We recently connected with Misty Lynch and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Misty thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

The financial service industry typically focuses on numbers and results. My process focuses on how people feel because that is the basis for all of the decisions they make. We spend, save, invest, and give money because of the way we think we will feel once we do it. The motivation behind why people behave the way they do with their money has always been fascinating to me. If feelings were not involved we would all spend less than we make and invest for the future but the truth is most of us do not do that.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

When I was young money was not something I thought about. My father had his own business from our house and my mom stayed home with my sister and I. We had a nice home, cars, a boat and all the toys we could want. Things changed when I was about 10 years old when a recession in the early 90’s slowed the business to a standstill. After that, money was a constant topic of conversation and I can’t remember a time that we did not struggle with money. This caused a lot of tension, stress and anxiety which I wanted to remove from our lives. I became obsessed with figuring out how to make and understand money.

As I began working in the finance industry I noticed that a lot of the training told us to focus on the shame and insecurity people felt and use that to make sales. There was little focus on helping people examine how their thoughts about money were holding them back or trying to heal past financial trauma. This led me to become a Certified Life Coach so I could have better conversations with my clients about their money mindset so they could stick to a strategy and increase their chances for financial success.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When I was in my early 20’s I started working as a financial advisor. Finding clients was a big struggle for me. I did not have family members to sell products to and when I engaged with strangers they often asked to speak to my boss or a manager instead. Basically, they wanted to talk to the man in charge at the office. The imposter syndrome I felt being young, female and not independently wealthy led me to leave that role and take a job at a large insurance company doing work in the compliance department.

Working in corporate had a lot of advantages. The pay and the benefits were great and it allowed me to start investing in a 401k with an employer match. The issue was I was not working with clients – I was overseeing other people who were doing the job I wanted to do. Allowing my differences to hold me back was a decision I made because I was afraid. There was always a level of discomfort knowing that I was not doing what I really wanted and eventually it became to strong to ignore. I left corporate to start working as an advisor again in 2020 – right before a global pandemic. While this seemed like the worst timing ever I found myself easily connecting to people that really wanted to create a strategy for their finances and make sure they would be ok when everything seemed so unsettled. Owning my own firm Sound View Financial Advisors, has allowed me to work with my dream clients every day.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When I was young I believed that money caused all of our problems. When we had money there were fewer fights and it seemed like everyone got along better. It made me resentful of wealthy people because I believed that they had it so much better than I did. This belief led me to have a somewhat narrow view of how the world works. Also, it would be very difficult for me to become wealthy and help others do the same if my brain thought those people were bad?

Clearly, rich people still have anxiety and stress like everyone else. What I now believe is that money solves “money problems” very well. There are a lot of things that money will help resolve but it doesn’t fix everything and some of the most valuable things we have money can not buy. Two specific areas I focus on with my clients is their time and their health. You can not buy more of either and often once it is gone we would do anything to get it back. If we allow ourselves to spend money to free up some of our time or invest in learning it can allow us to put more value back into the world. Questioning my own money beliefs has helped me become a better advisor and capable of digging deeper with my clients on some of the beliefs they have never thought to question.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mistylynch.com
• Instagram: @mistylynchcfp
• Facebook: @mistylynchcfp
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mistylynch/
• Twitter: @mistylynchcfp