June 2025 Newsletter:

Wisdom & Wealth

The client experience goes deeper than dollars. At Hess Financial, we believe meaningful service starts with understanding—and sometimes, that begins with our own story. This month, we’re reflecting on what makes our work with clients truly fulfilling.

Each of us has deep rooted visions, feelings, and preferences for our lives and how we want to impact others. These can be hard to articulate, and even harder to bring to life. As a financial planner, I enjoy helping you resolve many immediate financial questions and concerns through personalized financial planning, but I love working on those big ideas that take years or even lifetimes to make happen.

I love asking questions, helping you define your vision, and hearing the tiniest of details or nuance that makes your vision special to you. I love seeing the creation and successful execution of a well thought out plan and seeing your excitement as progress is made toward your long-term financial goals. I even love the hard conversations or times when encouragement to stay the course was needed. Most of all, however, I love looking back with you and saying, “You did it. This is what you always wanted.”

Some people have occasionally accused us of acting more like therapists than financial planners. “Whatever it takes,” is my motto.

What I love most about serving clients is creating an experience that feels calm, personal, and reassuring—especially around something as vulnerable and emotional as money. My career actually started in healthcare, and I never expected financial planning to feel so similar. But just like in healthcare, we’re helping people navigate major life decisions and life transitions, moments of uncertainty, and sometimes even grief. We’re walking with them through the most meaningful phases of life.

It’s incredibly fulfilling to see how the work we do here can have a real, lasting impact on people’s lives—whether it’s helping someone with retirement planning with peace of mind, support a loved one, or feel confident making their own financial choices.

To me, this job is more than what meets the eye. It’s about relationships, empathy, and financial empowerment. And it means a lot to be someone our clients trust when it matters most.

What I love most about this work is the closeness we build with the people we serve. This isn’t a job where we sit behind numbers—we get to step into people’s lives, often during their most vulnerable, meaningful moments.

We’re there when someone buys their dream home. We’re on the phone when a spouse passes, and the world feels upside down. We get the email that says, “I think I’m ready to retire—what now?” These are deeply personal milestones, and to be trusted in those moments is incredibly meaningful.

Because we work with a limited number of clients, we truly know them—their priorities, their fears, the people and causes they care about. That personal connection allows us to give more than advice; we offer personalized financial advice and guidance that’s rooted in understanding.

To me, this work is about more than financial strategy. It’s about being a steady presence in people’s lives—someone they can count on when it matters most. That’s what fills me with purpose. That’s why I love what I do.

While I always had the familial connection to this business, my main motivation to jump into this role was more rooted in what I felt was be the best fit for my personality and skillset.

I always liked the technical side of investment and tax strategies, and the deep analysis of all the moving pieces involved with comprehensive financial planning, but a key factor for me was mixing that with a deeper connection with the people I work with. I wanted to help people make important decisions through various life stages, understand them and develop trust, and ultimately help them manage their relationship with their finances.

Money is oftentimes a vulnerable and sensitive topic, which is why what we do is so intertwined with trust and relationships. While I do enjoy building out a Bucket investment strategy for our clients, what I find most fulfilling in what we do is building relationships through client-centered financial planning and hearing about what’s important in our client’s lives. The people we work for and providing them with high-level, personalized service is what drives me to come into work every day.

What I love about being a financial planner is seeing the difference financial confidence can make in people’s lives. Having worked with some clients for many years now, I know how even small changes, saving just one percent more or knowing how long they need to stay at a job to reach the level of confidence they want for their futures, can really transform a person’s long-term outlook.

Even small tweaks can dramatically increase reserves and allow them to change careers, move to a new home, or enter retirement with peace of mind. Seeing someone who started out literally bowed over with financial anxiety walk into the office with head held high ready to share news about their latest developments or adventures makes even the longest days worthwhile.