We were lucky to catch up with Mel O recently and have shared our conversation below.

Mel , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your professional career?

The most important lesson I learned was to trust my gut when a workplace feels wrong.
I worked for an investment firm before starting Hot Moon Financial, and looking back, the red flags were everywhere. I was the only female advisor and the only CFP on staff. Every other woman worked in support roles or was related to someone. But I kept telling myself I needed to tough it out, prove myself, make it work.
Then I found out about the pay structure – I was being paid differently than the males. The discrimination was real, not just imagined. The firm had a reputation for suing advisors who left, so I hired a lawyer before I left and sued them for sex discrimination. They countered with a non-compete lawsuit. Both cases dragged on for two and a half years and cost me $35,000 I absolutely didn’t have – all while I was trying to get my own business off the ground.
Here’s the thing though: as much as that lawsuit sucked, it actually saved my career. Working there had been so miserable that by the time I left, I was completely unemployable by anyone else. I knew I could never work under someone’s thumb again. And honestly? That’s been my greatest asset.
My advice to anyone in financial services – or any industry really – is that if your firm’s values make your skin crawl, don’t ignore it. That feeling isn’t imposter syndrome. It’s your signal to leave. The longer you stay, the more it costs you.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m Mel O – yes, that’s my real name – and I run the podcast “Finances the Other ‘F’ Word.” I’ve done 439 episodes at this point, and people call me the anti-Suze Orman, which I’ll take as a compliment.
I’m a Certified Financial Planner and I run Hot Moon Financial. I’ve been investment licensed since 2005 and got my CFP in 2013. I started the podcast in 2019 because I was frustrated with how the financial services industry talks to – or really, talks down to – regular people.
Here’s how I got into this: I watched the 2008 financial crisis destroy working-class families while the people who caused it collected bonuses. That’s when it clicked for me that the wealth gap isn’t some accident of the economy – it’s baked into how the system works. I didn’t want to spend my career helping rich people get richer. I wanted to work with the people the industry ignores: Gen X, Millennials, creative professionals, blue-collar workers.
My podcast and my practice both focus on breaking down complex financial concepts without the BS. I talk about the systemic issues that keep people struggling and why so much mainstream advice only works if you already have money. I’m not here to tell you to skip lattes and become a millionaire. I want people to have the good life, but I’m not going to pretend the game isn’t rigged.
I published my first book, “Finances the Other ‘F’ Word – Another ‘F’ Word to Love,” and I’m working on the second one now. What I’m most proud of is building a business on my own terms. I could have taken the easier path and focused on ultra-wealthy clients, but that’s not why I got into this field. I’d rather serve people who actually need the help and be able to say what needs to be said about why they need it in the first place.
After two decades in this industry, I know exactly what’s broken. Someone needs to tell the truth about money without worrying about what their corporate sponsors think.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I didn’t have initial capital – I had rage and a work ethic. I received notice of their non-compete lawsuit on December 23rd. I filed my LLC on January 6th. That’s how it started – my federal sex discrimination case and their state non-compete case both kicked off at the exact same time I was launching Hot Moon Financial. So I was building a business from scratch while fighting a two-front legal battle that ended up costing me $35K over two and a half years – money I absolutely did not have. I had clients and was making money from the advisory work, but not enough to cover the legal bills, overhead, and actually, you know, eat. So I worked whatever paid the bills.
I was a secret shopper, stocked shelves at the Dollar Store from 3AM-7:30 AM, reported for Vegas411, worked as an executive assistant for a C-suite exec, taught financial literacy classes – sometimes they paid me, sometimes they didn’t. I rented out a room in my house. And – no shit – I spent a week in Iowa running a reconnaissance mission for a friend’s government contracting company. That actually happened.
It took years of juggling all these different income streams before the advisory practice could support itself. But here’s what I learned from that: I never want to be dependent on one paycheck again. And when my clients tell me they’re piecing together multiple income streams to make ends meet? I get it. I lived that.
The business is profitable now. Would I recommend starting a business while fighting a lawsuit with no savings? Hell no. But I survived it, and now I know I can handle pretty much anything.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The lesson I had to unlearn: That success in financial services means looking, acting, and sounding like an old white guy in a suit.
For years, I tried to fit that mold. I wore the suits. I softened my language. I played the game because I thought that’s what it took to be taken seriously as a CFP. I was trying to prove I belonged in rooms where I fundamentally didn’t fit – and honestly, didn’t want to.
Then my best friend died at 45. Just gone. And I had this moment of absolute clarity: What the hell am I doing? I’m building a business that’s supposed to give me freedom, but I’m spending every day pretending to be someone I’m not, waiting for… what? Permission? The right moment?
So I stopped. Stopped wearing suits. Stopped code-switching my personality. Stopped trying to appeal to clients who wanted a traditional advisor. I decided that if I’m taking the massive risk of running my own business, I’m going to enjoy the rewards now – and that means doing it on my terms, with my actual personality intact.
Here’s what I learned: If you want to live life on your own terms, you have to be willing to crash and burn. I’d rather fail as myself than succeed as someone I’m not. And it turns out, the people who resonate with that authenticity are exactly the clients I want anyway. The ones who don’t? They were never going to be happy with me in the long run.
Unlearning that conformity wasn’t just good for my mental health – it was good for business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.financestheotherfword.com/www.hotmoonfinancial.com
• Instagram: @financestheotherfword
• Facebook: @financestheotherfword
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mel-o-cfp-2603041aa/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@financestheotherfword
• Other: TikTok @ftofw_pod

Image Credits

I paid a photographer for the photos. I am not sure if she is still in business or not.