Jaclyn Strominger welcomes listeners to another insightful episode of the Unstoppable Success podcast, featuring Jennifer Rogers Markwell, an Emmy-winning journalist turned wealth advisor, and the driving force behind Platinum Wealth Management. Jennifer shares her unique journey of transitioning from a successful career in television to the financial sector, driven by personal loss and a desire to help others navigate their financial futures with warmth and understanding. As she recounts her experience of dealing with financial advisors during her family's trying times, she emphasizes the importance of emotional intelligence in wealth management, especially for women. Listeners will gain valuable insights into how one's relationship with money is often influenced by past experiences, or 'money memories,' and how understanding these can lead to better financial decisions. The episode dives deep into the challenges of starting a new venture, the importance of communication in business, and how Jennifer's heart-centered approach has helped her firm thrive even during the pandemic. With a blend of personal anecdotes and expert advice, this episode encourages everyone to reflect on their financial journey and find empowerment through informed decision-making.

Takeaways:

1. The journey to becoming unstoppable often begins with a personal transformation, like Jennifer's shift from television to wealth advising.
2. Emotional intelligence plays a crucial role in financial empowerment, helping clients understand not just what they do with money, but why they do it.
3. Communication is key in any business; it builds trust and fosters relationships that are essential for success and support.
4. Navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship requires resilience and a willingness to adapt, especially in times of crisis like COVID-19.
5. Everyone has a money memory that shapes their financial behaviors; recognizing this can lead to transformative change in their relationship with money.
6. Finding joy and purpose in your work is vital; helping others succeed can create a fulfilling and impactful career.

Links referenced in this episode:

1. platinumwealth.net
2. platinumtalkswealth.com

Connect With Your Host, Jaclyn Strominger

www.jaclynstrominger.com

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Well, hello everybody, and welcome to another amazing episode of the Unstoppable Success podcast. I am your host, Jaclyn Strominger.

And as you know, on this podcast, we hear from amazing leaders about all of their insights, tips, and things that have helped make them absolutely unstoppable. They want to share those with you so you can be unstoppable as well. And today I have a great guest and Jennifer Rogers Markwell.

And let me tell you, first of all, she's in. We're like in the same state, which is usually. And actually in the same town, which usually doesn't happen. So super.

Even more exciting, but Emmy award winning journalist turned wealth advisor, she's the president and CEO of Platinum Wealth Management.

She is totally respected in her groundbreaking work and financial empowerment and blending emotional intelligence with strategic wealth planning to help individuals understand how not only what they do with money, but why they do it. So she has had an amazing career. She is totally unstoppable, and I cannot wait for you guys to meet her. So without further ado, welcome, Jennifer.

Thank you so much for having me.

I am so glad you are here. So, okay, obviously, number one question I'm sure you get asked all the time, the pivot. What made you pivot? Yeah.

So it was nothing that I planned for myself by any means. And I feel like life sometimes takes you on that journey. By all means.

I worked 20 years in television, was Emmy nominated, thought I'd always work in television. Had just signed a very big, large international contract, and my grandpa got sick. My grandparents raised me.

They were mom and dad, and he passed away. So I went home. And we're trying to pick up the pieces emotionally, obviously, of losing him. He was like the complete backbone of my family.

And we found ourselves not only trying to pick up those pieces, but also the pieces financially. So we found ourselves going in front of different advisors at different institutions. And they didn't have a lot, but what they had was spread around.

And we never had the warm fuzzy feeling that anyone cared or wanted to do what was in my grandma's best interest. And she said, if we're going through this, imagine how many other women are as well.

And in that moment, I think of it as like my river analogy, right? You can stand in the river, you can have the water keep hitting your back. You can fight it. You can try to go upstream also not comfortable.

Or you can kind of go with the flow, with the river and see where it takes you. And I feel like that in that moment, I said, okay, I'll learn everything I Can.

And here I am year, you know, 16 years later, almost as a financial advisor. And then I founded my own firm, Platinum Wealth Management.

So. Right. So let me just ask, back up for a second. So when you made that change and you, you thought about that?

Because I think a lot of people like, did you have the fear?

I know I needed to do it.

Right.

I needed to help her and her journey and make sense of investing. And of course that journey wasn't comfortable. Of course. Right.

That was a whole new land that I didn't know a foreign language, I didn't know coming from television. I was great in that land. So I figured, okay, let's see where this goes. And I was doing it in a heart centric place and so I just went with it.

So I think that's so important. And I know this has got us, not to be cliche or anything, but listeners, this is actually a really key thing. It's heart centered.

