] Amy Irvine: So pretty young.

[11:19] And, you know, that wakes you up.

[11:22] It really is something that, especially because we were very close to them. And I think also because of my Uncle Bob’s age, it was like, wow, what if we were that age?

[11:31] Would we be happy with how our life is actually going right now? Are we in control or is everything else in control of our lives? And we felt everything else was in control of our lives that we really didn’t.

[11:45] You know, we,

[11:46] we. I loved what I did. I didn’t love where I was doing it. I didn’t love how I was doing it.

[11:51] Tara Bansal: And what were you doing at that time before you?

[11:53] Amy Irvine: So I, I worked for another RIA firm.

[11:56] I was their director of financial planning and their chief compliance officer. So I was doing similar things that I’m doing right now. It’s just. It was an AUM firm.

[12:05] Tara Bansal: How big was the firm?

[12:07] Amy Irvine: They were over a hundred. They were considered a large firm. I think they had 130 million in assets, if I remember correctly.

[12:16] You know, I, it was AUM based and there were minimums and,

[12:20] and I,

[12:21] there was some financial planning, obviously, but there, it wasn’t the way I wanted to do financial planning.

[12:27] And I had a lot of girlfriends that kept trying to, like, they wanted to find a financial planner. And we would sit around and sometimes we’d be having a glass of wine and you know, they’d be asking me questions and I’m like, well,

[12:38] here’s something. I don’t know your situation, but here’s some things that you might want to explore. And I’m real cautious about giving advice unless I know the whole picture. But you know, if you’re interviewing financial planners, like, here’s what you want to ask.

[12:49] And,

[12:50] and so one caveat to starting my own firm was the loss of our uncles. But the second caveat was all of my friends that were in their mid-40s were like, just start your own practice so we can hire you.

[13:02] Because we can’t find what we’re looking for.

[13:06] We, you know, everybody that we go to says we don’t have enough assets for them to manage.

[13:12] And they have assets and they certainly had decent income streams,

[13:16] but they couldn’t find what they were looking for. So it sort of was that push. And I was terrified to start my own. It’s like,

[13:24] terrified,

[13:25] what if something happens to me?

[13:27] Am I, you know,

[13:29] there’s a lack of like,

[13:31] thought leadership or when I say thought leadership, like I can’t bounce something off somebody else. You know, it’s just me.

[13:39] What if this thing fails? You know, what if nobody comes to me? All of that stuff was the self talk that I had around launching a practice. And I think those two components, though, just really pushed me.

[13:52] I. I remember asking my husband the question that I ask a lot of clients saying, you know, if money wasn’t a barrier, like, what would. What would you do in life?

[14:00] Like, what would you change? And he made the mistake of saying, well, I’d probably be somewhere warmer in the winter. Okay, we’re doing this. Like, you know, that’s. I’m all game for that.

[14:09] I’ve never been a warmer person.

[14:11] So that was sort of the push of, yes, we could actually work,

[14:17] you know, like a hybrid. This is 2015, so this is pre Covid. Like, this is not when hybrid was a thing. Right. It was pre that time.

[14:28] But we really thought about it, we talked to more people, and everybody that we talked to said, oh, yeah, we would love a model like that. You know, a model that’s not based on Aum, it’s based on the service and the,

[14:42] the planning that we need, not, you know, not based on the assets that we have.

[14:47] So that’s what pushed me forward.

[14:50] And, you know, it was scary. I. I always say to people, like, you know, it was nail biting. And the first year was.

[14:56] Was tough.

[14:57] And I would say the second year was still tough, it was just less tough. And by the third year, I was pulling my hair out, like, I gotta hire people.

[15:05] My issue, and I tell this to everybody when they’re thinking about launching a firm is I was so worried about failure. I never actually planned for success. Isn’t that silly?

[15:13] I mean, thinking about, like, how we plan with our clients, it’s.

[15:18] It’s always about how do we make this successful? But my brain was in that mindset of, I’ve got to make sure those things work.

[15:26] But I never actually thought, well, what if it does? I was so worried about what if it didn’t. And. And so when people ask me about starting their own firm,

[15:36] you know, what are some of the things that I wish I had done differently? Number one thing is that I wish I had laid out some better, like KPIs and Matrix to say, this thing is working if this happens, or this happens, and these are some of the things that you need to do if this happens.

[15:52] Right. So by the time Kate and Becky came on with me,

[15:58] took a lot of patience on their end because we were so busy that it was basically just here, help.

[16:03] You know, there wasn’t a ton of training or great explanation. Yeah, it was patience.

[16:11] Becky was a graduate. She came out as an intern.

[16:15] She.

[16:15] The program that she went to College for, had a 15 internship in order to graduate as a financial planning student. And so she came in as an intern and she sat with me a lot.

[16:26] Like she did a lot of observations and then some of the follow up work. And so her training was literally on the job. Like here, you know,

[16:33] Kate had experience. Kate and I had actually worked together previously.

[16:39] So my story, somewhere in the middle there was that I worked in the profession until I was in my early 30s, went back to college to get the CFP requirements.

[16:49] Kate and I went to college together. Her the first time, me the second time to get the CFP education.

[16:56] And then she went off and kind of journey down her path in life.

[17:01] I started my own practice and she and I ran into each other at a football game for our corresponding nephews.

[17:09] And when I saw Brett and I had been talking about who to hire what, you know, what kind of person, and he asked me,

[17:17] is there anybody that you can think of? And I ironically said, the only person I’ve been coming to my mind is Kate Welker.

[17:25] As she.

[17:26] Like a week later, a week and a half later, I saw her walking up to the. Well, we were walking up to the football game and she was standing at the fence.

[17:34] And I said, look who’s here. I mean, serendipity, right? Yeah. So that works.

[17:40] She. She leaned back and she said, hey, how are you? I’m like, hey, I’ve your ears been ringing? I’ve been talking about you. That’s funny. I’ve been cyber stalking you.

[17:49] So that just was like, again,

[17:51] serendipity.

[17:52] Tara Bansal: And how many years till you. Did you hire both of them at the same time?

[17:57] Amy Irvine: I know, pretty much, yeah. He came on in February of 2018 and Becky came on in April. So it was pretty much around the same time. Yeah.

[18:05] Tara Bansal: So four years in, then you.

[18:09] Amy Irvine: So. Well, I would say two years into your launch. Yeah, because 2016 was my official launch.

[18:16] Tara Bansal: Okay.

[18:16] Amy Irvine: And then,

[18:18] you know, 14 was the loss that we had of our uncles. 15 was the year of, I would say extraction. And then 16 was the,

[18:27] you know, the full launch.

[18:30] Tara Bansal: And it sounds like, how is your husband involved in your.

[18:36] Amy Irvine: Yeah, So, I mean, first of all is the supportiveness of any spouse needs to be when somebody is starting a business. He was there for me all the way. He had been pushing me to do this for years.

[18:48] I mean, probably at least five years before I did it. He really wanted me to do that. He saw the value and the idea that I had and Said, you’re going to do fine, you’re going to do fine.

[18:59] So from the support perspective, he was there and there’s emotional up and downs that you have in those first couple of years. He just had my back and calmed me down when I needed that calmness.

[19:10] But he also works and still works part time for the firm and an administrative level,

[19:16] very behind the scenes. He does, he barely wants people to know that he works for the firm because that’s his get. Like he, he doesn’t, he’s there to support us and the team, but he also doesn’t want people to think that he knows the financial planning aspect of it.

[19:34] Yeah, yeah.

[19:35] Tara Bansal: What, what does he do?

[19:40] Amy Irvine: Project work. I mean he, he actually sends out all of our advisory agreements. So all the agreements that goes out to clients, he gets a task to actually send that out.

[19:49] So that’s one. And as you know, that means, you know, making sure that they get downloaded in the proper place and all that. So he is, that is one of his primary firms.

[19:58] And then he’ll help or find jobs in the firm and then he’ll help us with projects like when we bring systems up to speed or that need cleaning. Then we’ll ask him to help us with those kinds of things.

[20:10] So it’s,

[20:11] it’s little things here and there. During tax season he’ll help us with maybe uploading signature pages, you know, for clients, that sort of thing. So it, it really depends. It’s the solar seasons, I call it where we most need him and which is great because in the summer then he doesn’t,

[20:28] he’s not needed as much and he can go off and do his fun things that he wants to do.

[20:32] Tara Bansal: Very nice. I would love for you to describe your model for how you work with clients.

[20:40] Amy Irvine: Yeah, I mean in the profession, I guess we call it a flat fee model. Like that’s what we would call it within the profession.

[20:48] When I’m explaining it to clients,

[20:50] I usually explain it in a way to say that, you know, our, our model is very different than what else is out there.

[20:56] I’m not saying we’re the only firm that offers this way, but it is very different in the sense that in the first, first engagement that you work with us, we, we talk about like basic planning that we need to do for you.

[21:10] And, and our base fee plan is around $3,000. So that’s just the financial plan that’s up front.

[21:16] Tara Bansal: Right.

[21:16] Amy Irvine: That we don’t know if we’re going to manage your assets. We don’t know if you’re going to hire us for ongoing services. This is just the financial plan that we will do for you.

[21:24] But then on top of that, there is complexities.

[21:27] And by complexities I mean things like,

[21:30] you know, do you own rental property? Do you have stock options? Do you have a side hustle and a full time job? Do you have multiple accounts in multiple locations?

[21:43] That would require more time, energy and effort.

