Small Actions, Big Changes: Career and Life Advice from Marcia Miller

Marcia Miller [00:00:00]:
And I get that too. I get people and I tell them all the time like, listen, you don't need permission from me to spend your money, but what I can do of service to you is say, you know, if the market's down, for instance, maybe we push off buying a new car till next year. You know, think of me as your financial friend and, you know, I'm gonna help you make sound decisions, but I'm not here to tell you not to spend your money and I don't want my clients to, you know, I want them to live a life that's well. It's balanced and, yeah, leave your kids money, but also take care of yourself. And that's that's the bottom line.

Leah Alter [00:00:43]:
Hi there. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Leah Alter. And I'm Joanna Ehresman. And this is WomenShare, a celebration of women in financial services.

Joanna Ehresman [00:00:54]:
And today, we are sitting down with Marcia Miller of RFG Advisory. Marcia brings more than 25 years of experience in financial services to her role as a wealth adviser at RFG. She and her team focus on simplifying the complexities of wealth management for their clients so that their clients can focus on their passions. Marcia is also a podcaster hosting the Making Hay podcast geared toward financial advice for veterinarians, so we can't wait to discuss that in a bit more detail. Outside of that specific client niche, she shares our passion for helping women take control of their financial futures and breaking barriers in this male dominated industry. So we are in for such a great conversation today, and, Marcia, welcome to WomenShare.

Marcia Miller [00:01:38]:
Hi, Leah. Hi, Joanna. So nice to see you guys. I love what you guys are doing. I love the name of your podcast and the tagline for sure because what woman doesn't wanna be celebrated. Right? So thank you for having me. I'm honored

Leah Alter [00:01:51]:
to be here. And we are so excited that you're here. We wanna take a moment to say thank you for this episode's pay it forward sponsor, RFG Advisory. Through a pay it forward sponsorship, past women share guests can support another woman's story in the in a future episode. So Abby Salome, chief growth officer over at RFG, joined us a few months ago. So we just wanna say a big thank you to Abby and the RFG team for sponsoring this episode of WomenShare. And RFG advisory is an award winning support platform for independent advisers, empowering advisers to focus on what they do best, serving their clients. So you can learn more about them at rfgadvisory.com.

Leah Alter [00:02:41]:
And, Marcia, we are just so excited to dive in. There's so much to talk about. Let's talk about your practice. Let's start there, and really, what led you to launch the Making Hey podcast?

Marcia Miller [00:02:54]:
Yeah. Well, being in the financial services industry for 25 plus years, My path has pivoted a few times, but I have I'm serving, you know, pre retirees, retirees, physicians, women, and veterinarians. So I have a diverse, you know, group of clients. But every time, I noticed that there was a trend with my veterinarian clients, and they, you know, kinda face unique challenges. I was able to help them, their profession, kind of unlike human doctors, I feel like they were overlooked. And they just have the biggest hearts and I mean they they take care of animals you know and so. They're balancing a lot of things and you may not know this, but they have a very high level of burnout and so I just felt like with all of the experiences they have, I saw the need to create a space to kinda support them directly and that's how my podcast came to life. It's a platform where you know I discuss challenges they have.

Marcia Miller [00:03:51]:
I can share stories of financial insight, talk with other veterinarians and some of the challenges that faces their world, and hopefully bring in, you know, celebrations and talks about talk about the challenges as I said, but also the goal is to make money an easy conversation and make it approachable so they can focus on what matters most is caring for animals and dealing with their own personal lives.

Joanna Ehresman [00:04:15]:
Oh, that's great. I mean, and I think the the comment of burnout, I have a high school friend who is a veterinarian and specifically in a rural area, right, and was saying, like, there's just not enough practitioners out there to keep up with the demand. And Exactly. Yeah. And there's I don't know if you know this,

Marcia Miller [00:04:34]:
but there's about 80 plus percent of veterinarians are female. So, we are serving women primarily in this niche. And I think coming out of school now, it's in the 90s 90 percentiles and above. So, yeah, they just need a lot of support, and, I'm here for it.

Joanna Ehresman [00:04:52]:
So then are you has kinda word spread and you're serving more of them virtually too, or is there a concentration of veterinarians in your local area? Just curious.

