FinServe Ambassador Champions the Power of Next-Gen Disruption

As a member of The College’s FinServe Network, co-chair of its Next Gen Advisory Task Force, and host of The College’s former podcast program for next-gen professionals, NextGen in 10, Phillips has been a highly visible and active advocate for The College’s power to change the profession – as well as its responsibilities to nurture and empower the next generation of financial services leaders and innovators.

Breaking Into a Brand-New Field

In her younger years, Phillips confesses she had no idea she’d end up in the financial services industry.

“For a long time, I thought I was going to be a retail store manager or some kind of human resources professional: working in Starbucks HR or running a Target store was the height of my ambition,” she said. “I only ended up jumping into financial services because some changes in my personal life meant I needed a more stable schedule and because managing people and working in retail can be crazy.”

Initially, Phillips was hired as a recruiter for a large financial services company, a position she saw herself as well suited for. But there was an obstacle in her continued lack of knowledge about the industry she found herself in – so she decided to ask for help.

“The first time anyone at the company mentioned annuities, stock, or bonds, I had no idea what they were talking about, but I wanted to learn,” she said. “I started by interviewing the advisors I worked with to get the basics and learn the ropes. A few of them even let me sit in on their client meetings.”

Eventually, Phillips earned several financial services licenses, and her knowledge was further broadened by her professional advancement, moving from recruitment to training and development for new professionals and assisting in buying up new practices to fit them into. While the industry sometimes gets a bad rap for its competitiveness, she says she was highly fortunate in those early years that her coworkers were so open and willing to support her.

“My managers let me experiment early on; they encouraged me to get into things like website development and to get exposure to working with different types of teams at different levels,” she said. “We had some good years together, but eventually my goals and beliefs were no longer aligned with the company; I wanted to be more of an advocate for advisors. That’s when I decided I wanted to go out on my own.”

The Power of Next-Gen Professionals

After over seven years at a major firm, going it alone was intimidating – but Phillips says she was committed to her mission to expanding the opportunities of young professionals in financial services and showing them the possibilities at their fingertips. This led to her to her current role as an educator, recruiter, and guide in helping advisors seeking new options to “break up” with their broker-dealer, as well as getting involved with student and young professional groups. The more she saw from the next-gen individuals she worked with, the more impressed she was.

“A lot of people complain about the laziness and entitlement of the younger generation, but the ones I’ve met are ambitious, intelligent, educated, and know what they want,” she said. “They’re so far ahead in a lot of ways, but they often don’t know how to communicate what they’re looking for appropriately in a professional setting or navigate complex power dynamics. They believe in setting boundaries and working smarter, not harder – the challenge for them is getting their managers and organizations to buy into that worldview.”

In fact, Phillips says, next-gen professionals – especially women and those from diverse communities – represent the future of the financial services industry with their fresh perspectives, creative energy, and innovative ideas.

“There’s so much data now on how diverse teams perform better, especially teams with people of different genders on them,” she said. “If you’re a manager in the business, the idea that you still have to have a business case to justify hiring more women, for example, is absurd. Financial professionals are all about returns on investment, and having young and diverse perspectives is the key to securing them.”

In her work with other next-gen members of the industry, Phillips was introduced to The College by a former faculty member and saw the potential in its message and mission. She joined an early incarnation of its Next Gen Advisory Task Force and took on a growing leadership and advocacy role over the ensuing years, culminating in a reimagining and relaunch of the initiative under the leadership of herself and Lindsey Lewis, MBA, CFP®, ChFC® of The College’s Center for Women in Financial Services. The two continue to collaborate on many projects, including co-hosting representation-themed episodes of The College’s Shares podcast. She says in the future, she hopes to pursue a College education program such as the CFP® Certification Education Program to enhance her knowledge of financial planning further.

“These days, I tend to gravitate toward people and places that align with what I believe, and I believe very strongly in The College’s efforts to empower next-gen professionals,” she said. “Events like the Conference of African American Financial Professionals (CAAFP) and groups like the Center for Women in Financial Services do an amazing job of spreading The College’s message and I love watching them grow.”

Overcoming Barriers to Entry

While the financial services industry has made much progress, Phillips says there are still many challenges to overcome in incorporating more diverse perspectives and people into the profession. Her favorite analogy compares the industry to a piano – an instrument originally created specifically for men’s hands.

“Since men have larger hands than women, any woman who wanted to be a concert pianist would have to either have bigger hands or be willing to injure herself in pursuit of her goal,” she said. “In financial services, all the systems and structures were built around older, whiter men because for a long time that’s who had the money. Mentalities may have shifted over time and women have much more power today, but the piano still hasn’t changed, and neither has financial services. Until we rethink these basic structures and attitudes, we’ll continue to have trouble with female representation in the industry.”

Phillips says the financial services industry needs to try something different – and she sees a lot of potential in the Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) and independent space, where she gets most of her clients. With the advent of new technologies like social media and artificial intelligence (AI), she’s seen many next-gen advisors adopt them to great success.

“We need to amplify their voices so the industry establishment knows these things work,” she said.

As for next-gen professionals themselves and those new to the industry, Phillips says the key to success in the business today is threefold. Advisors need to have an ideal audience for their services in mind and know what they may need help with, whether it be child care and saving for college, starting or exiting a business, insurance coverage, or another niche they can specialize in. Additionally, transparency is of paramount importance as financial professionals need to be as open and honest with their clients and with prospects as possible. Perhaps the most important piece, however, is for advisors to be authentically themselves.

“Some of the stuff I share on social media is goofy, and while some people may choose not to work with me because they think I’m silly, I probably wouldn’t match up well with them anyway,” she said. “By being yourself, you may repel some people, but the ones you’ll attract and keep will form a much higher-quality community and better relationships.”

Phillips says she often encourages professionals to share their personal opinions on social media as part of this strategy.

“Having a strong opinion in public about something can be scary, but fence-sitting is boring and your ideal clients aren’t looking for that,” she said. “You can’t differentiate yourself without opinions, and it makes you stand out from the canned content a lot of other people put out there.”

In all, Phillips says she relishes her role as a champion of disruption in the industry whether it be through a greater role for women, RIAs, next-gen professionals, or other means.

“We need to rethink why we’re doing things the way we are and ask ourselves why we do them,” she said. “If you don’t have an answer or you think there’s a better way, experiment. The best time for growth and evolution is when someone decides to shake up the status quo.”