You knew that it was something that had to get done and it wasn't. Not that there was fear, you just knew you had to do it and you had the passion for it. So it wasn't, you weren't letting something get in your way.

I didn't think a second thought about it. I just navigated through and again, it's a big difference. Right. Going from television into film finance, that's a big, big leap.

And it's a foreign language. It truly is. So I wanted to make sense of it for my grandma and then on that journey it was for others and other women.

Right. You know, and, and I love that you're doing, you know, that it's, it's helping that journey for other women. Are all of your clients women?

No, no. It's funny that you say that.

So we do have obviously a lot of women that are clients, but we also have a lot of predominant men that will come and sit down and say, I, I am not going to outlive my wife. We would love to have somebody that can communicate with her comfortably because women do business differently. Women communicate differently.

So we have, I would say almost half. Half.

That's actually really quite cool.

So, you know, so you, you know, thinking about those beliefs and experiences, you know, and how money shapes our decisions, you know, how do you feel like mastering that emotional relationship with money becomes that foundation for that, for both what you're doing and unstoppable success.

Yeah. So I also have a podcast as well, and that's what we talk about.

And how that basically became born was clients coming to me Saying, hey, Jennifer, can I buy a couch? And I was like, yes, yes, you can buy a couch. You have a multi, multi, multi million dollar portfolio, and you're wildly successful.

You can buy a couch.

Well, the interesting thing was this person in particular went back to a money memory of being a kid in his family, blue collar, Midwestern family, trying to get food on the table. So it didn't matter how wildly successful or how many millions he had invested, he went back to that memory. And everyone has a money memory.

Everyone, every walk of life, no matter where you're from, what your background is, what your socioeconomic status is, it's a money memory. So it's the psychology behind why you do what you do.

Yeah, I have my money memory. Is that my interest? Money grows on trees. No, I'm just kidding.

That's. That's a familiar one for a lot of folks. I mean, it can be negative, it can be positive. I mean, it's. It's ultimately whatever your journey is.

And then does it make sense for you to still carry that, or does it make sense for you to change the narrative and make it more supportive for your journey?

Yeah. So I want to talk about, you know, I mean, you've obviously, you've had great success. And, you know, with great success, it did not happen overnight.

And if it did, well, maybe kudos to you. Most people don't have the straight linear up. There's usually some ups and downs.

So I'm curious, as you were building your firm and as you were getting into this, what were some of these challenging moments that you had and what leadership principles help you stay focused?

Yeah, I think. I mean, anybody going into business, it's a whole different beast. Right? Like, I mean, if you're an employee, you're getting a paycheck every week.

When you're not, then you are not always. For me, I think the pivotal moment was thinking through that was I had to buy pens and paper.

Because normally, like, when you work for someone, there's a supply closet. You get pens and paper, like, you don't have to buy them. And I'm like, I gotta buy pens. I mean, that sounds so trivial.

But for me, that was a big, pivotal moment. And granted, I was very grateful. And when I launched Platinum wealth, it was before COVID So we really got our feet in the mix.

We started doing things virtual before most other firms were, just because I had clients throughout the US So my momentum picked up really fast. Very grateful for that. And then when Covid happened, we were very responsive. So if People called us, we would call them back. We were there.

We weren't, you know, putting our head in the sand, being scared and not communicating. Like, again, communication is so important.

I feel like in any, any aspect of any career path, but for us especially, and we wanted to make sure we were talking to people and, you know, supporting and handholding where needed. And so for us, we grew ridiculously during COVID because we were communicating.

So we did have kind of a upward trajectory that I wouldn't have planned for myself by any means, but very grateful that people entrusted us managing their money.

That is great. I love what you said. I mean, obviously about communications, because that's like a big thing in the leap method that I talk about. The L is actually.

It's leverage and it's leveraging your strengths and communication because of how you speak. And we all have this thing that I'm holding up, which is my phone. Right.

And so many of us will actually, instead of using it for the phone, will hide behind it. So it's, you know, kudos for you for actually using it and communicating with people and talking to people. Yeah.

I mean, people want the communication. Communication is so important. And I feel like that is a shining, golden, like, golden star these days, quite frankly. Right.

You look at so many businesses and you get an email or you hope someone emails you back. Communication is lacking, I feel like, in so many different areas. So that customer service level is just different and it's evolving.

But I wanted to make sure when we, you know, when I launched Platinum Wealth Management, that we were giving the best level of service based on communication. Granted, like, if somebody needs us, you're not getting thrown in a phone bank in a far off land. Like, you're talking to a member of my team.

