By Chia-Li Chien, PhD, CFP®, PMP®, Assistant Professor and Director of Financial Planning Program at California Lutheran University

My entry into the financial planning field resulted from stress-related illness. I was a director for corporate financial systems in a Fortune 100 company many moons ago, before I transitioned into the financial planning industry. I had 176 people on my team and was on the road a lot. I had so much stress from work that I woke up one morning paralyzed on my right side from the neck down. The doctor gave me some muscle relaxants, and I slept for one week straight. Later I discovered that I had a severe form of myofasciitis that required surgery. I could not afford the time to have the surgery. I had acupuncture instead, but the treatment took more than two years.

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By Kathleen Johnson, Vice President at BNY Mellon | Pershing

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines collaboration this way: to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor.

With this shared understanding, I wondered, what makes some collaborations successful and others less so? In pursuit of more explanation I asked colleagues to describe recent group projects.

The responses reveal elements that impact the practice of working together. Some mentioned are: personality types, priorities, goals, approaches, positions, knowledge, experience and age. With all of these factors influencing collaborations, how to succeed becomes more complicated than simply “work jointly together.”

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By Charlotte Geletka, CRPC, Managing Partner at Silver Penny Financial Planning

As the women’s movement continues to permeate our culture and our social media feed daily, we need to continue to help our female clients on their path to financial empowerment. Our role as advisors is to coach and educate our clients, thus helping them to feel empowered when it comes to their financial lives.

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