Marcia Miller [00:05:02]:
Yeah. It's definitely definitely got a nationwide, practice. I've gone traveled around this United States to different conferences and so forth and speaking, just had a speaking engagement at the Georgia Veterinary Vet South is the name of that. So it's their medical association. So, yeah, it is spreading. Definitely, it's a virtual part of my practice, which is kinda cool, as well and, you know, I try to make myself even a little more available because of their schedules. They work a lot of them work 7 days a week Yeah. And, you know, 10:10 plus hours a day.

Marcia Miller [00:05:37]:
Like I said, a lot of the practices like the emergency care practices are open 24 hours a day, so it's it's interesting. It really is. Yeah.

Joanna Ehresman [00:05:46]:
Well and kudos to you because Leah and I were just on a previous meeting and talking about, you know, the 100, if not thousands of advisers that we've worked with, but I have never met an adviser that's specialized in serving veterinarians, and it sounds like there's such a need. So

Marcia Miller [00:06:00]:
And to my point, they're overlooked. Right? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So that was where I fell right in and just said this is kind of, and it's kinda home to me. I don't wanna go too much on the backstory. You can listen to my first podcast if you wanna hear more about that, but my grandparents were farmers, and so I grew up going to their house as I was growing up. And my grandfather had cows, so I have this, like, strange love for cows.

Marcia Miller [00:06:24]:
And, yeah, I grew up, Like, I was the oldest granddaughter of a large family, and I was throwing hay off at the back of his pickup truck to the cows. And so Yeah. There we have making hay. Oh, I love that. Yeah. Well, and I think the

Joanna Ehresman [00:06:40]:
authenticity probably really resonates, right, with I don't you don't just serve exclusively veterinarians, but, specifically, the the podcast audience in that topic. That that's

Marcia Miller [00:06:48]:
really cool.

Joanna Ehresman [00:06:49]:
Well and you and you shared your passionate about helping your clients build wealth with purpose. So, you know, I know there's been there's behavioral finance and that sort of thing, but just curious to hear, like, how do you foster that conversation with a new client, and how do you keep coming back to this purpose part of their wealth throughout your relationship?

Marcia Miller [00:07:10]:
Yeah. For me, fostering purpose begins with listening deeply. You know, every financial adviser, male or female, knows the importance of, you know, getting to know your client, gathering the facts, making a plan, making the numbers work, but, really, it's about creating a space where clients can feel seen and heard and feel comfortable sharing, you know, their hopes and dreams and fears. You know, what are they afraid of? And I think you have to ask the right questions to be able to pull that out of a client and let them become comfortable that you really want to know them. You know, it's like, I I wanna do business for the right people and I wanna take care of them in a fantastic way. You know, for example, some clients, they wanna work part time while their kids are small. How do we figure that out in the financial planning process? Or maybe they wanna retire young or they want to, you know, move across country as they get close to retirement to be able to pick their grandkids up from school 2 days a week. You know, whatever it is, you know, I wanna make those dreams a reality.

Marcia Miller [00:08:13]:
And I think, you know, the number one fear is running out of money, but oftentimes as advisors, we miss the opportunity to teach clients how they can use their wealth to live purposefully now, you know, in the moment, you know, we may or may not have forever. And then, you know, I also see a lot of my long term clients who are getting older, you know, late seventies, eighties, and even into the nineties, who've accumulated tremendous wealth and, you know, I mean, it's just like grown exponentially because as we get older, we stop doing a lot of the activities. Right? So the wealth tends to, you know, aggressively grow and that's wonderful. You know that's a wonderful thing to say. Okay great. I'd passed away with X 1,000,000 of dollars, but if you could go ahead and enjoy it in those peak years of happiness, you know, what would that look like? And so we build that. We try to purposely build that into each and every plan, and it's an evolving thing. A lot of times, you start this conversation with people.

Marcia Miller [00:09:15]:
They don't even know how to answer the questions. You know? I can imagine. Yeah. Yeah.

Joanna Ehresman [00:09:19]:
It's not typical that that you'd probably get into that, but it's Mhmm. So important for me to speak to it.

Leah Alter [00:09:26]:
Well and I feel like in my own, like, my own family with my parents, you know, they're so focused on, like, leaving something for me. And I'm like, thank you. And please spend your money that you worked so hard for. And Right. Like, let's just enjoy this time in your life where you're retired and you're not tied to something and, you know, you're healthy and active, like, let's spend the money. Right.

