Episode summary
The Healthy Advisor: Taking Control of Your Finances with Bridget Venus Grimes
Summary
Bridget Venus Grimes describes an unconventional path into wealth management: Wall Street trader, then pastry chef in New York and Paris, then back to finance after divorce and financial upheaval made her rethink what women need from advice. She says cooking gave her creativity and relief from stress, but it also showed her the limits of a low-paid, high-pressure career.
A major turning point came when she learned, during her divorce, that she and her ex-husband had debt she did not know about. Soon after, a 2003 Southern California wildfire destroyed her neighborhood, and the experience reinforced how quickly life can change and why women need a financial plan. She says those events pushed her to serve breadwinner women and women in transition.
Grimes also argues that financial services still has structural problems for women: pay disparity, lack of flexibility, and weak community. That is why she launched Wealth Choice and later co-founded Equita Financial Network in 2018, a fee-only platform for women-led firms. She says coaching and community helped her manage burnout, stay organized, and keep building without sacrificing family or health.
Key takeaways
- Grimes says divorce and a wildfire pushed her to return to finance with a mission to help women avoid being unprepared.
- She says she discovered after the divorce that the household had debt she did not know existed, which changed how she thinks about financial engagement.
- Grimes says women in financial services still face pay gaps, low flexibility, and weak community, despite being strong planners and advisors.
- She launched Wealth Choice about nine and a half years ago to serve breadwinner women and women in transition.
- Equita Financial Network began in 2018 and has grown into 13 fee-only women-led firms sharing resources and support.
- Grimes says coaching and community are essential tools for avoiding burnout and protecting both personal and business health.
Notable quotes
“I experienced firsthand the challenges many professional women face. Career setbacks, financial discrimination, balancing competing priorities, and navigating complex situations like divorce”
“I really wound up following what became a huge passion and I did that for a decade”
“there were thousands of homes in our neighborhood that were just wiped out”
“I think the lack of flexibility is hard. I think there's a lack of community of women adviserss in this country”
How the episode opens
Welcome to the Healthy Advisor, a podcast from wealthmanagement.com focused on advisor's personal well-being and healing. I'm Diana Britain, managing editor of wealthmanagement.com. And in this podcast, we explore some of the struggles and personal development issues facing adviserss and financial services professionals and how to get to a place of healing for mind, body, and spirit.
Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Healthy Advisor podcast and thanks for joining us. As you may know, this is the podcast focused on financial advisor health and well-being. And today's guest definitely counts on that score.
Her name is Bridget Venus Grimes, president of Wealth Choice, her financial planning firm for breadwinner women, and she's a co-founder of Equita Financial Network, a community for female financial advisors. She's also a CFP board ambassador. Bridget, thank you so much for being on the podcast.
Thanks for having me.
So, Bridget had a bit of a an unconventional journey into wealth management. She started her career as a hedge fund trader and then transitioned into cooking. Um was a pastry chef in New York City and then eventually came to Wall Street as a financial planner.
Um I came back to Wall Street as a financial planner. And she says on her website, "Through my my own journey, I experienced firsthand the challenges many professional women face. Career setbacks, financial discrimination, balancing competing priorities, and navigating complex situations like divorce, or building a company.
These experiences fueled my passion for providing exceptional guidance to help women achieve financial security and live the life they've worked so hard for. Bridget, I'm really excited. uh uh to talk to you about your journey today.
Um we're just going to talk uh you know to some of these firsthand experiences, but I wanted to start by you know the the pastry chef that that that sounds like um just such an interesting path.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- women’s financial empowerment
- divorce and debt financial recovery
- pay inequity and workplace flexibility
- advisor burnout prevention
- coaching and community for financial planners
Companies and tickers mentioned
- WealthChoice
- Equita Financial Network
- Financial Planning Association
Watch the episode
Watch “The Healthy Advisor: Taking Control of Your Finances with Bridget Venus Grimes” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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