[21:47] So on top of that base fee of $3,000, there’s that complexity fee that will add on. And when we’re talking to clients in that initial discovery call, we ask them about those various aspects after we get a feel for what are their priorities.

[22:03] And you know, the number one question when I hop on a discovery call with a client is so most people don’t just decide one morning when they wake up that they’re going to hire a financial planner.

[22:14] There’s something that’s driving you to reach out to somebody at this point in time. And I just had a discovery call the other day and I loved this woman’s response to it because she said,

[22:23] no, we lay a bed and worry about it for months and months and months or years and years and years. And then finally we say, okay, it’s time. And I was like, oh my gosh, that’s so perfect.

[22:34] Tara Bansal: She articulated what like many people will not say. Right.

[22:38] Amy Irvine: I just thought that was so lovely that she said that. But it was like, yes, that’s probably true. What’s driving you to me now? You know, so, so I guess my way of saying it is that our, our, our model is based on, you know, looking at your full financial and personal life.

[22:54] Like, we don’t, we, we need to know your numbers and we need to know what’s going on in your financial life. But boy, what I really want to find out is how it supports your life.

[23:03] Right. So one of my mottos is if you look at our website is life is about events supported by your dollars and cents. And so how do we make sure that as financial planners we’re doing that second or giving advice on that second part that actually supports that first part.

[23:22] So I, I need to know what the most important events are in your life. Tell me about your life. That’s actually more interesting to me is what do you love to do?

[23:32] You know, like I was sharing with you how much I love to hike. Well,

[23:36] how do I get more of that? And that’s, you know, that’s what everybody wants in life. They want more of the fun in their life.

[23:43] Tara Bansal: Yeah.

[23:43] Amy Irvine: And so how do we make sure that their finances support that.

[23:46] But that, you know, as far as, like, trying to explain it to people outside the profession,

[23:51] I usually lay it out sort of in the way that I just did to you.

[23:55] Tara Bansal: And then after the base plan, like, do you quote, like, an annual fee based on how complex they are? Is that how it works?

[24:05] Amy Irvine: That’s correct.

[24:05] Yeah. So. So some people stop with the base.

[24:08] Right. They. They’re like, I feel like I’m in really good shape. This was really helpful. I might come back once a year and get an update. And that’s great. I mean, if we’ve done our job that well and you feel like you can handle it from that point forward,

[24:20] fantastic.

[24:21] But then some people want that more. I would say concierge service, where they want. They actually want you to manage their assets, or they want you to do their tax return, or they want somebody they can call or there’s moving parts that are going on.

[24:34] But perhaps they have an ipo. They work for a company that’s going to have an IPO coming up.

[24:38] Maybe they have a unique situation going on in their lives that they want to be able to reach out a little bit more. Then we prepare a ongoing service schedule for them, saying, based on everything we saw in your initial plan,

[24:52] here’s what we see going forward for the next year. And we provide them with a quote. And again, based on complexities, the fee will range anywhere from, you know,

[25:01] three.

[25:02] I shouldn’t even say that anymore because it’s generally in the range of like, 5 to 6,000 and up. So it just depends on what’s going on in their life. Yeah.

[25:10] Tara Bansal: And then for those clients, how often do you meet with them? Do you have a schedule or how does that work?

[25:18] Amy Irvine: Yeah, so it depends on the client and what’s going on. And their complexity fee is actually based on that. So if you have a client that has something that’s going on, like,

[25:26] we require a lot of meetings coming up because there’s something major,

[25:30] then we’ll price it up higher because we know that we need to be engaging with them a bit more. Now, the next year, their fee may go down. Like, if we work through all those issues and they, you know, they feel.

[25:40] Tara Bansal: Like now we can coast for a while.

[25:42] Amy Irvine: Yeah. Now that the fee can go down a little bit. So every year at the end of the year, we’re talking to clients about their upcoming year and what. What’s going on in their life and financial life to be able to readjust that fee.

[25:54] But.

[25:56] But it does depend on the client. Some clients it’s twice a year. Some clients it’s four times a year. I’ve got one client that it’s actually monthly right now. So it just really depends on what’s going on.

[26:08] Yeah, yeah. And what they’re willing to pay for.

[26:10] Tara Bansal: Yeah. How many households do you have like.

[26:14] Amy Irvine: That are more collectively? Yeah, yeah.

[26:17] Oh, longer term, I think we’re in the neighborhood of around 130, 140 in the longer term arena. Yeah. I mean, that’s across the firm. So there’s financial planners, and that’s across the board.

[26:26] So.

[26:26] Tara Bansal: And does that include these plans or. No, that’s just like, even people.

[26:33] Amy Irvine: Those are existing households, Those are ongoing clients.

[26:37] Tara Bansal: Okay.

[26:37] Amy Irvine: Yeah. Yep.

[26:39] Tara Bansal: And then what percentage would you say are new financial plans that, like.

[26:46] Amy Irvine: A lot of the people that come on as financial plans stay?

[26:49] Tara Bansal: I’m sure.

[26:50] Amy Irvine: I’m not surprised at that. I was gonna.

[26:53] I would say as a percentage, probably 3 to 5%,

[26:57] come on as a financial plan and don’t continue on with us.

[27:01] Tara Bansal: That’s it.

[27:02] Amy Irvine: Yeah.

[27:02] Tara Bansal: Okay.

[27:03] Amy Irvine: Yeah.

[27:03] Tara Bansal: And I know on your website you have a waiting list. About how long is your waiting list?

[27:09] Amy Irvine: I think the last time I checked, we had about 10 people on there right now. Yeah.

[27:14] Tara Bansal: And is that six months? Is that. How many months away?

[27:18] Amy Irvine: Would you. Yeah, well, right. I mean, right now we’ll. We’ll take. We’ve done some discovery calls with some of those folks, and we can’t take anybody on during tax season. And in order to really do a good job with the onboarding, we really want to.

[27:33] Really want to make sure that we have the focus to do that.

[27:37] So anybody that is willing to wait at this point in time, they know it’s going to be probably may before we’re able to actually move forward. If they want. If they need something right now or somebody right now, then we get enough information and I think I have enough contacts in my back pocket that I can usually say,

[27:57] you know, who might be able to help you, and refer them to another planner.

[28:00] Tara Bansal: That’s great.

[28:01] Amy Irvine: Yeah.

[28:02] Tara Bansal: What.

[28:04] Amy Irvine: I don’t know what.

[28:06] Tara Bansal: What do you feel like is a decision that really helped shape your career and got you where you are now?

[28:13] Amy Irvine: Well, the decision to pursue,

[28:16] uh.

[28:17] I mean, just the decision to pursue accounting in and of itself. I had a. Lenny Caruso was his name, a teacher in high school that I credit to, like, pointing me in the direction.

[28:27] I had no idea. I mean, this is so many years ago. You didn’t have people that we think 1990, like, college was normal but it really wasn’t yet. I mean, it really wasn’t what it is today.

[28:38] And so I didn’t know what I really wanted to do. And I took those. One of those aptitude stages test back then, and it said, like, you’d be good at teaching and,

[28:46] and nursing. I’m like, no way to either of those. That is not.

[28:51] And I understand now the teaching component, because I love to educate. Like, one of the things that really gets me all excited and jazzed up is when I have a client that engages with me in a way that the education is a key component of the relationship.

[29:06] So I totally get that now. But at the time,

[29:09] like,

[29:10] I don’t. I don’t. That doesn’t spark anything in me.

[29:14] And I don’t know where nursing came from, because there was no way I was pursuing any kind of biological, fluid career.

[29:22] So.

[29:24] So my teacher, Mr. Caruso, Lenny Crusoe, actually said, well, why don’t you. You’re great at this. Like, why don’t you go into a college for accounting? So I really credit that direction with, like, sort of the start of the path of where I was going.

[29:39] And then the second.

[29:40] The second thing that I, I.

[29:43] It’s one of those funny, I guess,

[29:46] things is one day I was home sick with the flu, and I was watching the Today show. And you. You’re familiar with Gene Chat sky,

[29:54] and she was on the Today show giving financial tips that particular morning.

[30:00] And I thought, well, that’s interesting. Here’s a young woman who is giving financial advice on tv.

[30:09] I wonder what it would take to get more knowledge about that. And so those two kind of things sort of pointing me in this. This direction a little bit. Had the chance to actually meet Jane a couple of times now and, and share that.

[30:23] That story with her. And it’s been. I always tell her, like, you know, it was just this random Today show. I don’t know how many lives you see.

[30:32] You know, a lot of lives that she’s touched with her knowledge and education as well. But that particular moment in my life was a message that I wanted and needed to hear, and it got me interested in going to the library.

[30:44] Go figure, right? And getting more knowledge about personal finance. Yeah. So those are the two,

[30:50] I would say, components other than just having really good mentors.

[30:55] I’ve had some fabulous mentors in my career and been so blessed by wonderful people that I’ve met that have given me direction as well.

[31:06] Tara Bansal: I.

[31:07] I’m toying with a recommendation from one of my guests, said I should do an episode around mentoring just to hear different women’s perspectives on that and any lessons or advice.

[31:23] When you think back on the mentors you had, how many of them were women is my first question.

[31:31] Amy Irvine: One was a woman and one was a man. So I’ve had both.

[31:36] And I think the advice was to,

[31:44] to, to ask the whys a little bit more. Like I, I took the advice that she gave,

[31:50] but I wish I,

[31:52] looking back, I wish I had said tell me more about this. Like not just the do it part, but the actual why should I do this?

[32:03] I trusted her enough that I did what she recommended,

[32:07] but it took me years later to actually understand why she was recommending it.

