Community Highlights: Meet Lyndsey Monahan of Women Inspire Wealth

I’m incredibly thankful for those early years as a programmer – my peers taught me how to look at money from a different perspective and offered help when it came time to select my benefits package at work. Many of those conversations and discussions led me down the path I’m on today.

The worries and concerns about money were behind me with my degree in hand and a corporate job. However, the natural-born learner in me wanted to know more about how to manage my own money and build wealth. A mentor of mine – challenged me to read two books: Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. I still recommend both of these books to anyone defining or re-examining their own financial belief system.

I continued learning about personal finance from peers, mentors, and ultimately, through The American College where I earned both the Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®) and the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®) designations.

Being driven by the entrepreneurial spirit, I knew my next move would be away from Corporate America. Establishing what my financial base was after reading those books meant I was going to need to make some significant changes in how I wanted life to play out.

In May 2014, I said goodbye to Corporate America and began my journey into entrepreneurship by opening an insurance agency.

Insurance and Financial Services go hand-in-hand; after all, the basis for insurance is risk management and understanding what assets you are protecting for your clients. Fortunately, the insurance agency I started also offered limited financial services products and allowed me to gain the knowledge and experience necessary to connect with clients and help them in significant ways.

The next season or phase of my life centered around some pretty significant life events: divorce, caring for a parent, and career change.

When significant changes happen, there is typically the initial shock and awe of the moment, followed by a period of adjustment that begins to define your new normal.

I knew immediately my new normal required extreme flexibility.

My father, who I had little to no relationship at this point in my life, had a massive stroke in October of 2016. Suddenly, I found myself thrust into being his primary caretaker and care manager. The only problem – he lived in Illinois, and I live in Texas. So, being able to move about the country was now a priority.

The traditional brick-and-mortar agency I owned and operated did not fit my new normal. And in early 2018, I gave up a permanent insurance agency contract to become a financial advisor with ultimate freedom and flexibility in setting my own schedule.

After spending a few years with a captive carrier and a large brokerage, I knew it was time to marry this concept of empowering women through personal finance and my desire to build a financial planning company to serve women in a way I would be proud of.

Women Inspire Wealth was born out of my life experiences, passion for personal finance, and desire to serve women in a larger capacity.

My husband, Byron Wilkerson, and I reside in Dallas, Texas, with my bonus son, Caleb, and our daughter, Stella.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Entrepreneurship is anything but smooth – and in my opinion, it’s what sets us apart from the crowd. If you are in business for yourself, you’ve had obstacles and challenges to overcome. If you’re still here and in business, that means you are tenacious with a touch of crazy (wink).

There have been obstacles and challenges, and there will continue to be obstacles and challenges on this journey. I believe knowing this and approaching with a positive mentality helps me keep perspective and overcome.

Deciding to start my own Registered Investment Advisory Firm was a bold decision. Calculated but definitely risky. I made the decision to not approach building my firm the way the financial services industry traditionally trains and teaches agents and advisors to establish and grow their businesses. I wanted it to feel different and be different for my target audience, which presents a different level of obstacles and challenges – self-induced to meet a unique need.

As you know, we’re big fans of Women Inspire Wealth. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about the brand?
Women Inspire Wealth is a premier financial planning firm located in Frisco, Texas.

We focus on championing the financial empowerment of women, and we work specifically with women business owners, executive-level professional women, and blended families. Women are the coordinators of their households and communities. We serve as their financial experts working with them to define wealth on their terms and create custom financial plans to address their concerns and guide them in building their financial future and legacy.

What matters most to you?
Such a great question.

The answer to this has shifted in recent years for me. My why in the past was focused on breaking the cycle, “becoming the one” in my family, and helping my community of women become confident and secure with their own finances.