The first impression Colleen Stutz gives is of someone who is immeasurably kind. Here is a woman to which you can divulge your innermost perceived financial failures, foibles and fears, without risk of recrimination. In part, that’s because, as a financial planner for more than two decades, there aren’t many situations involving money that she hasn’t encountered. The other reason is that she genuinely loves people, and has spent her career helping them achieve their dreams, not laying down rules as prescribed in some manual.
Plain spoken, but with a disarming smile, she explains almost shyly that, as a trained actuary she also loves math, and putting puzzle pieces together. For her clients, that means that she adores nothing more than scenario spinning – looking for myriad ways to pull those pieces together to create a financial picture that will make her clients happy.
One of the more startling statements she makes in our lengthy interview is that “you can get what you truly want, if you’re willing to make the choices necessary to get it.” Just make sure that, whatever “it” is, it brings you joy. If that’s not enough to entice you to overcome any planning aversion you may have, perhaps this unvarnished conversation with Colleen after a recent speech to the Purcellville Business Association will entice you to reach out.
Q: “So, what’s your process when someone asks you for help with their finances?”
A: “Well, first we have an initial conversation, because I have to make sure that you're a good fit for me and that I'm a good fit for you. I ask, ‘Ultimately, what are you trying to achieve? If we could design the perfect plan for your money, what would that look like?’ I encourage a free-flow conversation that covers things like kids and college, what they like or dislike about work, and they give me information. It often sounds like, ‘I want...’ as in, I want to do this renovation, or I want to have a pool. They may say they’d really like not to have to work, or that they love their job so much they never want to retire. Diving deeper, it becomes a conversation about trade-offs – priorities. Without that information, I can throw many things against a wall to see what sticks, but I’d be guessing. Once I know the overall picture, just like a puzzle, I can help to put the pieces together.
“There's no judgment on where we're starting from. Most people think that they're not nearly where they need to be, which I find is generally not the case. There may be some people that need up their game a little bit, but for a lot of people, they're doing pretty well, just need assurance that they’re on the right track. Once we figure out where we're starting from, and know where we want to go, we can easily put the pieces together.
“The crux of that conversation is, ‘Are you willing to do what you need to do to get to where you want to go?’ I want the conversation to be either that they’re willing to do what they need to do to get where they want to go, or that they’re not willing to work that hard. From there, we may chart a path that may not give them all the all the stars, but they may get to the moon. It's really all about what their goals are that drives what we do together.”
Q: “When I attended one of your seminars, one of the most interesting pieces I took away with me was a conversation about grasshoppers – people who would rather enjoy life in the moment than save – and ants – people who store up food for the winter. Would you say you're more comfortable working with grasshoppers or ants?”
A: “I am a chameleon. I can be whatever you need me to be. I have saver clients and spender clients. The advantage that I bring to the table is that I don't have an opinion about your goals. You tell me what you want to do; I'll help you figure that out by asking some questions. Once you tell me what you want to do, then we can figure out where we want to go. If you want to spend $30,000 year on travel, that's okay; I'm good with that. We just need to make sure that you have what you need to be able to do that.”
Q: “You mentioned earlier that people are better off than they think they are. Is that because we live in a wealthy county?”
A: “People here work hard, have a higher medium median income, and a stronger knowledge base than in a lot of other parts of the country. It’s true that people in Loudoun County are generally working in higher paying jobs. We are closer to Washington, so we pay attention to policy changes that may impact taxes and savings. We also have a lot of technology, so people can work from home and be very productive doing that.
Q: “Can you tell me in layman’s terms what an actuary does?”
A: “The coursework you have to go through is very heavily math dominated: probability, statistics, calculus. It helps me project contingencies in life – if this happens, then what? Financial planning was the only thing I could find that combined both business and math. Math is like my first language... the numbers have to make sense."
Q: “There must be dozens of variables that impact what you can accomplish in life – the state of society, your work situation, your age, your savings...”