Marcia Miller [00:09:56]:
I totally get that and agree a 100%. And a lot of times as we get as people get older, when they're looking at their money, they get more and more conservative. Yeah and they get conservative with spending they get conservative with how they're investing it and when I'm working with someone like your parents, I would say how much of this you know if we free up. Hey, this is how much we're leaving the kids and less less aggressively invest that or more aggressively invest it. We don't need that all sitting on the sideline in cash. You know, you're gonna leave your kids more money by investing it on their time horizon, not your time horizon, and let's let's kind of bucket some money over here for y'all to spend and do you know, give it to them while you're living. I mean, what joy is that to be able to see your kids, you know, take some of the money and, you know, give them some of the money and enjoy it and pay off their mortgage or invest it for themselves or the grandkids not having to have college debt. So there's just all kinds of ways we can look at it.

Leah Alter [00:10:53]:
Yeah. Absolutely. And making memories. Right? Taking vacations together and and and, you know, getting to spend that time together without being stressed out of like how we're gonna pay for it. Exactly. Like what what are we sacrificing? And I think a lot of times that there's not those conversations. So, your clients are really lucky that you put that first and forward in your conversations with them so that those are are the boxes that are getting checked knowing that there's a long term plan also.

Marcia Miller [00:11:25]:
Yeah. I mean, money's really just a tool to helps us create the life that we envision and when you start having that switch in your mind, you know, as an investor, that this is a tool for my happiness and my family's happiness, that's when you have the freedom to do some of those things like taking your family on a vacation to create those memories. So

Joanna Ehresman [00:11:45]:
yes. It's not just about conserving for future security and kinda having that fear based. Yes. Yes. Exactly.

Leah Alter [00:11:54]:
You said that helping women approach their financial future with confidence is very important to you. We love that. That's obviously very important to us as well. So we'd love to hear, for you, like, what's working for you in terms of reaching those women clients and having specifically those conversations around financial confidence?

Marcia Miller [00:12:17]:
Yeah. I I found that approaching women with empathy and clarity makes all the diff all the difference. You know, we just want to be seen and heard and understood as women and many women tell me that they feel judged around money. You know, they feel judged around their money choices and their financial choices and and intimidated is a big word I hear a lot. You know, I don't understand this. It's, you know, finance is complex. And so I focus on breaking things down in a way where it does feel like money is approachable and, you know, definitely a judgment free zone. You know, I I think that women, you know, if you're in a household, women are spending more money than men do.

Marcia Miller [00:13:01]:
We buy the groceries a lot of times, married or single, whatever, it doesn't matter. You know, they're in charge of managing schedules, making all these decisions financially, and then that can lead to guilt when a woman wants to spend money on herself, you know, and, you know, I tell my clients it's okay to spend money on things that you value as long as we've planned on it. And, you know, the big the b word that no one wants to hear, it's budget. And no one wants to hear about a budget but the budget really, it's not restrictive what it is. It's freeing. You know it removes the guilt and replaces it with confidence like yeah, I can go shopping because this is built into my you know into my budget every month or year or whatever you know I can do this. I can spend money on myself and and self care is so important. I could go off for a long time on that.

Marcia Miller [00:13:55]:
I'm kind of embracing my own personal self care error, I guess. Yeah. I mean, I guess. Days I'm in. You know? Like, I've got to take better care of myself. And Yeah. If we don't, we're not gonna be there for the people we love.

Leah Alter [00:14:09]:
So And I was gonna say on the the on the same lines, like, it's sort of designed that way to make us feel guilty. Right? Like, the system is not again, we could go down a rabbit hole here, but the system's designed to make us feel, like we shouldn't spend money on ourselves or that self care isn't important, that we're always should be taking care of other people. So one way to kinda buck the system, right, is being is flipping that and prioritizing our self care and to your point, budgeting for things, that are important to us that might seem frivolous to other people.

Marcia Miller [00:14:49]:
Right. So true. So true. My aim is just to help, you know, the women realize that financial planning isn't about judgment. It's about what are the possibilities. You know, how can I do this? How could I make this happen in my budget? And then we look at it, and then we have the numbers to support it. The numbers are important. You know, it's important to look at everything and make sure that this is okay and have a check-in, you know, with a plan.

