Career-Changer Finds Niche Serving ‘Breadwinner Women’

 

Bridget Grimes became a CFP® professional 10 years ago, then founded her wealth management firm, WealthChoice, and later, Equita Financial Network, a community of women-led, fee-only financial planning firms.

A Typical Day

Grimes wakes up at 5:30 a.m. and every other day tries to make time for herself by going for a walk or run. Usually at her desk by 7 a.m., she checks emails and by 9 a.m., starts taking calls and holding client meetings.

From there, her schedule varies based on the day and week. On Mondays, which set the tone for the whole week, she has rolling team meetings. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays every other week, she meets with clients. Her firm is 100% virtual, so she can work from anywhere.

Weeks when she doesn’t hold client meetings are “prep weeks” when her team focuses on client reviews and preparing for client meetings. On Fridays, Grimes has several meetings and handles miscellaneous tasks from the week.

Finding Her Niche

“I got into this purely because I was going through a divorce, and I saw that my two closest friends, who were really accomplished women, were all of a sudden going through divorces as well,” says Grimes. “We all had kids, and we had no plan.”

Her firm caters to “breadwinner women” who, she says, are often “the only ones earning any money in their families…We help our clients negotiate salary, stock awards, benefits and anything that’s going to impact their income and compensation, because my women need to maximize that.”

Grimes loves running her own firm because of the flexibility and control it gives her. However, she says it requires hard work and a lot of multitasking. Her advice for new CFP® professionals, before attempting to launch a firm: “Be an employee, cut your teeth and learn from really smart people.”

She believes having different experiences, even if not finance-related, can make you a better planner. “I was on Wall Street when I was young, and I left, and I was a pastry chef for a decade…if you are passionate about this industry, your expertise and whatever you did before will help you succeed.”