Let’s talk high-achieving women and intergenerational wealth. The WIE Suite is filled with dynamic woman making big moves; what’s your biggest piece of advice to high-achieving women?

My biggest piece of advice to high achieving women is to get comfortable. Specifically, get comfortable with having conversations about money and wealth. It's easy to plan for every aspect of our lives and leave out the financial piece, meaning leave out the harder conversations about personal finance.

A study by Merrill Lynch and Age Wave, found that 61% of women would rather talk about their own death than money even with friends.

I find that terribly disheartening because I think some of these conversations are long overdue and there’s an opportunity to learn from one another and help shape future generations.

Why does intergenerational wealth matter so deeply to you?

Unfortunately, for far too long, many of us, especially women, have been left out of the conversations about wealth. Wealth tends to be a very male dominated topic. And for a very long time, women were responsible for the household budget and not much else. Only within the past two decades have the conversations about women and money moved beyond budgeting to more complex topics such as investing and creating a legacy.

Within diverse communities, inter-generational wealth was never something we thought was achievable due to systemic issues. Now, there's an opportunity for many of us to really think about what it means to create wealth and pass on that legacy and be extremely intentional about how we go about how to achieve it.

You use the phrase Untapped Wealth a lot. What does that mean?

Untapped is a term I coined essentially to refer to the process by which certain techniques and investment opportunities are available to the 1%, but not the rest of us, mainly because we don't know that we have access to them. For example, creating your very own personal board of advisors and having conversations with a network of your personal board of advisors can go a long way. This is something that is often done by the extremely wealthy that most of us don't do. Most of us have an unofficial board of advisors. We have maybe an accountant, maybe we even have a business attorney, maybe we even have insurance agents. But unfortunately, we don't connect the dots and connect those advisors.

There's an opportunity to connect those advisors and have them essentially work for our benefit. That is what untapped wealth is, it's using and taking advantage of some of the tools, tips and techniques that the 1% have at their disposal that we can all benefit for.

You grew up a little girl in Ghana. What drove you to where you are today? And, what lesson does that offer for others?

I came from a very small village in Ghana whereby there was no running water, there wasn't a whole lot of opportunities. And the thought of money was far removed from my everyday experiences. I remember hearing stories about America and it having streets paved with gold.

I remember thinking at the time how different America, a country with streets paved with gold was from how we lived and that’s just how things were.

When I came to the U.S and discovered there were no actual streets paved with gold but there was extreme levels of wealth and poverty. It reinforced the belief I had developed over the years that that’s just the way things were.

As I got older, I got older, I realized the importance of financial education and how important it is to have someone in each family take on the role of the financial educator. Being that person for my immediate and extended family allows me the opportunity to share some of that knowledge and I think someone should take on that role in every family.

Whats the best financial advice you ever received?

The best financial advice I've ever received was one that I think I was not necessarily ready to receive when I received it, and that was from my father. When I was in my first job out of college, I worked in a firm that had a 401(k). I remember it was my first real big job after college with an actual salary.

And I remember my dad telling me, "make sure you put money in your 401(k)." Make sure you take a percentage of money you make and put it in 401k." At that time, I had no idea what a 401(k) was and I certainly I didn't like the idea of not having access to all my money, so that was a big point of contention for me.

I did it, not knowing what I was doing it or why I was doing it. That experience really instilled the concept of “set it and forget it” after seeing that money grow into a nice savings account that I used to buy my first house.

What’s the best financial advice you’ve ever given?

The best financial advice that I've ever given is very much directed at women and that is what you’ve been told about money and wealth and what is possible for you is only a tiny percentage of what’s actually possible for you. Imagine, being able to invest in another woman who is building a company that will change the role women play in the boardroom. Imagine funding a woman led-cause that will help stave off the damage that has been done to our planet.

Imagine investing in opportunities that will continue to grow and provide a return long after you’re not here. I think that’s extremely powerful.

And I think we have a tendency to think wealth is a zero sum game, but it's not. I think there's an opportunity for us to understand that if we work hard, if we really be creative and think outside the and support other women, it is possible for us to build meaningful wealth and most importantly make a huge impact.

What’s the biggest money mistake that people make over and over again?

The biggest money make mistake I see people make over and over again is not understanding the impacts that their mindset has on wealth. Our mind is a very powerful tool and our mindset can sometimes impact our ability to move forward. And if we have a scarcity mindset or secretly despise wealth, it will impact your ability to not only create wealth but support those we love and causes we believe in.

Who are women you admire?

The women I admire are women that are extremely strong. They're extremely high achieving, they're extremely focused, and most importantly, they're extremely giving. A good example of that is Michelle Obama, who comes across as very graceful and very intelligent and very ambitious even before she became First Lady. She handled the office of the First Lady with such grace and such poise and such tenacity that I often look at women like her and Amal Clooney, the human rights attorney and activist as women I admire. They are not only strong and highly intelligent but are giving back and making a big impact in the world.

What is one trend you see happening in 2023?

A trend that's coming in 2023, is an increase in investing in opportunities outside of the stock market. Whether it’s investing in art, startups, wine, Broadway or film, there will be an increased interest in conversations and companies that give people exposure to assets that are not tied to the stock market especially considering that potential for a recession in first or second quarter of 2023.

What is one product you cannot live without?

A product that I absolutely cannot live without is my phone. I have so much of my life tied in my phone. I use it to manage my personal and business life while on the go. If I run into an issue with it, my day becomes extremely challenging. A of couple years ago, I ran into an issue and I dropped my phone down an elevator shaft. The elevator company came and was kind enough to retrieve it for me but it was mostly shattered and I had to replace it immediately because I needed not just for work but also I needed to be reachable by children’s schools.