[32:14] And I don’t know, maybe asking the question wouldn’t have made a difference, but I think it’s important to, you know, again, if we can look back on it and do something different.

[32:22] And,

[32:22] and I think today in the,

[32:25] the work that I do, like after you and I jump off this call today, this podcast recording I host once a month, this Ask me anything session. So sometimes nobody shows.

[32:38] Sometimes we have five or six people show and it’s public.

[32:42] Tara Bansal: Who is that put out to. Is that only clients? Like.

[32:47] Amy Irvine: No, no, this is, this is actually others in the profession. This is actually not for clients. This is meant for people are, you know, career changers that are finishing up their education that maybe have their own practice or work in the profession already and they just, they just want some guidance.

[33:05] I mean this is,

[33:06] you know, we’re,

[33:07] I go back to that comment about when I saw Gene Chesky on TV and it was like this life striking changing moment of this is a woman giving advice on finance.

[33:19] And here I am a woman giving advice on finance. Right. So I want to support that more in the profession and you know, set that image of hey, if you.

[33:32] We all have struggles,

[33:34] every single one of us and so where can we talk through with each other? Especially if you’re a solo practitioner or you don’t have a mentor right now, maybe you just want to bounce ideas off from somebody.

[33:46] And so the ask me anything really was developed for that reason was come, let’s do a jam session. If I’m the only one, I’ll give you my two cents on it might not be right or might not work for you, but if there’s other people, maybe they’ll give you their two cents and give direction.

[34:01] Because certainly my opinion is not the only or the best opinion. Right. There’s could be others out there that might have an even more elevated or we work off from those suggestions.

[34:13] So I think it’s really important, like I’m at this stage of my life and creating career where giving back is very, very meaningful to me. And so you do that a lot.

[34:22] So I know I try, yeah, I try really hard to do that because it’s, I mean that brings me joy, number one and, and number two,

[34:30] I didn’t get to where I am without yourself. That.

[34:34] Tara Bansal: Yeah, yeah. So how do you get the word out even for that? I assume you put it on LinkedIn.

[34:41] Amy Irvine: It’s on LinkedIn. Yeah, yeah, I pretty much predominant LinkedIn. Yeah. And then, you know, people will share it and they’ll,

[34:49] I think if they follow me, they see it. But that’s predominantly the way that I put it out there. That’s my social media channel. That’s the, the channel that I use.

[34:59] Tara Bansal: What, where are you now with your business and what’s next? Like, what are you thinking?

[35:08] Amy Irvine: Yeah. So 10 years in, right? This our 10th year anniversary, Kate and Becky are now partners.

[35:14] So they are, they are, they earned in, bought some shares. They’re going to continue to do that over the course of the next six years so that we can get it at a 5050 allocation.

[35:24] And then over the next 10 years they’re going to finish buying me out. I’m going to phase back, they’re going to take on the practice. So by 2030 I won’t be running by 2032, excuse me, I won’t be running the practice anymore.

[35:39] And I’ll be involved to the degree that they want some coaching and direction.

[35:46] Probably have a small book of business that I’m working with at that point in time and that will give me that opportunity to be climbing more mountains and have, you know, less pull on me every single day.

[35:58] I will probably be involved in some way or shape or form more,

[36:03] more in. When I involved in more of like the overall profession of providing some coaching. So outside of the financial planning practice, I would be providing some coaching to other financial planners that might be interested in that.

[36:18] But they, they are already starting. We’re working on transitioning some of the work over the next like six. I mean the, the fun thing is we have six years to do this and you know, and, and they get to ask questions and I’m there for them and they know what the timeframe is.

[36:36] And we, we’ve worked with Brooklyn Brock and her team to,

[36:40] to work through the, the agreements and talk about the emotional side of it. I mean, look, it’s not easy when you start talking about Handing your child over to people that you excuse the phrase, but raised in the practice.

[36:56] You know,

[36:58] so there’s been some emotional moments where I’ve got to check myself and remind myself that this is. They are extremely capable individuals. They’re wonderful women to work with, and they are going to do things differently than I would do things.

[37:14] And I have to face that, you know, and that sounds so easy when I say it, but sometimes that’s so easy. So I just have.

[37:23] I have to remind myself that that’s something.

[37:26] Tara Bansal: So.

[37:26] Amy Irvine: So. But it’s exciting. I will say exciting.

[37:29] Tara Bansal: How recent is that of them of doing all this?

[37:34] Amy Irvine: Yeah. So two years ago is when I approached them and said, hey, is this a practice that you want to build and grow and take over?

[37:41] And there were some.

[37:44] There was some hesitation at that point in time, and it wasn’t hesitation like, yeah, I’m not interested in the practice. It was. I’m actually not interested in the practice this way.

[37:53] We’re at a point in time where we were too busy.

[37:57] Yeah. And so we needed to sort of take that step back and figure that out. Reframe. Yeah. That component and then, you know, keep measuring.

[38:07] Okay. Where are you comfortable taking on the practice? And so over the last couple years, we’ve worked on some of that. We’ve outsourced some things. We’ve added some new technology.

[38:17] We’ve slowed our ontake, as you mentioned about the wait list.

[38:21] So we’ve been working really hard.

[38:23] I’ve been working really hard, and it’s really. I say they’re working really hard, too, but I’ve been working really hard to remind myself that this is something that I committed to them on.

[38:36] So that takes some.

[38:40] Takes some constraints to say no or restraint to say no, you know, so.

[38:47] So I’ve been working hard on that. And. And so over the last few years, we’ve made some transitions.

[38:52] Last year, we started really looking at who can take on what. They’ve started to take on some of the project research for different things.

[38:59] Kate has taken on a lot of the payroll and employee relations side of things. Becky is taking more and more clients as the lead planner. So, you know, transitioning some of the clients that we’ve jointly work,

[39:14] I’m more the back seat and she’s the front seat. So that it’s taking place right now, and over the next few years, we’ll continue to do so.

[39:23] Tara Bansal: We’re out of time. And I am so sad because I feel like I have a million other things.

[39:28] Amy Irvine: I’ll come back.

[39:29] Tara Bansal: Well, I’ll definitely have you back. What, what do you wish more women in the profession knew or believed?

[39:39] Amy Irvine: Yeah,

[39:40] it’s a hard profession in the sense that there is a,

[39:45] there’s, there’s not a lot of turn off.

[39:47] Right. I mean turn like you.

[39:49] Our profession doesn’t allow you to just turn off when you go home.

[39:53] Like our brain is constantly thinking about things so it makes us really good at what we do too.

[40:00] And I think there’s a lot of fear around what if I want to have a family and I want to run a practice and I. We need to talk more about that and we need to talk about solutions around that because there are absolutely solutions.

[40:17] There are some wonderful women in this profession that have figured that out.

[40:22] Hannah Moore.

[40:24] Dana Jacobs. Sorry, Dana Jacobs.

[40:28] Becky on our team. She’s had a baby while she was on our team. She’s going to have a. Another baby.

[40:34] There’s ways to work around this, but that fear gets in the way I think a lot because of the,

[40:40] the toughness of the fact that, you know, well, what if I’m on maternity leave and something happens?

[40:46] There’s ways that there we can work around this stuff. And you know, and I think too, as more men start to take paternity leave that, that becomes more normalized.

[40:58] But I absolutely think that’s one of the fears that restricts women from coming into this practice a little bit or feels like a barrier a little bit.

[41:06] Because what if. Right. And, and so I think that that’s also what makes us great planners though. And I, I wouldn’t let that barrier get in the way.

[41:15] And I also think that,

[41:18] you know, it, it is such a narrow number. There’s so few of us that it’s scary when you’re on that few side.

[41:25] And so just talk to as many women as possible if you’re interested or if you’re feeling, feeling like the profession isn’t working for you. Like what?

[41:36] Talk through it. Like jump on a call with somebody who’s done it and see what the options are and, and talk to other women that have gone through it. There are solutions out there.

[41:45] Do not let those feelings stand in your way and be barriers.

[41:48] Very good.

[41:49] Tara Bansal: Do you have a go to self care ritual?

[41:53] Amy Irvine: That’s my hiking. Yeah. Okay. Or walking. That’s the getting outside.

[41:57] Hiking, walking, getting out with nature.

[42:00] When I feel stressed, clearing, clearing my cobwebs is my number one thing. I just have to get outside.

[42:08] That is my take care ritual. Yep. Good.

[42:11] Tara Bansal: One thing bringing you joy right now.

[42:16] Amy Irvine: I love to see what’s going on with the team in this transition. This brings me a lot of joy and I’m excited to see where it takes them and just the way that they’re developing.

[42:28] That’s really exciting to be a part of that.

[42:30] Oh, wonderful.

[42:31] Tara Bansal: I know you have to go, but thank you. Thank you. I’m gonna have you back, so thank you.

[42:37] Yeah. Because so many more questions, but have a great day.

[42:41] Amy Irvine: Thank you, Tara.

[42:42] Tara Bansal: Thank you.

[42:42] Amy Irvine: You too.

[42:43] Tara Bansal: Bye.

[42:43] Amy Irvine: Bye.

[42:44] Tara Bansal: As I reflect on this conversation with Amy Irvine, what stays with me most is not what she’s built, but why she built it and how she continues to show up as a generous mentor and thought leader in our profession.

[43:00] Amy’s story reminds us that true leadership often comes not from ambition,

[43:05] but from loss.

[43:07] For her,

[43:08] the sudden and painful loss of her uncle became a wake up call,

[43:12] one that clarified what truly mattered and gave her the courage to take a risk that she had been contemplating for a while.

