Empowering Women to Transform Their Financial Future

The landscape of entrepreneurship and wealth management is evolving, as women increasingly exert influence in these dimensions of the economy. This transformation is reshaping how women manage their finances and whom they seek for financial guidance.

A growing desire for professional independence and life flexibility has prompted more women to embark on entrepreneurial ventures. A Gusto report highlights that in 2023, 49 percent of new business owners were women, marking a substantial 20 percent rise since 2019. Furthermore, a Wells Fargo report reveals that in the initial years of the decade, women-led businesses outperformed their male counterparts in employment and revenue growth.

“The most exciting part of entrepreneurship is that you determine your limits, define your worth, and bring that vision to life,” states Rachael Burns, owner of True Worth Financial Planning. “Running your own business and pursuing your ideas is truly invigorating.”

Concurrently, the Bank of America Institute estimates that by 2045, approximately $30 trillion of the $84 trillion intergenerational wealth transfer from Baby Boomers will be controlled by women within the next decade. This substantial shift positions women to have unprecedented financial power.

As they navigate these economic transitions, many women are seeking out relatable financial professionals who provide tools and perspectives beyond basic money management, regardless of their starting point. In Sacramento, independent firms are empowering women to gain confidence in their financial outlook and business ventures.

Applying Skills with Innovation and Independence

Rebecca Lobo, known as Bexi, was a postdoctoral researcher focused on breast cancer at UC Davis, but her health challenges prompted her to reevaluate her life ambitions.

After facing fatigue, depression, and skin sensitivity without clear solutions from her doctors in 2010, she began crafting facial products using natural ingredients like avocado, banana, and honey for personal use. In her kitchen, she created methods to preserve these formulations.

“I utilized my Ph.D. knowledge to develop and formulate these products,” Lobo shares. “I initially created a skincare line just for myself.”

Demand surged within a year, prompting her to officially launch Bexi’s Bespoke Revitalisation in 2016, offering custom skincare solutions and general products both online and in-person. After being diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome in 2018, she became knowledgeable about this autoimmune condition, sharing her insights through her blog and local publications.

Lobo’s journey reflects the flexibility entrepreneurship offers women, often in the face of unforeseen circumstances. For many, this flexibility arises from caregiving responsibilities for children or aging family members, roles frequently assumed by women.

Initially, business management wasn’t Lobo’s forte.

“I can discuss numbers in calculus, physics, and chemistry, but when it comes to money, I felt completely out of my depth,” she admits.

Priya Kumar, a Sacramento-based financial strategist, often encounters similar challenges in her practice, noting a complex relationship many have with money. While serving as a business investigator for the California Franchise Tax Board, she observed numerous businesses struggling with planning.

“Many lack a proper strategy,” Kumar comments. “It feels as though they’re constructing their business around singular elements instead of a cohesive plan.”

She has witnessed restaurateurs with cherished family recipes but no structured business plan, owners slashing prices without accounting for overhead, and entrepreneurs reaching out to CPAs only during crises or tax season.

“A significant number of business owners exhibit financial avoidance,” Kumar explains. “They fail to analyze their numbers regularly.”

When launching Pivot My Profit in 2010, Kumar recognized that understanding clients’ relationship with money was essential. Even when addressing specific subjects like budgeting, she emphasizes that “financial trauma forms the foundation of their experiences.”

Lobo joined Pivot My Profit in 2023 after connecting with Kumar through the nonprofit Davis Area Women’s Network. With Kumar’s guidance, she linked her financial reluctance to her upbringing as an Indian immigrant’s daughter.

“I lacked training in managing household finances because the implicit expectation was that I would marry and it would all be resolved,” she notes, also recognizing the impact of her Catholic upbringing.

“The phrase ‘money is the root of all evil’ was a limiting belief for me,” she reflects. “This mindset worked against me in my entrepreneurial ventures.” Through exploring these themes and developing her financial management skills, Lobo found herself becoming more proactive. After reviewing her financials from the previous year, she was excited to see a 15 percent revenue increase, enabling her to invest in a 200-square-foot production lab.