We're supporting you. We're here to help you. We know you.

Yeah, yeah.

So what made you decide to, you know, sort of go out on your own versus, I guess like starting your own umbrella versus, you know, joining something like a Morgan Stanley or, I don't know, whatever, you know, American. American Express or Ameriprise, whatever they used to be. Ameriprise. Used to be American Express, Yeah.

I did work for big firms and I had hundreds of clients and managed very sizable books of business. And I mean, back to the original point, the thing that I saw, I mean, you see good nuggets and bad nuggets along the way. Right.

So for me, I was seeing the customer service side and the relationship being punted to phone banks and clients. Didn't like that. And clients are like, we just want to talk with you. We don't want to go to a phone bank. So there's a frustration there.

And I saw that along the way and I thought I could do this differently and make it very more heart centric, but the communication stronger and the relationship stronger. And know that we want to know about you, why you do what you do.

And when you call us, we know you, we know your kids, we know your grandkids, we know the whole family we want to be able to support there. And I felt like that was getting lost a little bit in the big scheme of the world. Yeah.

You know, so I'm curious, how do you feel that your, your TV role or, you know, your TV experience has also helped you in your current role?

Huge. It's been huge. I mean, obviously it's made me comfortable to talk in front of a camera. So podcasting has been fun and a journey.

I think that's been great. I mean, I do a lot of national media and I do a lot of national speaking, so it's, it goes hand in hand.

Unfortunately, there's not enough people talking about the psychology of money, so I feel like that's an interesting topic that a lot of people resonate with. So I, I travel quite a bit, you know, sharing this message.

Yeah.

And so, you know, thinking about, you know, legacy and leadership, you know, obviously you're obviously as you shared, you, you're traveling and you're sharing across the stage, but also you're very active in the community. So, you know, what do you think? You know, influence, you know, what does influential leadership look like to you today?

And how, how can high achievers build success while lifting others along the way? What's your thought?

I think that is, I mean, so important to what we do. Right. One of the things that we say is everyone deserves a seat at the table when it comes to their financial journey.

And again, that's not just for clients. That's for my team. That's for my team. And lifting one another, that's in every aspect that we do. Right.

We want to make this better, the world a better place, ultimately in everything, but especially in finance, where it's been such a foreign language for so long.

So I think by volunteering, by being in the community, by sharing messages, by supporting others and making others feel worthy, I think is a huge part of what we do on a day to day basis.

Yeah, no, I think being part of the community is so important. Actually was on a podcast this morning and a gentleman was talking about.

And I didn't realize this, there's a couple of websites that really just focus on giving back in your industry. I was like, oh, blown away. Like, I did not, you know, need shared some of those. So I think that's so important to actually be able to do that.

So, you know, thinking about, you know, obviously starting your business, this leadership journey, you know, if you're, if somebody, you know, what is the biggest tip you can say to somebody who is, you know, maybe on that precipice, do I go out on my own or do I stay where I am? What would you tell them?

I think that depends on the individual. Right. That's a hard question to give, a hard answer to, per se. I think it depends on the individual.

And are you willing to, you know, buy pens, buy paper, you know, make paychecks, like pay other people on your team?

I mean, as you grow, there's more mouths to feed that you have to worry about to make sure that they're supported and that they're emotionally supported. So then they're trickling down and doing absolutely the right, right thing for whoever your clients are. I'm so grateful that I did.

I think my timing was impeccable. I feel like that was a lot of it outside of me, by all means. But I'm so glad that I did. And I.

And I think that a lot of people that end up going on their own entrepreneurial journeys think, why didn't I do this sooner? Right.

You're definitely taking a risk and it's very scary, but at the end of the day, like, you're able to make such a big difference if that's what you choose to do.

Yep. So now how do you bring that entrepreneurial journey into your workplace? Because obviously you're now the employer. Right.

So how do you keep that thrive going? So that may be somebody who may have that thought, like, do I go out on my own? You know, but they want to stay.

Like, how do you keep that going so that you're that great employer that they don't want to leave?

Yeah. So, I mean, I'm a little biased, but my team say they're all lifers, right? All lifers.

Because we have the flexibility and we listen to one another and we grow from one another. There's not a strange hierarchy where anybody feels, to my knowledge, uncomfortable about what we do.

People are open to bring ideas to the table and how we navigate things. And everybody's very heart centric. And I think that is, that's really the spillover for Us.

And I think the overlap is everyone wants to do the right thing, always. It's not a question of that. My team came together not in a way where I had a help wanted sign out at all.