[43:20] What I hope you take away from this episode is the reminder that fear doesn’t mean you’re on the wrong path.

[43:28] Often it means you’re standing at the edge of something deeply meaningful,

[43:33] something you really want but are afraid to go after.

[43:38] Amy didn’t wait until she felt ready. She moved forward while still afraid.

[43:43] And later she realized she had planned so carefully to avoid failure that she hadn’t fully planned for success.

[43:52] I’m also struck by how deeply mentorship has played a role. Throughout her story,

[43:57] mentors were important to her, and now she chooses to show up and help mentor others through generosity, openness, and creating spaces where people can ask questions and feel less alone.

[44:11] She’s not louder, not flashier,

[44:14] just more real and more human.

[44:17] And finally, I keep coming back to this.

[44:20] Amy talked about how naturally numbers came to her growing up.

[44:24] But that’s not what makes her stand out.

[44:27] What makes her exceptional is her humanity,

[44:30] her willingness to be honest about what’s hard,

[44:33] her ability to hold space for others.

[44:37] Now she’s navigating her own transition once again.

[44:41] She’s showing the courage to let go and trust the next generation to do things their own way.

[44:47] It is bringing both pride and grief.

[44:50] And it’s hard.

[44:52] Yet at the end, she said, it’s giving her great joy, too.

[44:56] So if you’re listening and quietly wondering, is it time for a change?

[45:01] What risk have I been contemplating but not taking?

[45:05] What would it look like to plan not just for safety,

[45:09] but for success?

[45:11] Or how do I want to lead,

[45:14] mentor, or give back in my next phase of life?

[45:19] I hope Amy’s story gives you permission to ask those questions because there’s no single right path. There’s only the one that feels right for you and the courage to keep listening when your instincts and inner voice are whispering and nudging you forward.

[45:37] Thank you for listening to Her Life, Her Practice, Her Way a podcast for and about female financial advisors.

[45:45] I truly hope you found something valuable and encouraging in today’s episode.

[45:50] If you did, I’d be so grateful if you’d take a moment to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

[45:58] It helps other phenomenal women in our field find this space.

[46:03] And if you know another advisor who would benefit from these conversations or from the kind of support I offer through coaching,

[46:11] please send this episode to her.

[46:13] If you’re curious about working with me as your coach or interested in being on the podcast, I’d love to hear from you.

[46:21] You can find more details and reach out to me on the contact page of my website.

[46:27] Her Life,

[46:28] her practice herway.com no spaces, no underlines, just the word straight in a row.

[46:36] Until next time, Keep building a life and practice you truly love.

• Amy’s Work
  • Rooted Planning Group – www.rootedpg.com (Values-based, flat-fee financial planning firm)
  • Uncork Your Finances: Top Tips From “Wine and Dime” Podcast Interviews by Amy Irvine https://a.co/d/bd2Xtxi
  • Money Roots Podcast hosted by Amy Irvine Money Roots Podcast — Rooted Planning Group

Amy Irvine, CFP®, EA, MPAS®, CCFC, CDFA®

Amy is the founder and owner of Rooted Planning Group, a 100% women owned, fee-only financial planning firm.

As a kid, she always liked numbers.  She would spend hours creating math problems and solutions. Whenever she wanted to play math teacher, her brother was forced to be her student! Given her love of facts and figures, it’s really no surprise that she chose a career where she worked with numbers.

Amy has 31 years in the financial services profession, and her passion is to provide financial planning that looks at all aspects of your life and how your finances support you.   She believes that you can use your dollars and cents to create and live a meaningful life unique to your own dreams and desires.

She started Rooted Planning group because she wanted to offer financial PLANNING services.  She believes that our profession has a tendency to focus on “assets under management,” and she wanted to focus on the journey of your life (what she refers to in her podcast as your financial “vineyard”).  She truly believes that life and finances have different palettes that should be celebrated and not judged.

She is the author of “Uncork Your Finances,” Financial Toolkit Workbook, and podcast host of Money Roots, which were created as a way to take the “scary” out of finance.

Education

She holds a masters degree (MPAS®) in personal financial planning, as well the following designations:

• Certified Financial Planner^TM
• Enrolled Agent
• Certified College Financial Consultant
• Certified Divorce Financial Analyst
• A Certified Financial Therapist-Level I™ Professional

Community

In addition to serving on several boards, she serves as a mentor to other women in the profession, sat on the National Board of the National Association of Personal Financial Planners (NAPFA) from 2020 – 2023, and now is a Trustee of the NAPFA Foundation, all in hopes of having professional influence on the number of women in the profession (or lack thereof).

She also co-founded the Southern Tier Women’s Financial Conference in 2014, which is an annual event with a day of collaboration, networking, and financial education for women

In pursuit of her perfect life, she splits her time between Parrish, Florida and Jasper, New York.  She loves what she does, but she also very much enjoys warmth, a great book, good conversation, wine tastings and volunteering.

[00:18] Tara Bansal: Welcome to her life, her practice, her way.

[00:21] A podcast for and about female financial advisors.

[00:26] Tara I’m Tara Conti Bansal. I’ve been a financial planner and life coach for over 20 years,

[00:32] and I believe that when women thrive in this profession, we all win.

[00:38] This show is about sharing our journeys, our struggles, our breakthroughs, and the many ways we build a life and practice that feels true to us.

[00:48] And now I’m extending that mission. Beyond the podcast.

[00:52] I coach female advisors who want to grow a fulfilling practice and a beautiful life that they love.

[01:00] One filled with meaning, freedom, connection, and joy.

[01:04] Whether you’re just starting out, reinventing yourself, or dreaming of what’s next, you’re in the right place.

[01:11] Let’s build this together.

[01:13] Hello, this is Tara Bansal, and I am beyond excited to have Amy Irvine here with me. She is with the Rooted Planning Group.

[01:26] She has written the book uncork your finances, and she has her own podcast called Money Roots, which I also recommend you check out.

[01:36] And she has so many letters after her name that I am going to just quickly go through them because they deserve attention and I want to ask a couple questions around it.

[01:47] So she’s a certified financial planner, an enrolled agent, a certified college consultant.

[01:53] She has her master’s,

[01:55] a master planner in advanced studies, a certified divorce financial analyst,

[02:02] and a certified financial therapist.

[02:05] And that’s a lot. I consider myself a learner, but you’ve definitely taken it to a whole nother level.

[02:12] She’s located in Corning, beautiful Corning, New York.

[02:16] And I’m just thrilled to have you here. So thank you for coming.

[02:20] Amy Irvine: Amy, thank you so much for having me. I’m excited about this conversation.

[02:25] Tara Bansal: So I always start, just tell us your story,

[02:30] what you’re willing to share,

[02:31] kind of where you came from and what got you to where you are right now.

[02:36] Amy Irvine: Ah, so I mean, as a person. So. Right. That’s important. Other thing about financial planners, we tend to go right into our career. But as a person,

[02:43] I’ll, I’ll kind of say that as a child,

[02:47] I was always intrigued by puzzles and math. Like, that was always my favorite flappy space. Right. So my mother will tell this story that when my, my brother, who is five and a half years younger than me, was probably around two, maybe three years old, and my mom had this,

[03:05] like, little blackboard that she set up, and I was making my two and a half to three year old brother sit there and learn math because that was just like, it was, it was fun for me to do that sort of thing.

[03:16] So the poor Child was, you know, probably scarred from, for life because his sister was teaching him math at two, two and a half to three years old.

[03:25] But he does remember parts of it and laughs about it at this stage of our lives.

[03:29] But it was always just, it’s always a puzzle, right? And it’s always, it’s, it’s, it’s that observation and the curiosity of how do we,

[03:36] how do we manipulate, in a good way, you know, manipulate this problem that exists and make it work in a better way.

[03:46] So I don’t think it surprised anybody that I had this interest in accounting or, you know, something math sort of related. As I advanced through high school,

[03:56] math came very easy to me and accounting honestly came very easy to me. And I couldn’t ever figure out why it was so hard for everybody else. I just, it was just, it’s just who I was as a person.

[04:07] And later learned that, you know, brains work differently in different ways. Right. So,

[04:13] but math was, you know, something I enjoyed and as was accounting. So I went to college for accounting thinking that that’s what I wanted to do. Because back then that financial planning wasn’t, this was in 1990.

[04:25] Right. So back then it wasn’t something that you went to become a financial planner. That wasn’t a career choice that you necessarily knew to check a box on.

[04:35] I learned very quickly that although I love the science behind accounting,

[04:40] I didn’t really love accounting.

[04:43] So it didn’t take me very long to start searching for other options within my own career. And around that time, after I graduated, started working,

[04:52] my husband and I, you know, became serious dating and got married and decided to settle in an area that he grew up in, basically on the property he grew up on and, and worked.

[05:04] We’ve been there as well as half the year in Florida since we were married, which is 32 years this year. Congratulations.

[05:13] Tara Bansal: How did you meet?

[05:16] Amy Irvine: Common acquaintance basically introduced us and it was a New Year’s Eve party that we sort of just started talking at and you know, we have, I guess, a lot of similarity and we were young.

[05:28] I mean, I was only 22, 30, so we were fairly young. And we’ve, I,

[05:33] I feel like we’ve grown up together. We’re very fortunate and we’ve stayed on the same path and,

[05:38] and so,

[05:40] yeah, we settled there. And like I said, About 10 years ago, I started my own practice. So I, I got a job in a trust,

[05:47] in a Trust Department in 1994. 3:94 time frame. And that’s what started this journey,

[05:54] which has really been A journey into the financial planning, financial services profession.

