Discovering and navigating the profession
How did Jamie discover the profession? Out of necessity. Her parents filed for bankruptcy when she was a sophomore in college. Realizing she wasn’t sure what would happen to her family, Jamie wanted to educate herself.
“So I kind of stumbled upon financial planning, because I needed to learn about financial planning,” said Jamie. “[I] thought it was a really great career path, and could be a great way to help others learn more...how to have a better healthy financial life.”
After graduating from Kansas State University, Jamie traveled to Dallas for her first job in a small RIA where she did everything, from meeting with clients to handling administrative tasks to compliance and more. It was different from her next role in a large bank, which came with different clients. Now, Jamie has been at a midsize RIA for the last seven years.
Throughout her career, Jamie became a better financial planner through her life experiences.
“When I first started out, I always felt like I had imposter syndrome to some degree,” said Jamie. “I was young and had never bought a house myself, but let me tell you about how this mortgage is going to work and how to buy your house.”
But as she experienced the same things her clients did and came to her for help with — paying off student loans, buying a house, raising a family, changing your monthly budget — she found she could relate more. Being a member of the Financial Planning Association helped, too.
“I think the FPA does a great job of providing that venue to connect with other planners and learn from each other and grow together to make the industry stronger,” said Jamie.
A passion for financial literacy
As a financial planner and mother of four kids, Jamie is passionate about financial literacy. The problem with financial literacy is that we aren’t taught how to be financially literate as children. Since we don’t learn financial education in schools, we have to get our education elsewhere.
“What you do learn, you just pick up from your parents or your friends, and then the rest is purely trial and error,” said Jamie. “If there are ways to be financially illiterate at earlier ages, that makes a big difference. Because once you start getting good habits into place, then they stick.”
Starting financial education early can help adults avoid poor money skills later. Jamie wanted to find a way to talk about money with her kids in a fun way. And that’s how Milton the Money Savvy Pup was born (based on their real life family dog Milton, a Pembroke Welsh Corgi).
In Milton the Money Savvy Pup Brings Home the Bacon, our hero wants to buy a dog bone now, but he’s not sure if he should wait and save up to buy delicious bacon. The book teaches kids how money is earned and the concept of saving. Publishing the book wasn’t an easy process, Jamie said, but it was fun and exciting to have the physical book to share with her kids as well as clients.
Can we expect to see more books about Milton?
“I have actually already written two more Milton books. And then I'm also working on a book for adults focused on young parents,” said Jamie. “Those two, they’re not illustrated yet, so I don’t have a timeline for sure as to when they’ll be available. But they’re out there, so stay tuned.”
Be open to learning
Financial education and financial literacy is very important to Jamie. But it’s also important that financial planners continue to learn about the profession, too. Newbies who are just starting out as financial planners should learn as much as they can, Jamie said.
“This industry is still really small. So it's easy to get connected and get ingrained in things if you want to get involved,” said Jamie.
Attend local FPA events once they get going again. Listen to other people in the industry. Take advantage of mentorship opportunities that happen through the FPA, CFP board or other organizations. Having relationships outside of the firm that you work for is helpful, said Jamie.
“You can bounce ideas off of them; talk about your career path struggles,” said Jamie. “And you never know where these contacts will lead. Having that network built up...really helped me at every stage in my career as I was taking the next step, or making a big transition.
What You’ll Learn:
- How Jamie found financial planning
- A winding career path in different firms
- Becoming a better financial planner
- Jamie’s passion for financial literacy
- About her children’s book (and the ones to come)
- Different clients, different needs
- How Jamie’s career changed when she became a parent
- Jamie’s advice to new financial planners
In this episode of YAFPNW, Hannah Moore, CFP®, and Jamie Bosse, CFP®, discuss:
Interested in following Jamie? Follow her on LinkedIn and on Twitter at @moneybossmom!