Branch manager Traci Richmond is committed to her team’s well-being while encouraging the next generation of women in finance.
“I went from feeling very removed and detached in my office alone, typing a lot of legal briefs, to talking to clients every single day – and it immediately captured me,” Traci Richmond says of her career change from law to finance.
After seeking more tangible impact following the birth of her son, Traci joined her mother’s financial planning practice. It’s not a career path she ever considered for herself and thought it might be a stretch when her mom invited her to give it a try.
Traci had watched her mother build an impressive career, becoming one of the first women in her region to obtain her CFP® certification in the ‘80s and rise to the top of her game as an advisor.
Traci was thrust into the business just as her mom was moving her book – and she never looked back.
It was a welcome change at the time to her life in law. One that’s blossomed and grown into a fulfilling passion that she strives to share with all the women who surround her.
A caring career
Traci recognizes – and is thankful, even calling herself “lucky” – that the profession has provided such a rewarding career journey. And she wants other women to see the possibility for themselves.
“We need to debunk the myth that it’s all about math and greed. Women need to understand being an advisor is a caring profession, like a nurse, a counselor, or a teacher. What we are doing is caring for humanity, not their physical health but their financial health. You can make such a difference,” Traci says. “And you can be well compensated and have a life that you can control and direct.”
And she makes it her job as a leader and branch manager to ensure her team is well-equipped to deliver a caring experience to clients. Money is emotional, which forces clients to be vulnerable at times.
“We're asking our clients to share everything about themselves. And when we're doing that, we have to be vulnerable as well,” Traci says. “If my team is happy at work, it'll be easier for them to be empathetic.”
“Women need to understand being an advisor is a caring profession, like a nurse, a counselor, or a teach. What we are doing is caring for humanity, not their physical health but their financial health.”
This is why Traci takes her team’s overall wellbeing so seriously. She closes down the office the last two weeks of the year (as long as everyone meets their goals, which has happened every year since she started this initiative). She hires a summer intern to lighten the load during the months that employees tend to take time off and encourages them to take advantage of it.
“I want my team to feel like they’re doing productive, meaningful work that they’re good at. And burnout is absolutely the biggest enemy in achieving that,” Traci says, which is why she strives to create a culture that mitigates the risk.
A recent study from SHRM shows 44% of employees feel burned out from their work.
Employees are 2.5 times less likely to feel burned out from work if they feel a strong sense of belonging.
Employees are 2.5 times less likely to feel emotionally drained from work if they can be their authentic selves at work.
Source: https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/inclusion-diversity/burnout-shrm-research-2024
Cultivating community
Traci is committed to her team’s success, which shows in the culture she’s created in the office and the mentorship she provides. Her all-women team ranges in age and experience, including other career changers just like her.
“I like to give autonomy to my team members. I take a supportive role,” she says. “We’re all headed in the same direction. I have no doubt, not even a hint, that every single member of the team comes to work every day for clients – to help them achieve their goals and make their lives better.”
She’s built an atmosphere in the office where the women know they can lean on each other, and she’s a proponent of team members finding other communities that’ll benefit themselves and their careers.
“Having a community is so important. One of my advisors who went through the Advisor Mastery Program (AMP) and is now starting to build her own book of business continues to maintain connections from the program. So, she has me, but she also has this peer group and they’re all in the same place in their business – she can help them and they can help her.”
Traci has experienced the benefit of nurturing these connections firsthand.
“Being on the Women's Advisory Council was the single best move I made for my clients in my career. It made me so much better as an advisor. It made me so much better as a team leader. It got me more connected with people. I now use the technology offerings in a completely different way. I'm so much better for having spent time with these women,” Traci says. “In fact, some of my best advisor friends came from that Council and I’m still in touch with them today. A bunch of us got together just last summer in Michigan, and it was so sanative and energizing.”
Making an impact
Traci uses her mentorship skills beyond the office and volunteers her time teaching high school girls about finance. She’s seen too many women get into trouble when they have someone else handle their money or they don’t take an interest, so she wants to empower the next generation of girls to be in complete control of their own destiny.
“I've been giving a financial literacy presentation called Smart About Money™ to high school senior girls for 10 years and counting. I do it in the spring, as they near graduation. There are about 80 girls in each graduating class, so I’ve probably reached about 800 girls by now,” she says. “I start out with a real-life story about a woman who went through a divorce to realize she had no concept of what was going on with her money.”
While Traci’s hope of giving this presentation is for the girls to take charge of their money and give them the confidence to manage it effectively, she admits it would be rewarding if any of these girls considered finance a career option.
“There just aren't enough women advisors. We need more women, and we need them to project their caring competence in the field. That’s why I want the women in my business to be well-trained, incredibly successful financial advisors – that’s really what we need to be for our female clients as well. I want to mentor women to create their business however they want to create it.”
Traci has seen the impact of doing honorable work in the field firsthand. She has an advisor on her team who was drawn to the field after seeing what Traci’s mom was able to do for her parents’ finances years ago.
It’s all come full circle.
And Traci is committed to supporting women along the whole journey.
Trip down memory lane
Traci remembers when Aspire Magazine was merely an idea. She says, “When Michelle Lynch took over the Women's Advisory Council, I remember her sharing the news that we were going to start our own magazine. And there was such a buzz among the members of the Council. We felt like we were going to be legit with our own glossy print magazine.”
Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board) owns the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, and CFP® (with plaque design) in the United States, which it authorizes use of by individuals who successfully complete CFP Board’s initial and ongoing certification requirements.
This piece was featured in Aspire Magazine, a biannual publication from the Women Financial Advisors Network. View the latest.
Follow along on social media with #RJWomen
Follow along on social media with #RJWomen.