Marcia Miller [00:15:13]:
Are we on track? You know, are we doing okay? But if all you're doing is saving every penny you have and your life is miserable, who wants to sign up for that? You know?

Joanna Ehresman [00:15:24]:
It's not

Marcia Miller [00:15:24]:
I don't know. It's it's not gonna work.

Joanna Ehresman [00:15:27]:
Well, and back to your earlier point about purpose. Right? It would be, I think, a very empowering conversation. So I imagine if I'm sitting across from you and you're my adviser and you're talking about what's meaningful to me, and maybe it is some things that are about giving to myself and treating myself well. It's like that's that's living with purpose for me. Right? And everybody's purpose is different. So I that's just a really strong connection, and I can see how that leads to like, the more the more clients experience it, the more they see the value in, like, okay. This is a loop of being really transparent and honest and then spending against it, planning for it, and continuing, to use money in the as a tool to do what I want to do in my life.

Marcia Miller [00:16:10]:
Exactly. Exactly. It's so freeing. It's so freeing to do that, and, just makes life rewarding.

Leah Alter [00:16:16]:
Yeah. I think people also look to their advisors for permission to do that. You know? I've done that with my own advisors where I was like I went to them with like, okay, this is gonna seem crazy and be ready for them to, like, shut it down. And of course, they're wonderful and they don't. And they're like, okay, let's make it work. And and that is obviously one you know you're working with the right advisor when they said, okay, let's make it work, versus, shutting it down. Unless it's a horrible of idea. I can touch on this.

Leah Alter [00:16:49]:
But, I think, you know, we a a lot of people look to their advisers as like a a way to say, you know, is it okay for me to do this? Mhmm. And and to your point that that that transparency of what's important, what is that bigger purpose is so important in those conversations.

Marcia Miller [00:17:09]:
Right. And I get that too. I get people and I tell them all the time, like, listen. You don't need permission from me to spend your money. But what I can do of service to you is say, you know, if the market's down, for instance, maybe we push off buying a new car till next year. You know, think of me as your financial friend and, you know, I'm gonna help you make sound decisions, but I'm not here to tell you not to spend your money. And I don't want my clients to, you know, I want them to live a life that's well, it's balanced, and, yeah, leave your kids money, but also, take care of yourself. And that's that's the bottom line.

Joanna Ehresman [00:17:45]:
Love that. Love that. So, Marcia, you've been in the industry for more than 25 years and share our passion, like we said at the intro, for helping to break down barriers for women. Would love to just hear your perspective on reflecting when you first entered the industry. What was your experience? What did you see? And then what do you see ahead for us?

Marcia Miller [00:18:06]:
Yeah. Definitely, over 25 years ago, when I started out in the industry, it was overwhelmingly male dominated. I would go to conferences and maybe be one of, you know, of a 100 people in the room or 200 people in the room, be one of maybe 5 females or or maybe 10, but, you know, 8 of those worked for the organization. You know? So it was definitely, a man's world. I feel like I had to prove myself, you know, at every with every client. Everywhere I went, I had to prove myself, you know, the path for women was definitely not like it is today. But, you know, I'm proud that, the path for women, you know, I paved and other women. We've paved that and helped bring it into fruition of of where we are today, and I see so much opportunity today for women.

Marcia Miller [00:18:58]:
There's definitely greater representation. There's mentorship and RFGR company. We're a female led company, phenomenal leadership, and it's just so inspiring, you know, and I think that as women, we bring a unique value to our clients. We're more empathetic and compassionate than men, not to down men in any way, but that's just a fact. It's the difference in male and female and I think that, it's exciting time for women. So that's definitely a good thing. I think that today's women thinking of coming into the industry, I encourage it. Absolutely.

Marcia Miller [00:19:38]:
I think there's promising changes. Like, there's lifestyle practices. I know of some younger advisors who like, they take summer off to be with their kids when they're out of school. They, they work really hard to get all their clients. I mean, they're there and available, but they're, they've got a team that's supporting the practice. They've taken care of all the things around the school calendar. How cool is that? You know? And, I just think that whatever you want or if it's not raising children, it's pursuing other, you know, personal passions, there's an opportunity unlike any other career. And I think that's a huge step forward for women.

Marcia Miller [00:20:15]:
We couldn't

Leah Alter [00:20:16]:
not agree more.

