Financial Wellness

An ailing wallet can infect other aspects of a person’s well-being. So says LYNDSEY STAINBACK, a financial adviser with Northwestern Mutual. Stainback and two clients-turned-friends recently hosted a workshop for women that took a holistic approach to wellness in their three areas of specialization: finances, nutrition, and healing. The idea came about as the three women: Stainback, SAMANTHA RAY MIFSUD of Evolution Healing Arts, and JENNIFER KUREK of Kure Foods, brainstormed how they could use their interrelated areas of knowledge to support each other and help other women.

“What we found was that really focusing on mindset: incorporating mindfulness into our daily lives, as well as what goes into our bodies, makes everything stronger,” Stainback says. “As women, we typically don’t take enough time for ourselves.”

Stainback has been with Northwestern Mutual for sixteen years, joining the company after completing an internship with it right after college. Although she had not envisioned becoming a financial adviser, the prospect of this career seemed a good fit.

“I have an entrepreneurial spirit, have always been competitive, and find joy with working with people,” she says. “The biggest gift throughout my career have been the relationships I have built with my clients. I truly get my energy from people, helping them succeed.”

Northwest Mutual may be best known as an insurance company, but it has expanded into an array of offerings: investment services, retirement planning, wealth management and estate services, and business services.

“The company and the industry have really changed over these sixteen years,” Stainback says. “Northwestern Mutual has always been a strong Fortune 500 company, but it’s become even stronger. As I have gotten older and have a family of my own, I’ve seen the lack of education within financial planning, especially the lack of financial literacy. I want to help people be aware of the resources out there.”

She says she likes to be able to sit down with families and businesses and look at both sides.

“I’m not a captive adviser: I can access Northwestern Mutual products and services but can also shop the marketplace and recommend products beyond what’s proprietary to us,” she says. “Northwestern Mutual is a fiduciary, meaning that we have to put the client’s interests first.”

The way she thinks about financial planning is protecting your assets as well as helping them grow.

“It’s and, not or. It’s budgeting and having the knowledge to get out of debt. It’s taking things that can be overwhelming and breaking them down into small pieces, helping people make strategic, not emotional, decisions,” she says.

“That’s something that the three of us who presented the workshop have in common,” Stainback notes.

Just like other areas that are important in life, many need a coach to help them stay the course when it comes to finances and remind of the importance of doing the hard things now to achieve long-term goals in the future.

“Seven out of ten people say their financial plan needs improvement. Forty-two percent of people have no insurance or are underinsured,” she says. “They don’t know how to find a financial planner whom they can trust.”

One of the aspects of financial planning that a lot of people don’t understand is disability insurance, she says, adding that many think it’s permanent or terminal

“Actually, the average length of time a person is out of work on a disability claim is two-and-a-half years. But think about how that would impact you financially – not just now, but also for the long-term goals you are saving towards.”

It’s important that women have good financial advice since they now control about 51% of the wealth in the United States, Stainback says.

“Women are living longer; they typically are the caregivers, and they can be more risk adverse, which could be due to lack of exposure to financial products, which is why the topic of financial literacy is so important,” she says. “Women are more likely to become disabled and seventy percent of women will have some type of long-term care event in their lives.”

To view more of photographer Terah Wilson’s work, go to terahwilson.com.

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