[06:00] So it’s gone down windy roads. It’s, you know, it’s, it’s always. I’m always looking for new ways to, to strengthen my skills and grow my knowledge and to.

[06:14] I’m just curious and working with people and.

[06:17] And 10 years ago, I started my own practice.

[06:21] So one of the reasons that I started the practice was because I wanted to be able to be where it was warmer in the winter. Because although western New York, Corning, New York is a fabulous wine region of New York, in the summer, it is cold in the winter and gray.

[06:39] And I done. I love what I do. So the idea of stopping, you know, like focusing on, do this until you retire just didn’t seem right to me.

[06:50] So we decided at that point in time that if we, we started a practice, and by we, I mean, you know, it takes two when you do that kind of thing,

[06:59] even if one person isn’t focused on working in that profession,

[07:03] that it would allow us that flexibility to be where we were warm in the winter and where we wanted to be in the summer, and then to travel to, you know, different destinations beyond that.

[07:13] So, so we did that. And when I launched, one of the big things that was important to me was that it wasn’t a business based on the traditional assets and our management,

[07:23] that it was based on financial planning, which includes asset management and tax planning and college planning and all of that fun stuff. But it’s not,

[07:34] you know, assets are not the plan. They’re the tool in a plan, but they are not the plan. And so I wanted to really set my fee schedule so that it,

[07:44] you know, wasn’t around assets, that it was around the planning components of everybody’s life.

[07:52] And several years ago also started utilizing like, money quotient tools and had already had already sat for and successfully passed the requirements for becoming the financial therapist.

[08:08] Having the financial therapist designation and money potion just supports that, you know, so wholeheartedly.

[08:14] But also one of the reasons I wanted to do that was because I could see, see where there’s a lot of trauma around money, a lot of emotion around money.

[08:22] And I needed the tools to sort of work with clients where their space is, around those kind of concerns that they have. So that’s a big picture overview of my sort of life and career.

[08:38] And, you know, my husband and I love to climb mountains. I mean,

[08:43] big mountains. So we spend some time usually in the summer doing some high peaks. And that’s, that’s where I get really excited too. So it’s that combination of, you know,

[08:54] always on a journey, always, like, looking to see what we can achieve and. And do next.

[09:00] Tara Bansal: And what are some of your favorite peaks that you’ve climbed?

[09:04] Amy Irvine: Well, Table Mountain in Wyoming was pretty incredible because it was front and center of Grand Teton,

[09:11] you know, so it’s about 11,100ft. The climb is just about 4,000ft, but it’s, like, in 3.9 miles. So you’re just straight up? Yeah, yeah, you’re straight up. And. But when you get to the top, it’s just amazing.

[09:25] Right. You get up there, there’s. There’s none of the sound pollution.

[09:31] There’s the beauty of what’s around you.

[09:34] The majestic Teton Mountains are, like I said, front and center. And it’s pretty incredible to be up there and at that elevation and just be with nature. It’s where I think a lot when I’m on these long hikes.

[09:51] That’s my process, where my brain gets clear and clean and processes the best. So those are ideas. Yeah, yeah. And. And we do. In the Adirondacks, we’ve been climbing some of the high.

[10:03] There’s a. They call it the 46ers, and so there’s 46 high peaks in the Adirondacks. And so we’ve been working on some of those over the course in the last couple years as well.

[10:11] Our goal is to.

[10:12] To hike all 46 of them,

[10:15] but you can only do, you know, three or four a week, right. Four or five maybe at most. Because sometimes you can hit two or three peaks. They’re kind of connected, but still, your body needs a little bit of downtime and doing some of those huge hikes.

[10:29] Tara Bansal: Do you hike every week? How often?

[10:33] Amy Irvine: Well, we are avid outdoor walkers,

[10:37] so I don’t know. When we’re in Florida, there isn’t a lot of hiking that can be done the way that I’m talking.

[10:43] Yeah.

[10:44] When we’re in New York, we. The area that we live in, in Queen, there’s quite a bit of. Of hills that we can cover. I wouldn’t say it’s every week, but certainly more frequent in the.

[10:55] In the summer months than it is in the winter months. Yeah.

[10:58] Tara Bansal: What motivated you to start your own firm ten years ago?

[11:04] Amy Irvine: Yeah, there were a couple things, actually, that motivated me.

[11:06] One was in 2014, Brent and I both. My husband. Brent and I both lost uncles that we were extremely close to, and my uncle was only a year older than my husband.

[11:17] Tara Bansal: Wow.

[11:17] Amy Irvine: So pretty young.

[11:19] And, you know, that wakes you up.

[11:22] It really is something that, especially because we were very close to them. And I think also because of my Uncle Bob’s age, it was like, wow, what if we were that age?

[11:31] Would we be happy with how our life is actually going right now? Are we in control or is everything else in control of our lives? And we felt everything else was in control of our lives that we really didn’t.

[11:45] You know, we,

[11:46] we. I loved what I did. I didn’t love where I was doing it. I didn’t love how I was doing it.

[11:51] Tara Bansal: And what were you doing at that time before you?

[11:53] Amy Irvine: So I, I worked for another RIA firm.

[11:56] I was their director of financial planning and their chief compliance officer. So I was doing similar things that I’m doing right now. It’s just. It was an AUM firm.

[12:05] Tara Bansal: How big was the firm?

[12:07] Amy Irvine: They were over a hundred. They were considered a large firm. I think they had 130 million in assets, if I remember correctly.

[12:16] You know, I, it was AUM based and there were minimums and,

[12:20] and I,

[12:21] there was some financial planning, obviously, but there, it wasn’t the way I wanted to do financial planning.

[12:27] And I had a lot of girlfriends that kept trying to, like, they wanted to find a financial planner. And we would sit around and sometimes we’d be having a glass of wine and you know, they’d be asking me questions and I’m like, well,

[12:38] here’s something. I don’t know your situation, but here’s some things that you might want to explore. And I’m real cautious about giving advice unless I know the whole picture. But you know, if you’re interviewing financial planners, like, here’s what you want to ask.

[12:49] And,

[12:50] and so one caveat to starting my own firm was the loss of our uncles. But the second caveat was all of my friends that were in their mid-40s were like, just start your own practice so we can hire you.

[13:02] Because we can’t find what we’re looking for.

[13:06] We, you know, everybody that we go to says we don’t have enough assets for them to manage.

[13:12] And they have assets and they certainly had decent income streams,

[13:16] but they couldn’t find what they were looking for. So it sort of was that push. And I was terrified to start my own. It’s like,

[13:24] terrified,

[13:25] what if something happens to me?

[13:27] Am I, you know,

[13:29] there’s a lack of like,

[13:31] thought leadership or when I say thought leadership, like I can’t bounce something off somebody else. You know, it’s just me.

[13:39] What if this thing fails? You know, what if nobody comes to me? All of that stuff was the self talk that I had around launching a practice. And I think those two components, though, just really pushed me.

[13:52] I. I remember asking my husband the question that I ask a lot of clients saying, you know, if money wasn’t a barrier, like, what would. What would you do in life?

[14:00] Like, what would you change? And he made the mistake of saying, well, I’d probably be somewhere warmer in the winter. Okay, we’re doing this. Like, you know, that’s. I’m all game for that.

[14:09] I’ve never been a warmer person.

[14:11] So that was sort of the push of, yes, we could actually work,

[14:17] you know, like a hybrid. This is 2015, so this is pre Covid. Like, this is not when hybrid was a thing. Right. It was pre that time.

[14:28] But we really thought about it, we talked to more people, and everybody that we talked to said, oh, yeah, we would love a model like that. You know, a model that’s not based on Aum, it’s based on the service and the,

[14:42] the planning that we need, not, you know, not based on the assets that we have.

[14:47] So that’s what pushed me forward.

[14:50] And, you know, it was scary. I. I always say to people, like, you know, it was nail biting. And the first year was.

[14:56] Was tough.

[14:57] And I would say the second year was still tough, it was just less tough. And by the third year, I was pulling my hair out, like, I gotta hire people.

[15:05] My issue, and I tell this to everybody when they’re thinking about launching a firm is I was so worried about failure. I never actually planned for success. Isn’t that silly?

[15:13] I mean, thinking about, like, how we plan with our clients, it’s.

[15:18] It’s always about how do we make this successful? But my brain was in that mindset of, I’ve got to make sure those things work.

[15:26] But I never actually thought, well, what if it does? I was so worried about what if it didn’t. And. And so when people ask me about starting their own firm,

[15:36] you know, what are some of the things that I wish I had done differently? Number one thing is that I wish I had laid out some better, like KPIs and Matrix to say, this thing is working if this happens, or this happens, and these are some of the things that you need to do if this happens.

[15:52] Right. So by the time Kate and Becky came on with me,

[15:58] took a lot of patience on their end because we were so busy that it was basically just here, help.

[16:03] You know, there wasn’t a ton of training or great explanation. Yeah, it was patience.

[16:11] Becky was a graduate. She came out as an intern.

[16:15] She.

[16:15] The program that she went to College for, had a 15 internship in order to graduate as a financial planning student. And so she came in as an intern and she sat with me a lot.

[16:26] Like she did a lot of observations and then some of the follow up work. And so her training was literally on the job. Like here, you know,

[16:33] Kate had experience. Kate and I had actually worked together previously.