Joanna Ehresman [00:20:18]:
Yeah.

Leah Alter [00:20:18]:
Yeah. It's and we hear it so often from our guests that come on the show. Right? Again, everybody has a different passion and a different purpose, and they've been able to create careers within this industry that fit those lifestyles that allow them the time, space to spend it how they need to, while also taking gorgeous care of their clients.

Marcia Miller [00:20:48]:
Absolutely. And, you know, there's a lot of talk right now about the great wealth transfer that's coming. And, like, 2030, it's kinda gonna flip where right now men have control over more wealth, women are gonna have control over its estimated 67% of the wealth in America, which is huge and that's, you know, coming from women live longer, so they're gonna be inheriting the wealth and it's gonna be with the females before it passes down to the next generation. And, you know, women are tired of not being seen and heard. I know I keep saying that, but that's what we want. We want to be seen and we want to be heard. And I've been told before during my 25 years by my female clients, married clients, like thank you for looking me in the eyes. Thank you for glancing at me and not just staring at my husband.

Marcia Miller [00:21:33]:
You know, I mean, how offensive is that? You know that, you know, especially in the south where I I live and have grown up, you know, the man is is definitely been the one financially to lead most families. And, you know, I don't think that women are gonna tolerate that when they inherit this wealth. Matter of fact, it's estimated that they're gonna leave their male advisors and by the droves. They want to be with someone that they identify with. And I know personally, you know, my gynecologist is a female. You know, all the people that I go to to care for myself, my doctor, all my doctors are female. And it's weird because I didn't set out to make that happen. I just grav to make that happen.

Marcia Miller [00:22:11]:
I just gravitated towards these relationships. So I don't think it's any different in, our industry.

Leah Alter [00:22:18]:
I I literally had that conversation this morning about how fortunate I feel that all the medical my, like, doctors and medical people in my life for the most part are all women and I can have really honest open conversations and that has not always been the case. And to your point, I I think having conversations about our health and our bodies, are very parallel to having conversations about money.

Marcia Miller [00:22:52]:
Absolutely. Wealth and health go hand in hand. Yeah. Yeah. For sure.

Leah Alter [00:22:58]:
Okay. So Marcia, we ask every guest that comes on the show, it's our favorite question. What is the best career advice that you have ever received?

Marcia Miller [00:23:08]:
Yeah. That's a great question. The best career advice I got was early on in my career and it was it came from a gentleman that I was, kind of a mentor to me and that it's, he said there's magic in action. So there's magic in action and that just it's a simple truth but it kinda stuck with me. You know, you can dream all you want but nothing happens until you take a step and so you just have to, you know, make sure that you're taking a step forward. It kinda reminds me of another quote that I'm inspired by by Michael Jordan and, it's a very common one, but you miss a 100% of the shots you don't take And so it's kinda that those two things go in my mind, like just get up and do something, do something, do something, and then it's it's a reminder to take risk, to embrace change, you know. I've certainly missed my share of the shots I've taken. You know, I've pivoted a few times in my career and, you know, those moments have taught me great life lessons and skills and business lessons and helped me grow and improve and, you know, get my business where it is today.

Marcia Miller [00:24:14]:
So, you know, that's the advice I would that's the best advice I got. I would pass it on to any anyone else, you know, don't wait for perfect circumstances, take action. Action of any kind, even a baby step creates momentum And with momentum, it creates opportunities. And that is kind of what I've lived for the last 25 years. Wow.

Joanna Ehresman [00:24:36]:
I love that. And especially the point of it doesn't have to be massive action. Right? If your energy level or what you can take on right now is even just the smallest bit, just do that. Absolutely. I

Leah Alter [00:24:48]:
think in in kind of the current climate too of people really wanting to seek change in our world, It can feel really overwhelming and and, little tiny little things that you can do can make the biggest differences in the end. But you to your point, Marcia, you just have to you have to start, you have to make a move. Right.

Marcia Miller [00:25:12]:
Absolutely. And there's so many people willing to share and help, you know, with that, seek out, you know, another thing that I've always done is try to find the smartest person in the room, you know, go talk to that person. And it's amazing to me how kind and generous people are to share, you know, and to y'all's podcast here. You know? Women share. Yeah. You know, it's just that most people are so gracious to to want to help someone else.