It was very organic where people ended up just in front of me or introduced to me and just all came together. And it's been a beautiful journey.

I mean, I'm very grateful for the team that we have, but again, we all lean in together and we all support each other. We've been a meeting every single day where we talk.

And granted, some of my team is remote, so we're on zoom every day for half an hour of seeing each other, talking through things. But what we talk through is, what's your win? Personal or professional? What are you working on and what do you need help on?

And it's so lovely to see if someone else has something personal going on in their life that they share that. And the team rallies and says, how can I take that off your plate? How can I support you? And it's everyone.

I've never worked in an environment where I've seen anything like that, but I'm so grateful to be growing one and to be a part of one and have that my own.

Right.

That's, you know, it's interesting, you know, when you talk about meeting every day, even if it's for 30 minutes, so many people are like, oh, my God, too many meetings. So how do you, you know, get people excited?

I mean, obviously the wins, but, you know, people might be listening to this, thinking, oh, my God, a meeting every day.

Well, I mean, if you're not working in the same building as somebody, you have to have a meeting every day, like, to know what's happening with your team. And my team ranges in age from, you know, 19 years old up into their 70s, so we've got quite a demographic of folks.

But I truly think, like, it wouldn't necessarily be a fit for my team if you weren't rallying and wanting to see how other people were doing, what was going on. I think that's a characteristic that magically has, again, organically happened in my group. But it's not a meeting to have a meeting.

It's a meeting to find out what's going on, how we can support our clients and how we can support each other. Right.

And so when you're thinking about, like, somebody who's, like, young, right, and starting out, you know, and they're on their journey, like, what would you.

What would be the biggest tip you could say to somebody Whether it's a financial journey or any journey, like, what are the top, like, you know, five things that you could say to somebody to do as they're, you know, they're, they're stepping out?

I mean, I, I could give you dozens. I mean, I think the top one would be get an internship. If you're in school and you haven't had an internship, get one now.

Doesn't matter what you want to do, figure it out. That's how you figure it out to see if there's passion there. And that's what you want of explore as a career path.

I had five internships when I was in college. Mine were all in tv. I've had several interns on my team who have. Were interns for three, three and a half years who are now advisors.

I wanted them to cut their teeth and see if this was a passion for them, and if it wasn't and they wanted to go in a different arena, then I was going to do my best to be able to lift them and put them in front of the people that they needed to be in front of. So I think being in a healthy, you know, relationship with whoever your internship is, learn as much as you can.

LinkedIn is such a resource, and it's exciting to me to see so many younger people who are in high school or College getting their LinkedIn, like, messaging out there. I love that because you're networking. So I would say the two big things are really networking. Well, three networking, LinkedIn and interning.

And I think that really puts yourself five steps ahead of everyone else, because then you have an idea. Is this the career path that at least I want to start out on now?

Yeah. You know what?

You just something that you said, I think is actually really important, and that is that, you know, if somebody's interning with you and maybe it's not the right fit, but you obviously have connected with them, you know, to go out of your way, to go and help them find something else, that's very. I mean, not a lot of people think that way. So how did you come to that philosophy?

That's who I am, right? Like, I'm not going to be everybody's cup of tea. And that's totally okay. But if I can find, help them navigate to their cup of tea, that's great.

What a blessing that is because they're going to be joyous in whatever they do. I mean, we should have joy in our workplaces, in our lives, wherever we can. It's not always perfect, but if we can Help each other.

And again, back to lifting one another. That makes the world a better place,

you know, it truly does. I mean, it's funny because, you know, there's so many, so many people that I've talked to.

It's, it's that mentality, that quintessential mentality that, you know, they said, I worked here, but I knew I was ready to move. And my person who I was working for said, oh, let me pick up the phone and call and help.

Because you're, you know, so it's not, it's, it doesn't happen often. So it's really lovely that that's something that you do because it really can change the trajectory of somebody else's life

and it helps them create whatever joy that they need or they're finding. Like, be happy, be happy in what you're doing. Right. I think that in any career path. Yeah.

So I want to go back to that, you know, idea of, you know, talking also about, you know, the whole money psychology.

Because something that you said, you know, you know, whether somebody has a preference, something in their past where they've just, you know, they come to save, like they don't want to spend the money. There's a person who is buying the couch, right. Or can I, Can I buy the couch? How do you actually help them?

You know, because that psychology with money is so deep rooted and it must come back often. You know, it does.

It's in conversations we see every day. And that's again, why I initially kind of went down this path.