A: “Actually, there are thousands of variables. Where you live, your cost of living, what’s coming in, what’s going out, your stage of life, what’s important to you and how realistic that is. I think everything is realistic, if you're willing to put forth the effort to get there. So, I don't mind if somebody says, ‘I want an extravagant pool.’ We just look at what resources we have and whether that makes sense given everything else you want to do. What if you lost your job, for example? Could you still manage?”
Q: “I think all of us when facing a tough decision would like to call on a ‘Financial Mom.’”
A: “I just say, I’m here when you need a reality check. I don't put judgment on anyone. I want to look at what we have, and what we want and see how we get there. I don't think anybody should ever say, ‘I can't have that.’ It's really a matter of, what are you willing to do to get ‘that,’ whatever ‘that’ is. If it's a college education for your kids, if it's a pool, if it's a boat, whatever ‘that’ is, you can have everything you want; Zig Ziglar said that. But the question is, ‘What are you willing to do to get it?’
"You can have everything you want... But the question is, what are you willing to do to get it?"
Q: “Was your phone ringing off the hook with people who finally had the time to think about the future?”
A: “I had a lot more joint conversations with couples than ever, because they were all together, and they had time to talk about important things. I think the key was, when all the things that have kept us going, going, going, going are taken away, it really makes you evaluate what is important. It gives you the opportunity to be able to communicate with each other whether that’s really what you want or if you can develop a better plan without being pulled in a million different directions.”
Q: “That’s probably how divorce happens.”
A: (Laughing,) “It does, but it's also how marriages stay together! If both people can come to the table and understand that each has different ideas and be open to hearing what those ideas are, it’s a very interesting conversation. A lot of times I play facilitator because how a household operates has to accommodate different money personalities. When someone loses their job, scarcity comes into the conversation. But I like to turn it around and say, if what’s in your house doesn’t bring you joy, why have it? Whether it’s your physical house, your mental house or your financial house, if it doesn’t bring you joy, why indulge it? When you really start to think, ‘What are the things that bring me joy?’ and be honest about it, life starts to change a little bit and some of the things you thought were really important aren’t.”
Q: “Right, it’s like, how much of a thing do I need?”
A: "If Amazon gets you through the day, that’s one way of rewarding yourself... but make sure it brings you joy and you're not just acquiring something to fill some other void. Things often are being used to try to fill feelings of emptiness. Sometimes it's hard to address because wealth is one of those things to which people often attach their self-esteem. I have to be very gentle sometimes about how I handle that. People aren't that different and they strive for a lot of the same things. One of them is security. And the other one is love. Sometimes they try and buy one or the other, but, in the end, it doesn’t bring them joy.”
Q: “When you say you’re a planner, you don’t just mean financial, do you?”
A: “It is life planning in the sense of helping people see what’s really important, if they’re being logical.... I believe that there’s always a solution. That’s why I love math – there is, literally, always a solution."
Q: “Did you personally learn anything from the pandemic?”
A: “What I have loved personally, as the single mom of a now teenaged boy as well as an entrepreneur is that before COVID, I always had to separate my work life, where I was this professional woman in heels, and my home life. Being able to work from home, I don't have to do that so much anymore and it's the coolest thing in the world. People now understand when you say, ‘Excuse me, I have to let the dog out because he's going to bark until we're done here,’ and everybody just laughs. I get to stay home most days and be there for my son when he comes home. I get to go to baseball games, and now all of us are okay with it. I don't have to be this uber professional woman in uniform; I can just be Coleen. I was that before, I just didn't feel like I could reveal that side because it wasn't professional. So, for me, it’s been a blessing to be able to be real and genuine; everybody's dog barks, and it's okay.”
For more insights and examples, like how to have a serious financial conversation with your family over the holidays check out Colleen’s business listing under Citylifestyle.com/Leesburg’s business listings: https://bit.ly/SonriseStrategies or at her website: https://www.sonrisestrat.com/.