[16:39] So my story, somewhere in the middle there was that I worked in the profession until I was in my early 30s, went back to college to get the CFP requirements.

[16:49] Kate and I went to college together. Her the first time, me the second time to get the CFP education.

[16:56] And then she went off and kind of journey down her path in life.

[17:01] I started my own practice and she and I ran into each other at a football game for our corresponding nephews.

[17:09] And when I saw Brett and I had been talking about who to hire what, you know, what kind of person, and he asked me,

[17:17] is there anybody that you can think of? And I ironically said, the only person I’ve been coming to my mind is Kate Welker.

[17:25] As she.

[17:26] Like a week later, a week and a half later, I saw her walking up to the. Well, we were walking up to the football game and she was standing at the fence.

[17:34] And I said, look who’s here. I mean, serendipity, right? Yeah. So that works.

[17:40] She. She leaned back and she said, hey, how are you? I’m like, hey, I’ve your ears been ringing? I’ve been talking about you. That’s funny. I’ve been cyber stalking you.

[17:49] So that just was like, again,

[17:51] serendipity.

[17:52] Tara Bansal: And how many years till you. Did you hire both of them at the same time?

[17:57] Amy Irvine: I know, pretty much, yeah. He came on in February of 2018 and Becky came on in April. So it was pretty much around the same time. Yeah.

[18:05] Tara Bansal: So four years in, then you.

[18:09] Amy Irvine: So. Well, I would say two years into your launch. Yeah, because 2016 was my official launch.

[18:16] Tara Bansal: Okay.

[18:16] Amy Irvine: And then,

[18:18] you know, 14 was the loss that we had of our uncles. 15 was the year of, I would say extraction. And then 16 was the,

[18:27] you know, the full launch.

[18:30] Tara Bansal: And it sounds like, how is your husband involved in your.

[18:36] Amy Irvine: Yeah, So, I mean, first of all is the supportiveness of any spouse needs to be when somebody is starting a business. He was there for me all the way. He had been pushing me to do this for years.

[18:48] I mean, probably at least five years before I did it. He really wanted me to do that. He saw the value and the idea that I had and Said, you’re going to do fine, you’re going to do fine.

[18:59] So from the support perspective, he was there and there’s emotional up and downs that you have in those first couple of years. He just had my back and calmed me down when I needed that calmness.

[19:10] But he also works and still works part time for the firm and an administrative level,

[19:16] very behind the scenes. He does, he barely wants people to know that he works for the firm because that’s his get. Like he, he doesn’t, he’s there to support us and the team, but he also doesn’t want people to think that he knows the financial planning aspect of it.

[19:34] Yeah, yeah.

[19:35] Tara Bansal: What, what does he do?

[19:40] Amy Irvine: Project work. I mean he, he actually sends out all of our advisory agreements. So all the agreements that goes out to clients, he gets a task to actually send that out.

[19:49] So that’s one. And as you know, that means, you know, making sure that they get downloaded in the proper place and all that. So he is, that is one of his primary firms.

[19:58] And then he’ll help or find jobs in the firm and then he’ll help us with projects like when we bring systems up to speed or that need cleaning. Then we’ll ask him to help us with those kinds of things.

[20:10] So it’s,

[20:11] it’s little things here and there. During tax season he’ll help us with maybe uploading signature pages, you know, for clients, that sort of thing. So it, it really depends. It’s the solar seasons, I call it where we most need him and which is great because in the summer then he doesn’t,

[20:28] he’s not needed as much and he can go off and do his fun things that he wants to do.

[20:32] Tara Bansal: Very nice. I would love for you to describe your model for how you work with clients.

[20:40] Amy Irvine: Yeah, I mean in the profession, I guess we call it a flat fee model. Like that’s what we would call it within the profession.

[20:48] When I’m explaining it to clients,

[20:50] I usually explain it in a way to say that, you know, our, our model is very different than what else is out there.

[20:56] I’m not saying we’re the only firm that offers this way, but it is very different in the sense that in the first, first engagement that you work with us, we, we talk about like basic planning that we need to do for you.

[21:10] And, and our base fee plan is around $3,000. So that’s just the financial plan that’s up front.

[21:16] Tara Bansal: Right.

[21:16] Amy Irvine: That we don’t know if we’re going to manage your assets. We don’t know if you’re going to hire us for ongoing services. This is just the financial plan that we will do for you.

[21:24] But then on top of that, there is complexities.

[21:27] And by complexities I mean things like,

[21:30] you know, do you own rental property? Do you have stock options? Do you have a side hustle and a full time job? Do you have multiple accounts in multiple locations?

[21:43] That would require more time, energy and effort.

[21:47] So on top of that base fee of $3,000, there’s that complexity fee that will add on. And when we’re talking to clients in that initial discovery call, we ask them about those various aspects after we get a feel for what are their priorities.

[22:03] And you know, the number one question when I hop on a discovery call with a client is so most people don’t just decide one morning when they wake up that they’re going to hire a financial planner.

[22:14] There’s something that’s driving you to reach out to somebody at this point in time. And I just had a discovery call the other day and I loved this woman’s response to it because she said,

[22:23] no, we lay a bed and worry about it for months and months and months or years and years and years. And then finally we say, okay, it’s time. And I was like, oh my gosh, that’s so perfect.

[22:34] Tara Bansal: She articulated what like many people will not say. Right.

[22:38] Amy Irvine: I just thought that was so lovely that she said that. But it was like, yes, that’s probably true. What’s driving you to me now? You know, so, so I guess my way of saying it is that our, our, our model is based on, you know, looking at your full financial and personal life.

[22:54] Like, we don’t, we, we need to know your numbers and we need to know what’s going on in your financial life. But boy, what I really want to find out is how it supports your life.

[23:03] Right. So one of my mottos is if you look at our website is life is about events supported by your dollars and cents. And so how do we make sure that as financial planners we’re doing that second or giving advice on that second part that actually supports that first part.

[23:22] So I, I need to know what the most important events are in your life. Tell me about your life. That’s actually more interesting to me is what do you love to do?

[23:32] You know, like I was sharing with you how much I love to hike. Well,

[23:36] how do I get more of that? And that’s, you know, that’s what everybody wants in life. They want more of the fun in their life.

[23:43] Tara Bansal: Yeah.

[23:43] Amy Irvine: And so how do we make sure that their finances support that.

[23:46] But that, you know, as far as, like, trying to explain it to people outside the profession,

[23:51] I usually lay it out sort of in the way that I just did to you.

[23:55] Tara Bansal: And then after the base plan, like, do you quote, like, an annual fee based on how complex they are? Is that how it works?

[24:05] Amy Irvine: That’s correct.

[24:05] Yeah. So. So some people stop with the base.

[24:08] Right. They. They’re like, I feel like I’m in really good shape. This was really helpful. I might come back once a year and get an update. And that’s great. I mean, if we’ve done our job that well and you feel like you can handle it from that point forward,

[24:20] fantastic.

[24:21] But then some people want that more. I would say concierge service, where they want. They actually want you to manage their assets, or they want you to do their tax return, or they want somebody they can call or there’s moving parts that are going on.

[24:34] But perhaps they have an ipo. They work for a company that’s going to have an IPO coming up.

[24:38] Maybe they have a unique situation going on in their lives that they want to be able to reach out a little bit more. Then we prepare a ongoing service schedule for them, saying, based on everything we saw in your initial plan,

[24:52] here’s what we see going forward for the next year. And we provide them with a quote. And again, based on complexities, the fee will range anywhere from, you know,

[25:01] three.

[25:02] I shouldn’t even say that anymore because it’s generally in the range of like, 5 to 6,000 and up. So it just depends on what’s going on in their life. Yeah.

[25:10] Tara Bansal: And then for those clients, how often do you meet with them? Do you have a schedule or how does that work?

[25:18] Amy Irvine: Yeah, so it depends on the client and what’s going on. And their complexity fee is actually based on that. So if you have a client that has something that’s going on, like,

[25:26] we require a lot of meetings coming up because there’s something major,

[25:30] then we’ll price it up higher because we know that we need to be engaging with them a bit more. Now, the next year, their fee may go down. Like, if we work through all those issues and they, you know, they feel.

[25:40] Tara Bansal: Like now we can coast for a while.

[25:42] Amy Irvine: Yeah. Now that the fee can go down a little bit. So every year at the end of the year, we’re talking to clients about their upcoming year and what. What’s going on in their life and financial life to be able to readjust that fee.

[25:54] But.

[25:56] But it does depend on the client. Some clients it’s twice a year. Some clients it’s four times a year. I’ve got one client that it’s actually monthly right now. So it just really depends on what’s going on.

[26:08] Yeah, yeah. And what they’re willing to pay for.

[26:10] Tara Bansal: Yeah. How many households do you have like.

[26:14] Amy Irvine: That are more collectively? Yeah, yeah.

[26:17] Oh, longer term, I think we’re in the neighborhood of around 130, 140 in the longer term arena. Yeah. I mean, that’s across the firm. So there’s financial planners, and that’s across the board.

[26:26] So.

[26:26] Tara Bansal: And does that include these plans or. No, that’s just like, even people.

[26:33] Amy Irvine: Those are existing households, Those are ongoing clients.

[26:37] Tara Bansal: Okay.

[26:37] Amy Irvine: Yeah. Yep.

[26:39] Tara Bansal: And then what percentage would you say are new financial plans that, like.

[26:46] Amy Irvine: A lot of the people that come on as financial plans stay?

[26:49] Tara Bansal: I’m sure.

[26:50] Amy Irvine: I’m not surprised at that. I was gonna.

