How One Former Wall Street Investment Advisor Is Disrupting The Finance Industry With Her New Platform – Forbes

Posted: January 18, 2020 at 4:45 pm


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Dana L. Wilson, founder of CHIP

Recent reports find that the racial wealth gap in America is widening. Research indicates that 40% of Americans dont have $400 for an emergency and 25% of Americans dont have any money saved for their retirement. For Blacks and Hispanics, the aftermath of a financial crisis could have more deleterious effects. Whites are more likely than Blacks and Hispanics to own a home and have other assets, which can be liquidated in the event of a financial emergency. For Black Americans in particular, the residual effects of slavery and discriminatory practices such as redlining, have made it more difficult to accumulate wealth. Dana L. Wilson is a New York City-based investment advisor who has worked on Wall Street and at firms like Merrill Lynch, State Farm and SunTrust Bank. With her over 10 years of industry experience, Dana has developed a unique understanding of the finance industry and the challenges that it faces. With these challenges in mind, Dana created CHIP. CHIP was developed with the purpose to ensure the visibility of financial professionals of color. Dana sat down with Forbes to discuss why she created CHIP, how she expects CHIP to transform diversity and inclusion in the industry and how the platform is unlike anything else on the market today.

Janice Gassam: Could you share with the readers a little bit about CHIP, what it is and how it works?

Dana Wilson: Sure. CHIP is an online platform and it stands for Changing How Individuals Prosperright now its a platform thats functioning as a database of Black and brown financial advisors and certified financial planners. So, really right now, were building out our professional database so were looking to get as many financial advisors and certified financial planners of color on the platform. Once we get to our goal number, we will release it to the public and theyll be able to go to our site, download the app, and really search for any advisor that theyre looking to work withtheyll be able to tell what city and state the person is located in, whether or not they are a fee-only advisor, which really just means that theyre only charging a set fee for their servicesitll show you a lot of information based on your needs and what you might be looking for as an individual. We also walk you through, on the app, what different titles mean because I think sometimes there might be a lot of confusionand a lack of understanding regarding what all the terminology is within the industry when it comes to different types of professionals.

Gassam: Why did you feel a platform like this was necessary?

Wilson: I felt that this was important, just based on my overall experience within the industry. Ive been in the financial industry for over 10 years nowover my time in the industry I feel like the same problems still exist when it comes to when it comes to the recruitment and retention of Black and brown professionals and the way that were serviced in the financial industryits really hard to be able to build out a business when you dont have the support, when you dont see people that look like you sitting in those seats, sitting in those senior management positionsit becomes even more difficult when youre trying to make your goals and deadlinesso for myself its been definitely a journey to sit in a place where Ive been the only woman of colorunfortunately in some situations Ive kind of gotten used to that and I felt that CHIP was extremely important not just for the industry as far as visibility but then also allowing the end user, if that person happens to be a person of color, letting them know that we are here and we do exist and I think that sometimes in corporate and even in the independent space that Im in, we dont see a lot of thatsometimes you dont necessarily find the person that might fit your needsor you might even be intimidated by the person that you start talking tosometimes being able to take those layers away and make people feel comfortable and know that there are people out there that look like youI know a lot of instances where people may feel like oh, I dont have enough money to work with an advisor, or Ive tried to do that before and they didnt really pay attention to me because I didnt have this large sum of money. CHIP is the place to say even if youre not necessarily ready, this is the place to know that you do have people to help and that are willing to educate youdeveloping this sense of visibility within the industry to kind of change a lot of whats broken in the financial system when it comes to ensuring that were [doing] a really good job to recruit and retain but then also creating really well designed, strategic and intentional shift of generational wealth when it comes to the communities that we want to serve.

Gassam: Is there anything like CHIP on the market already?

Wilson: Theres things similar to CHIP on the market, theres definitely other sites where you can go and search for advisorsbut CHIP is different in the fact that we dont just focus on independent advisors, we also focus on financial professionals in the more corporate, larger and institutional space and the reason being is that its sometimes hard for Black and brown professionals to get a seat at the tableits important that we showcase the fact that were able to be at the forefrontwere the only ones really focused on the corporate space as opposed to just independent and just fiduciary. Sometimes people dont even get to get on that side of being independent, which is just running your own practice and running your own businessbefore starting their career within the corporate space. Its important that we focus on both of those because the numbers are unfortunately low on both sidesif were only focusing on one particular segment, which is just independent advisors, were not helping the problem and the issue, so I think its important to focus on both.

Gassam: If I am a financial advisor and I identify as a person of color and I want to be on the website, what would the process be?

Wilson: Right now, its a very simple process. You can go to the websitethere are several different buttons that show advisors how to apply now, they can fill out a 2-3 minute questionnaire, that questionnaire gets filtered back towards us, and that automatically creates a profile on the appwe do our own quick background checkjust to make sure everyone on the platformis sticking our mission for CHIP.

Gassam: What do you envision the impact of CHIP being on the finance industry?

Wilson: So high-level, I really see CHIP being that bridge between the general public and professionals of color when it comes to the financial industry and really breaking down those wallsalso just bringing that visibility to helping people understand that you can do more and you can find success in this business. I think that anyone who has a desire to be in the financial industry, sometimes its tough when you dont necessarily see other people, you dont have the opportunity to network, you can become really siloed within your division or your corporate sector. But when you have that support system outside, it really makes a difference, especially when it comes to succession planning, when it comes to generational wealth, when it comes to the idea of hey, maybe I want to be able to sell my classes to someone who looks like me and were able to be very intentional about that. From a business perspective I see a lot of financial professionals able to really find revenue-generating opportunities from thisI think skys the limit. I think one of the biggest things within finance is just the education and not just the education but also understanding the industry and understanding the different types of players within the financial industryCHIP is the place to do that and also giving financial professionals a voice. I havent really seen a place where we really have a voice and were able to communicate our journeys, our thoughts, our ideas and talk to the people that need us the most. I really see CHIP having a huge shift in generational wealth and educationthis is a place where there are experienced, knowledgeable, professionals and theres a perfect place to be able to recruit, to share, to learn, to hear our stories.

Gassam: For someone reading this who doesnt really understand what a financial advisor is, could you share a little bit about the profile of a person who needs a financial advisor? There is a perception that you have to be...maybe making a certain amount and have a bunch of assets before you really need a financial advisor.

Wilson: Anyone who is really open and willing tothat perception and that myth really is not doing us justice[we think] its going to cost us a couple thousand to even sit down and have a consultationand thats really not the case. You can start out with what you have and if what you have is $25, $50 those are things that you can start out witheven if youre just working with someone and maybe theyre just helping you to save, thats a starting point in itself. A lot of advisors, they do more than just help their clients investwe work with our clients on budgeting, on cash flow managementeven if you feel like youreat the point where, I want to build up my emergency fund, thats finethere are people who are willing to work with you to help you do thatyou dont have to have a couple hundred to a couple thousand saved up. You dont have to have a large six-figure salary to sit down and talk to someoneit really is a lot about educationit doesnt matter how much money youre making, its about what youre educating them to do with it.

If youd like to learn more about CHIP, click here.

This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

Authors note: The author has had a partnership with the interviewee in the past.

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How One Former Wall Street Investment Advisor Is Disrupting The Finance Industry With Her New Platform - Forbes

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January 18th, 2020 at 4:45 pm

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