Sophia Kanaan is the director of the California Capital Women’s Business Center, one of 21 centers throughout the state that provide free educational resources and networking for entrepreneurs. Through their Motivated Entrepreneur monthly meetup program, Kumar imparted financial fundamentals that delved deep beyond the surface.

“Priya has a knack for understanding how your background influences your decisions as a business owner,” Kanaan states. By personalizing the lessons, “you gain insight into how you wish to present yourself in your business.”

Money Management Through Generations

It’s been fifty years, spanning two generations, since women gained legal access to critical financial tools, such as credit, without a male co-signer. The 1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act made strides by prohibiting discrimination based on gender or marital status.

Such structural conditions, along with cultural influences and family upbringing, profoundly shape an individual’s relationship with money.

Understanding the origins of financial behaviors is a core aspect of Anita Johnson’s work as a financial behaviorist serving clients nationwide. After earning her Ph.D. from Walden University, where she examined the financial backgrounds of African American women, she reflected on her own financial journey.

“If I haven’t experienced it, I’ve encountered it,” Johnson remarks, recounting her own struggles with debt and predatory home loans.

Sharing her financial lessons became the foundation for her first book, “Big Girls Don’t Cry: Taking the Emotion Out of Finances.”

During her tenure as a tax accountant in the mid-2000s, she observed a trend where educated working women approached her with limited financial comprehension. One woman’s story stuck with her—after her husband’s passing, she was unfamiliar with fundamental tax documents, leading Johnson to create a scrapbook of examples.

“I was driven to understand why this was happening,” she recalls. “It wasn’t that these women lacked education; they simply lacked financial literacy.”

Determined to uncover truths, Johnson began her entrepreneurial journey, realizing her aspiration to lead a business while needing to be present for her children during a divorce. She taught them financial literacy, from budgeting their allowances to managing bills as they matured.

Such familial interactions were pivotal in her dissertation examining the financial socialization of African American mothers in Sacramento County. Johnson defines financial socialization as the learning process regarding money, influenced by family dynamics, cultural values, and socioeconomic conditions.

In her interviews, 13 women responded to questions about their caregivers’ financial management skills and what they could impart to their own children about finances.

The interviews revealed a lack of financial discussions in their upbringings, a gap Johnson attributes to economic disparities and a historical focus on civil rights and survival by previous generations.

Among the mothers she spoke with, Johnson noted encouraging indicators of change.

“Now we see a younger generation that I interviewed with children, integrating them into their businesses and household finances—showing them how to handle these responsibilities,” she observes.

Steering Through Shifting Financial Landscapes

In concert with evolving laws and social norms, women are increasingly assuming control over their financial destinies. This change is influenced by factors like rising female entrepreneurship and the trend of wives being younger or outliving their husbands.

Burns, from True Worth Financial Planning, has structured her firm around this reality. Exclusively working with women, she focuses on those navigating significant life changes or loss. While many of her clients are divorcees, she also serves individuals affected by the death of spouses or parents.

“Common themes among my clients are that they are women managing their finances independently, which can be intimidating,” Burns explains. “It often encompasses more than just financial matters.”

Burns’ leap into entrepreneurship came during a family health crisis. Shortly after she and her husband anticipated the arrival of twins, they received news of his brain tumor, initially thought to be benign. Months later, the diagnosis revealed a life-threatening form of cancer.

“My life priorities shifted incredibly fast,” reveals Burns, who was on maternity leave from Ameriprise Financial Services, where she had built her career with firms like Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. In search of flexibility and a stable future, she launched True Worth Financial Planning in 2020.

Her husband has recovered, but the entire experience provided her with invaluable insights.

“I realized I had the skills to advise on financial matters, coupled with personal experience facing challenging life transitions,” she reflects. “That perspective allows me to offer greater support to clients undergoing similar circumstances.”

Today, five years later, Burns feels a deeper connection with her work and her clients’ journeys, often earning more than her prior salary with larger firms.

Although she acknowledges that entrepreneurship may not be the perfect fit for everyone due to inherent risks, she has witnessed it empower both her clients and herself.

“This journey has turned into an unexpectedly rewarding career path,” she affirms. “It’s the most fulfilling work I’ve ever accomplished.”

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