Before an audience of financial advisors, Chloe Moore and Laura LaTourette, both CFPs, used their animated stage presences to present the facts of life: Advisors and clients often aren’t comfortable working with people who are different than them. Moore, a Black advisor whose firm is based in bustling Atlanta, and LaTourette, a lesbian who runs her firm out of a small mountain community in Georgia, talked about how they parlayed being different into successful financial management careers.
“I started the first half of my career working for different firms, said Moore, founder of Financial Staples LLC. “And because of things that happened with being a young Black woman in this industry, I didn’t see a lot of growth and opportunity. That’s what led me down the path to starting a firm.” Her fee-only virtual financial planning firm is based in Atlanta.
Moore, who has been in the financial services industry for 20 years, said that she and LaTourette share a lot of similarities, such as converting their outsider status in financial services into advocates for underrepresented communities.
“Twenty-three percent of CFPs in the United States are women, and 1.8% of them are Black. I understand the unique challenges and opportunities that come with being the only one in the room. The statistics are similar for underserved populations in tech (women, people of color, the LGBTQ community). So, I’ve built my firm to address the needs of these populations,’’ said Moore, who focuses on clients in the tech industry.
LaTourette is founder of Family Wealth Management Group, located in the old gold mining town of Dahlonega, population 7,400 and about 65 miles northeast of Atlanta.
“I am a disrupter in this industry — you know, with the long hair, the makeup: But I’m ‘that lesbian financial planner.’ So for those of you who have never seen one, here I am!,” said LaTourette
“I am very loud and proud and I’m an advocate for my community. Nationwide, I serve LGBTQ, and I serve families with LGBTQ but I don’t usually serve the other folks who don’t like us. In my first meeting, I say, ‘Hi, I’m Laura. Yes, I’m a lesbian and if that’s not the type of planner you want, that’s great, and we don’t need to waste each other’s time,’’ said LaTourette, who founded her firm in 1998.
Speaking on “Creating a Practice on Purpose,’’ LaTourette and Moore appeared at the recent SHIFT conference in Orlando, Fla., organized by Advisor2X.
A Better Fit
Moore previously worked at Atlanta firms whose clients had net worths from $10 million to $100 million. She said she learned a lot, but not enough to be happy in her work.
“It didn’t feel fulfilling at the end of the day, and most of the clients that we worked with were older, white clients. It didn’t sit well with me that we had only a handful of clients who were people of color, and zero Black clients. I come from a small town in Alabama, and I just never felt like I fit in or had anything in common with the clients or my co- workers, who grew up wealthy and went to private schools.’’
She wanted to help people who had the potential to build wealth from the bottom, as she did. Financial Staples requires clients have a minimum of $200,000 ($300,000 for couples) in annual household income. The firm works with clients nationally.
LaTourette said her team at Family Wealth Management Group largely works remotely as most of its clients are in states beyond the mountains of Georgia, where not all locals are welcoming of a lesbian advisor. She suggests new prospects Google her first and look at her podcasts, media coverage and website.
Getting to Know Clients
She wants to know who the prospect is, not how much money they have.
New clients complete a discovery questionnaire that asks what keeps them up at night, who are they, what was their childhood like, where did they grow up, and what was their first experience with money.
“It gives me an idea of their attitudes and behaviors towards investing, and also how they’re wired and how they think about making certain financial decisions. I can be abrasive. I can be aggressive. But I have been able to have a successful business because people like working with that kind of honesty,’’ LaTourette said.
Networking and Paying it Forward
Straight planners occasionally refer LGBTQ clients to her.
“If they don’t want to deal with the trauma and crap that happens in my community then they don’t have to work with us. I get referrals from other planners, because they don’t know what to do. For us, it’s about the process, the conversation of what we’re doing with the client. They’ve never had this conversation with anyone else,’’ LaTourette said.
LaTourette said she networks with LGBTQ groups on issues of importance which has brought her clients. Moore’s articles and speaking appearances about her experiences as a Black woman in financial services have generated new business, too, as have contacts they make from social media.
Moore and three colleagues co-founded the BLX Internship Program, which provides paid internship opportunities for aspiring Black and Latinx financial planners.
“I get people who come up to me either in person or on social media and send me messages saying, ‘Hey, I’m looking to get into the industry,'” said Moore. “That led me and some other colleagues to see what we can do — to help with diversity in our industry and just help people find someone to work with who is really taking them seriously and understanding where they are.’’
Eleanor O’Sullivan is a writer for Rethinking65.