[26:53] I would say as a percentage, probably 3 to 5%,

[26:57] come on as a financial plan and don’t continue on with us.

[27:01] Tara Bansal: That’s it.

[27:02] Amy Irvine: Yeah.

[27:02] Tara Bansal: Okay.

[27:03] Amy Irvine: Yeah.

[27:03] Tara Bansal: And I know on your website you have a waiting list. About how long is your waiting list?

[27:09] Amy Irvine: I think the last time I checked, we had about 10 people on there right now. Yeah.

[27:14] Tara Bansal: And is that six months? Is that. How many months away?

[27:18] Amy Irvine: Would you. Yeah, well, right. I mean, right now we’ll. We’ll take. We’ve done some discovery calls with some of those folks, and we can’t take anybody on during tax season. And in order to really do a good job with the onboarding, we really want to.

[27:33] Really want to make sure that we have the focus to do that.

[27:37] So anybody that is willing to wait at this point in time, they know it’s going to be probably may before we’re able to actually move forward. If they want. If they need something right now or somebody right now, then we get enough information and I think I have enough contacts in my back pocket that I can usually say,

[27:57] you know, who might be able to help you, and refer them to another planner.

[28:00] Tara Bansal: That’s great.

[28:01] Amy Irvine: Yeah.

[28:02] Tara Bansal: What.

[28:04] Amy Irvine: I don’t know what.

[28:06] Tara Bansal: What do you feel like is a decision that really helped shape your career and got you where you are now?

[28:13] Amy Irvine: Well, the decision to pursue,

[28:16] uh.

[28:17] I mean, just the decision to pursue accounting in and of itself. I had a. Lenny Caruso was his name, a teacher in high school that I credit to, like, pointing me in the direction.

[28:27] I had no idea. I mean, this is so many years ago. You didn’t have people that we think 1990, like, college was normal but it really wasn’t yet. I mean, it really wasn’t what it is today.

[28:38] And so I didn’t know what I really wanted to do. And I took those. One of those aptitude stages test back then, and it said, like, you’d be good at teaching and,

[28:46] and nursing. I’m like, no way to either of those. That is not.

[28:51] And I understand now the teaching component, because I love to educate. Like, one of the things that really gets me all excited and jazzed up is when I have a client that engages with me in a way that the education is a key component of the relationship.

[29:06] So I totally get that now. But at the time,

[29:09] like,

[29:10] I don’t. I don’t. That doesn’t spark anything in me.

[29:14] And I don’t know where nursing came from, because there was no way I was pursuing any kind of biological, fluid career.

[29:22] So.

[29:24] So my teacher, Mr. Caruso, Lenny Crusoe, actually said, well, why don’t you. You’re great at this. Like, why don’t you go into a college for accounting? So I really credit that direction with, like, sort of the start of the path of where I was going.

[29:39] And then the second.

[29:40] The second thing that I, I.

[29:43] It’s one of those funny, I guess,

[29:46] things is one day I was home sick with the flu, and I was watching the Today show. And you. You’re familiar with Gene Chat sky,

[29:54] and she was on the Today show giving financial tips that particular morning.

[30:00] And I thought, well, that’s interesting. Here’s a young woman who is giving financial advice on tv.

[30:09] I wonder what it would take to get more knowledge about that. And so those two kind of things sort of pointing me in this. This direction a little bit. Had the chance to actually meet Jane a couple of times now and, and share that.

[30:23] That story with her. And it’s been. I always tell her, like, you know, it was just this random Today show. I don’t know how many lives you see.

[30:32] You know, a lot of lives that she’s touched with her knowledge and education as well. But that particular moment in my life was a message that I wanted and needed to hear, and it got me interested in going to the library.

[30:44] Go figure, right? And getting more knowledge about personal finance. Yeah. So those are the two,

[30:50] I would say, components other than just having really good mentors.

[30:55] I’ve had some fabulous mentors in my career and been so blessed by wonderful people that I’ve met that have given me direction as well.

[31:06] Tara Bansal: I.

[31:07] I’m toying with a recommendation from one of my guests, said I should do an episode around mentoring just to hear different women’s perspectives on that and any lessons or advice.

[31:23] When you think back on the mentors you had, how many of them were women is my first question.

[31:31] Amy Irvine: One was a woman and one was a man. So I’ve had both.

[31:36] And I think the advice was to,

[31:44] to, to ask the whys a little bit more. Like I, I took the advice that she gave,

[31:50] but I wish I,

[31:52] looking back, I wish I had said tell me more about this. Like not just the do it part, but the actual why should I do this?

[32:03] I trusted her enough that I did what she recommended,

[32:07] but it took me years later to actually understand why she was recommending it.

[32:14] And I don’t know, maybe asking the question wouldn’t have made a difference, but I think it’s important to, you know, again, if we can look back on it and do something different.

[32:22] And,

[32:22] and I think today in the,

[32:25] the work that I do, like after you and I jump off this call today, this podcast recording I host once a month, this Ask me anything session. So sometimes nobody shows.

[32:38] Sometimes we have five or six people show and it’s public.

[32:42] Tara Bansal: Who is that put out to. Is that only clients? Like.

[32:47] Amy Irvine: No, no, this is, this is actually others in the profession. This is actually not for clients. This is meant for people are, you know, career changers that are finishing up their education that maybe have their own practice or work in the profession already and they just, they just want some guidance.

[33:05] I mean this is,

[33:06] you know, we’re,

[33:07] I go back to that comment about when I saw Gene Chesky on TV and it was like this life striking changing moment of this is a woman giving advice on finance.

[33:19] And here I am a woman giving advice on finance. Right. So I want to support that more in the profession and you know, set that image of hey, if you.

[33:32] We all have struggles,

[33:34] every single one of us and so where can we talk through with each other? Especially if you’re a solo practitioner or you don’t have a mentor right now, maybe you just want to bounce ideas off from somebody.

[33:46] And so the ask me anything really was developed for that reason was come, let’s do a jam session. If I’m the only one, I’ll give you my two cents on it might not be right or might not work for you, but if there’s other people, maybe they’ll give you their two cents and give direction.

[34:01] Because certainly my opinion is not the only or the best opinion. Right. There’s could be others out there that might have an even more elevated or we work off from those suggestions.

[34:13] So I think it’s really important, like I’m at this stage of my life and creating career where giving back is very, very meaningful to me. And so you do that a lot.

[34:22] So I know I try, yeah, I try really hard to do that because it’s, I mean that brings me joy, number one and, and number two,

[34:30] I didn’t get to where I am without yourself. That.

[34:34] Tara Bansal: Yeah, yeah. So how do you get the word out even for that? I assume you put it on LinkedIn.

[34:41] Amy Irvine: It’s on LinkedIn. Yeah, yeah, I pretty much predominant LinkedIn. Yeah. And then, you know, people will share it and they’ll,

[34:49] I think if they follow me, they see it. But that’s predominantly the way that I put it out there. That’s my social media channel. That’s the, the channel that I use.

[34:59] Tara Bansal: What, where are you now with your business and what’s next? Like, what are you thinking?

[35:08] Amy Irvine: Yeah. So 10 years in, right? This our 10th year anniversary, Kate and Becky are now partners.

[35:14] So they are, they are, they earned in, bought some shares. They’re going to continue to do that over the course of the next six years so that we can get it at a 5050 allocation.

[35:24] And then over the next 10 years they’re going to finish buying me out. I’m going to phase back, they’re going to take on the practice. So by 2030 I won’t be running by 2032, excuse me, I won’t be running the practice anymore.

[35:39] And I’ll be involved to the degree that they want some coaching and direction.

[35:46] Probably have a small book of business that I’m working with at that point in time and that will give me that opportunity to be climbing more mountains and have, you know, less pull on me every single day.

[35:58] I will probably be involved in some way or shape or form more,

[36:03] more in. When I involved in more of like the overall profession of providing some coaching. So outside of the financial planning practice, I would be providing some coaching to other financial planners that might be interested in that.

[36:18] But they, they are already starting. We’re working on transitioning some of the work over the next like six. I mean the, the fun thing is we have six years to do this and you know, and, and they get to ask questions and I’m there for them and they know what the timeframe is.

[36:36] And we, we’ve worked with Brooklyn Brock and her team to,

[36:40] to work through the, the agreements and talk about the emotional side of it. I mean, look, it’s not easy when you start talking about Handing your child over to people that you excuse the phrase, but raised in the practice.

[36:56] You know,

[36:58] so there’s been some emotional moments where I’ve got to check myself and remind myself that this is. They are extremely capable individuals. They’re wonderful women to work with, and they are going to do things differently than I would do things.

[37:14] And I have to face that, you know, and that sounds so easy when I say it, but sometimes that’s so easy. So I just have.

[37:23] I have to remind myself that that’s something.

[37:26] Tara Bansal: So.

[37:26] Amy Irvine: So. But it’s exciting. I will say exciting.

[37:29] Tara Bansal: How recent is that of them of doing all this?

[37:34] Amy Irvine: Yeah. So two years ago is when I approached them and said, hey, is this a practice that you want to build and grow and take over?

[37:41] And there were some.

[37:44] There was some hesitation at that point in time, and it wasn’t hesitation like, yeah, I’m not interested in the practice. It was. I’m actually not interested in the practice this way.

[37:53] We’re at a point in time where we were too busy.

[37:57] Yeah. And so we needed to sort of take that step back and figure that out. Reframe. Yeah. That component and then, you know, keep measuring.