I'm just finishing up my master's degree in the psychology of money and then going into a PhD program to become a financial psychologist. Again, not to change career paths because it's my firm, but to add value to clients that are navigating this. It affects everyone.

It's not just a one person thing by any means, but I think having people have the understanding to have that moment where you give yourself that two seconds where you really think about it, sit with it, and have that light bulb moment.

I had a speaking engagement yesterday and that was part of my exercise was having people take 10 minutes and really talk through, like, what's your money memory? And I, I looked around the room and this was the most interactive.

And I've done stages of 10,000 people and done this with big groups and little groups. This group was about 70 people. And it was interesting because it was so, you know, tight knit.

I was able to really like walk around from table to table and interact as well. There was that glaze that came over a couple people's faces. And I said, you know, you don't have to have that right now.

You're going to have this when you're driving home, when you're picking up your kids, when you're in the shower, you're going to have that light bulb moment. But the mere fact that you're giving yourself space to think about that now and then really see, does it make sense?

I realize why I'm doing what I'm doing with money because of X. Does it still serve me to hold that so tight or does it make sense for me to change my narrative?

It's very powerful, but I think it comes down to the individual of giving themselves that time, that moment to really think through what is my money money memory. And then did that really affect my relationship with money now as an adult?

And so when you're able to work with people, I mean, I'm assuming, you know, I could assume, but never assume. Right. You know, it must, you know, when you can help them flip the switch. What have you seen it do?

Well, I mean, I can tell people all day, hey, these are the five things you need to do to make money in the market. And here's how we should do it. And here's how we financial plan. But at the end of the day, I mean, I can tell you that, but are you going to do it?

Are you going to have, you know, pushback? Is there going to be an issue there? But that goes back to your money memory.

So I think if you can really have that moment, have that conversation, open lines of communication and realize what it is and then talk through. Is that serving you have that talk with your advisor? I have it with my clients all the time. Does that serve you?

You're going back to that money memory and everyone has one. I have them too. But I think that really engages you of how you look at your financial future to make sure you're doing the right things.

Yeah, no, I, I totally see that.

And I was just thinking though, like, when they've, when they get over that hump and they start doing those things, it must be amazing to see the blossom.

It is. But I mean, that seed is always planted, so you always have to kind of go back to it and think through that too, because it doesn't just go away.

I mean, even if you're like changing the narrative, you're always like, oh, that's why. Okay, you've got to be thoughtful with yourself and make sure that you're having that realization Constantly. But yeah, it's amazing.

It's amazing when people are doing the right things and they see it and they're on a good momentum for themselves. But this is where the ongoing community communication and over communication comes in.

Yeah, no, it's we, you know, it's kind of like your financial gremlin. Right. Like, how can you knock it down? It's always going to be there. It's like. Or, you know, the two, the angel and the devil. Right.

You know, sitting on your shoulders. You know, who's talking to you the loudest and how do you quiet one versus the other. Right.

You can't necessarily quiet one. It's always going to be there. You just have to make space for it and realize that's what that is. And does it serve your doing?

Do you need to change your narrative? It's always going to be there.

Yeah, yeah. But if you can make it a little bit softer, maybe. Right. Not as loud. Maybe it helps. Right.

So, Jennifer, how can people connect with you and learn more about what you're doing and so that you can help them have an impact, you know, with their money and this how they think of it?

Yeah, there's a lot of ways to connect with us. The Platinum Talks wealth podcast is our podcast on Spotify, itunes. We're celebrating our third year, which is crazy. It's gone by so fast.

Also, platinumwealth.net is our website. We have a ton of information there. We also have online communities, so in Facebook, we have Platinum Talks Wealth Community.

It's where we deep dive in a social media realm of kind of talking through what these definitions are when it comes to the psychology of money, how that works, different things like that. And we're on all social media platforms too, so we're. We're a lot of places. But yeah, if anyone has questions, we'd love to connect.

Awesome. All right, so listeners, do me a favor, connect with Jennifer, go to her socials, connect with her, go to Platinum Wealth Management. Really?

Seriously, you know, what she's doing and helping people is. It's just truly remarkable.

Everybody does have that crazy relationship with money or that gremlin and, you know, really doing things different with money. So do me a favor, connect with her.

And then do me a favor, hit subscribe and share this podcast, because I am going to guarantee you that there is somebody that you know that needs to hear this message. So thank you, listeners, for listening. Thank you, Jennifer, for being a great guest.

And I'm Jaclyn Stinger, the host of Unstoppable success, so thank you.