Joanna Ehresman [00:25:38]:
That's great. That's great. Now outside of work in your career and the success of your podcast and everything, what else can we celebrate with you today?

Marcia Miller [00:25:48]:
Well, celebrate. I guess when I hear the word celebrate, it has to be some sort of win, you know, or some sort of good thing going on, I guess. But November, you know, is, of course, the big month of gratitude, and I've been real intentional for the last while to make sure I'm grateful on a daily basis, but in November particularly, and then coming off of October being the, breast cancer awareness month, y'all can celebrate with me that I'm 11 years, cancer free from breast cancer. You know, I I'm thankful. I'm grateful that, you know, my path, my story is to live and not die. And I know so many people didn't didn't get that out of a breast cancer diagnosis, but it's made me a better person. It's made me more intuitive and compassionate to my clients and to other people that, our our paths cross. And, I'm grateful for that.

Marcia Miller [00:26:43]:
Wow.

Leah Alter [00:26:44]:
We're both tearing up.

Marcia Miller [00:26:45]:
I know. Yes. Aw.

Leah Alter [00:26:48]:
Marcia, thank you so much for sharing that. I, myself, am a pre viber. I'm a BRCA 1.

Marcia Miller [00:26:54]:
Okay.

Leah Alter [00:26:55]:
So I did a preventative, which is its was its own kind of massive hill to climb. Mhmm. But 11 years is amazing.

Marcia Miller [00:27:07]:
It is. I'm grateful. Very grateful. Thank you. We

Leah Alter [00:27:10]:
are definitely celebrating that.

Marcia Miller [00:27:11]:
It's a scary it's the thing in the world. I know for you what you've been through is scary. My neighbor, that's much younger than me just did the same thing and this just this year. So she's had 2 different 3 different surgeries actually and that's a that's a great decision though because you don't want to go through what so many women have. So yeah.

Leah Alter [00:27:32]:
Yeah.

Marcia Miller [00:27:33]:
That that I'm grateful for and I'm just grateful for life in general, you know,

Joanna Ehresman [00:27:37]:
that

Marcia Miller [00:27:37]:
we get to live in a country where we have freedoms and can we can be a financial advisor or we can be a veterinarian or we could be a podcast host. We can do whatever,

Joanna Ehresman [00:27:47]:
you know?

Marcia Miller [00:27:47]:
For all

Joanna Ehresman [00:27:47]:
of them. Well, maybe that's Yeah.

Marcia Miller [00:27:49]:
All of the above. Yeah.

Joanna Ehresman [00:27:52]:
Yes. So

Marcia Miller [00:27:53]:
So Life is life is good as they say.

Joanna Ehresman [00:27:56]:
Yeah.

Leah Alter [00:27:56]:
This has been a really great and uplifting conversation, Marcia. Thank you Yes. So much for coming and, sharing that. If somebody is interested in following along with what you're doing and listening to the podcast, what's the best place for them to find you and connect? Yeah. So I'm on link LinkedIn. Of course, Marcia Miller, and Marcia is spelled like

Marcia Miller [00:28:20]:
the Marcia Brady. Like, Marcia Marcia Marcia. So m a r c I a. I always have to tell people that because, people don't know how to pronounce my name sometimes. So I'm on LinkedIn and also, an easy way to find me with because RFG is our website is, is kind of a long address. But meet with Marcia is, my website, so you can find me there, meet with marsha.com. My office phone number is 205-795-2013. And we also have an Instagram, page for if you just type in my name or rfg advisory, Marcia, you'll find that.

Marcia Miller [00:28:59]:
So love to connect with anyone. Excellent.

Joanna Ehresman [00:29:02]:
And we'll make sure we have those links, on your profile on our website so folks can find you there. Yeah. Just thank you again for joining us and sharing your story, both professional and personal. It's just great.

Marcia Miller [00:29:14]:
Thank you. Such an honor. I appreciate it.

Joanna Ehresman [00:29:17]:
Yeah. And that's our show for today. So if ours is a mission that you want to share in, please subscribe to WomenShare on your favorite podcast platform. With that, I'm Joanna Erisman.

Leah Alter [00:29:28]:
And I'm Leah Alter. Thank you again to RFG Advisory for paying it forward, and we'll catch you on the next episode of WomenShare.