[38:07] Okay. Where are you comfortable taking on the practice? And so over the last couple years, we’ve worked on some of that. We’ve outsourced some things. We’ve added some new technology.

[38:17] We’ve slowed our ontake, as you mentioned about the wait list.

[38:21] So we’ve been working really hard.

[38:23] I’ve been working really hard, and it’s really. I say they’re working really hard, too, but I’ve been working really hard to remind myself that this is something that I committed to them on.

[38:36] So that takes some.

[38:40] Takes some constraints to say no or restraint to say no, you know, so.

[38:47] So I’ve been working hard on that. And. And so over the last few years, we’ve made some transitions.

[38:52] Last year, we started really looking at who can take on what. They’ve started to take on some of the project research for different things.

[38:59] Kate has taken on a lot of the payroll and employee relations side of things. Becky is taking more and more clients as the lead planner. So, you know, transitioning some of the clients that we’ve jointly work,

[39:14] I’m more the back seat and she’s the front seat. So that it’s taking place right now, and over the next few years, we’ll continue to do so.

[39:23] Tara Bansal: We’re out of time. And I am so sad because I feel like I have a million other things.

[39:28] Amy Irvine: I’ll come back.

[39:29] Tara Bansal: Well, I’ll definitely have you back. What, what do you wish more women in the profession knew or believed?

[39:39] Amy Irvine: Yeah,

[39:40] it’s a hard profession in the sense that there is a,

[39:45] there’s, there’s not a lot of turn off.

[39:47] Right. I mean turn like you.

[39:49] Our profession doesn’t allow you to just turn off when you go home.

[39:53] Like our brain is constantly thinking about things so it makes us really good at what we do too.

[40:00] And I think there’s a lot of fear around what if I want to have a family and I want to run a practice and I. We need to talk more about that and we need to talk about solutions around that because there are absolutely solutions.

[40:17] There are some wonderful women in this profession that have figured that out.

[40:22] Hannah Moore.

[40:24] Dana Jacobs. Sorry, Dana Jacobs.

[40:28] Becky on our team. She’s had a baby while she was on our team. She’s going to have a. Another baby.

[40:34] There’s ways to work around this, but that fear gets in the way I think a lot because of the,

[40:40] the toughness of the fact that, you know, well, what if I’m on maternity leave and something happens?

[40:46] There’s ways that there we can work around this stuff. And you know, and I think too, as more men start to take paternity leave that, that becomes more normalized.

[40:58] But I absolutely think that’s one of the fears that restricts women from coming into this practice a little bit or feels like a barrier a little bit.

[41:06] Because what if. Right. And, and so I think that that’s also what makes us great planners though. And I, I wouldn’t let that barrier get in the way.

[41:15] And I also think that,

[41:18] you know, it, it is such a narrow number. There’s so few of us that it’s scary when you’re on that few side.

[41:25] And so just talk to as many women as possible if you’re interested or if you’re feeling, feeling like the profession isn’t working for you. Like what?

[41:36] Talk through it. Like jump on a call with somebody who’s done it and see what the options are and, and talk to other women that have gone through it. There are solutions out there.

[41:45] Do not let those feelings stand in your way and be barriers.

[41:48] Very good.

[41:49] Tara Bansal: Do you have a go to self care ritual?

[41:53] Amy Irvine: That’s my hiking. Yeah. Okay. Or walking. That’s the getting outside.

[41:57] Hiking, walking, getting out with nature.

[42:00] When I feel stressed, clearing, clearing my cobwebs is my number one thing. I just have to get outside.

[42:08] That is my take care ritual. Yep. Good.

[42:11] Tara Bansal: One thing bringing you joy right now.

[42:16] Amy Irvine: I love to see what’s going on with the team in this transition. This brings me a lot of joy and I’m excited to see where it takes them and just the way that they’re developing.

[42:28] That’s really exciting to be a part of that.

[42:30] Oh, wonderful.

[42:31] Tara Bansal: I know you have to go, but thank you. Thank you. I’m gonna have you back, so thank you.

[42:37] Yeah. Because so many more questions, but have a great day.

[42:41] Amy Irvine: Thank you, Tara.

[42:42] Tara Bansal: Thank you.

[42:42] Amy Irvine: You too.

[42:43] Tara Bansal: Bye.

[42:43] Amy Irvine: Bye.

[42:44] Tara Bansal: As I reflect on this conversation with Amy Irvine, what stays with me most is not what she’s built, but why she built it and how she continues to show up as a generous mentor and thought leader in our profession.

[43:00] Amy’s story reminds us that true leadership often comes not from ambition,

[43:05] but from loss.

[43:07] For her,

[43:08] the sudden and painful loss of her uncle became a wake up call,

[43:12] one that clarified what truly mattered and gave her the courage to take a risk that she had been contemplating for a while.

[43:20] What I hope you take away from this episode is the reminder that fear doesn’t mean you’re on the wrong path.

[43:28] Often it means you’re standing at the edge of something deeply meaningful,

[43:33] something you really want but are afraid to go after.

[43:38] Amy didn’t wait until she felt ready. She moved forward while still afraid.

[43:43] And later she realized she had planned so carefully to avoid failure that she hadn’t fully planned for success.

[43:52] I’m also struck by how deeply mentorship has played a role. Throughout her story,

[43:57] mentors were important to her, and now she chooses to show up and help mentor others through generosity, openness, and creating spaces where people can ask questions and feel less alone.

[44:11] She’s not louder, not flashier,

[44:14] just more real and more human.

[44:17] And finally, I keep coming back to this.

[44:20] Amy talked about how naturally numbers came to her growing up.

[44:24] But that’s not what makes her stand out.

[44:27] What makes her exceptional is her humanity,

[44:30] her willingness to be honest about what’s hard,

[44:33] her ability to hold space for others.

[44:37] Now she’s navigating her own transition once again.

[44:41] She’s showing the courage to let go and trust the next generation to do things their own way.

[44:47] It is bringing both pride and grief.

[44:50] And it’s hard.

[44:52] Yet at the end, she said, it’s giving her great joy, too.

[44:56] So if you’re listening and quietly wondering, is it time for a change?

[45:01] What risk have I been contemplating but not taking?

[45:05] What would it look like to plan not just for safety,

[45:09] but for success?

[45:11] Or how do I want to lead,

[45:14] mentor, or give back in my next phase of life?

[45:19] I hope Amy’s story gives you permission to ask those questions because there’s no single right path. There’s only the one that feels right for you and the courage to keep listening when your instincts and inner voice are whispering and nudging you forward.

[45:37] Thank you for listening to Her Life, Her Practice, Her Way a podcast for and about female financial advisors.

[45:45] I truly hope you found something valuable and encouraging in today’s episode.

[45:50] If you did, I’d be so grateful if you’d take a moment to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

[45:58] It helps other phenomenal women in our field find this space.

[46:03] And if you know another advisor who would benefit from these conversations or from the kind of support I offer through coaching,

[46:11] please send this episode to her.

[46:13] If you’re curious about working with me as your coach or interested in being on the podcast, I’d love to hear from you.

[46:21] You can find more details and reach out to me on the contact page of my website.

[46:27] Her Life,

[46:28] her practice herway.com no spaces, no underlines, just the word straight in a row.

[46:36] Until next time, Keep building a life and practice you truly love.

Amy’s Work

• Rooted Planning Group – www.rootedpg.com (Values-based, flat-fee financial planning firm)
• Uncork Your Finances: Top Tips From “Wine and Dime” Podcast Interviews by Amy Irvine https://a.co/d/bd2Xtxi
• Money Roots Podcast hosted by Amy Irvine Money Roots Podcast — Rooted Planning Group

Amy Irvine, CFP®, EA, MPAS®, CCFC, CDFA®

Amy is the founder and owner of Rooted Planning Group, a 100% women owned, fee-only financial planning firm.

As a kid, she always liked numbers.  She would spend hours creating math problems and solutions. Whenever she wanted to play math teacher, her brother was forced to be her student! Given her love of facts and figures, it’s really no surprise that she chose a career where she worked with numbers.

Amy has 31 years in the financial services profession, and her passion is to provide financial planning that looks at all aspects of your life and how your finances support you.   She believes that you can use your dollars and cents to create and live a meaningful life unique to your own dreams and desires.

She started Rooted Planning group because she wanted to offer financial PLANNING services.  She believes that our profession has a tendency to focus on “assets under management,” and she wanted to focus on the journey of your life (what she refers to in her podcast as your financial “vineyard”).  She truly believes that life and finances have different palettes that should be celebrated and not judged.

She is the author of “Uncork Your Finances,” Financial Toolkit Workbook, and podcast host of Money Roots, which were created as a way to take the “scary” out of finance.

Education

She holds a masters degree (MPAS®) in personal financial planning, as well the following designations:

• Certified Financial Planner^TM
• Enrolled Agent
• Certified College Financial Consultant
• Certified Divorce Financial Analyst
• A Certified Financial Therapist-Level I™ Professional

Community

In addition to serving on several boards, she serves as a mentor to other women in the profession, sat on the National Board of the National Association of Personal Financial Planners (NAPFA) from 2020 – 2023, and now is a Trustee of the NAPFA Foundation, all in hopes of having professional influence on the number of women in the profession (or lack thereof).

She also co-founded the Southern Tier Women’s Financial Conference in 2014, which is an annual event with a day of collaboration, networking, and financial education for women

In pursuit of her perfect life, she splits her time between Parrish, Florida and Jasper, New York.  She loves what she does, but she also very much enjoys warmth, a great book, good conversation, wine tastings and volunteering.