‘We want to actually touch people’s lives’

For Melissa Joy, her love of financial planning really comes down to that quintessential human touch. As founder of boutique firm Pearl Planning, Joy’s passion is people – and educating them on all things money.

“I love being able to talk to people both on a very technical level about their money, but also on a personal and emotional level about what their money means to them,” she says.

Her empathetic and human-centric approach extends to recognizing the psychological and emotional components of financial decision-making. Joy is all too keenly aware that traditional economic theories often fail to encapsulate the real-world complexities and nuances of human behavior.

“There’s so much that’s psychological, emotional, and not necessarily rational,” she says. “Everybody has a different set of experiences in their life. And their money is a big factor in how they think about things. There’s a huge opportunity for you to bring value by helping them to be more effective in their decisions and behaviors.”

That led to one of the more nuanced focuses of Joy’s practice – divorce financial planning. It’s something that people often don’t consider until it’s too late.

“We have several certified divorce financial analysts at our firm,” she says, “including myself. We also have one planner who only works with people during a divorce, and she’s really expanded our focus here.”

But divorce is only one aspect of the boutique practice. Joy is incredibly proud of what’s been accomplished over the past five years at Pearl, as the team worked with more than 200 families.

“And we manage around $195 million in assets,” she says. “We’re growing, but in the right way. We want to actually touch people’s lives, know them as people, not just account numbers.”

Looking to the future, Joy highlights the need for regulation and innovation in finance, particularly regarding new investors who are vulnerable in the digital currency and investment markets. This in itself is driving a need for more relevant and authentic advice around investments.

“Our goal isn’t to be the biggest,” she says. “But hopefully we can have a really big impact in our clients’ lives. It’s been helpful to be forward-thinking – and not stuck in the mud and with a rearview mirror.

“Investments are important, but they’re somewhat commoditized. The value of financial advice is evergreen and growing, and the level of complexity in decisions that people need to make around money is only increasing as they’re increasingly distracted by well-intended, or not well-intended, advice,” Joy adds. “The need to kind of cut through that to deliver specific personal advice is so high that you know the future is bright for our profession.”