A former teacher, Lynn Faust gives her clients a thorough education about their financial affairs

Lynn Faust, now 61, was a young teacher in Richardson, Texas, when she decided to take a sabbatical. “My own children were the same age as my students and I didn’t feel like I was a good mother to them after school. I had already been with children all day long,” she remembers.

While she was off, Lynn met a financial planner who asked her to observe and evaluate her seminars and recommend how they could be more effective. This gave Lynn a chance to use the economics background she gained in college. Not only did she reorganize the seminars, she started teaching her own courses in financial planning. “I enjoy teaching. It's my only God-given talent,” she said.

As Lynn gained more and more credibility as a teacher, people started asking for her investment advice, she loved what she was doing, and so she became a financial planner.

That was almost three decades ago. When Lynn joined Paine Webber in Greenville, South Carolina, in the early eighties, there were few female advisors. She built her business by continuing to give seminars on subjects including financial, retirement and small business planning and meeting prospective clients.

ON WOMEN ADVISORS

“I personally believe that it’s a greater asset being a woman in this business. First, you appeal easily to women because we understand each other. Women advisors are never arrogant to women clients, like men can be. If you’re articulate and know your business, then men are drawn to you, too. They love their mothers and they trust women.

“Women are better listeners and they like to be heard. Women have a rare opportunity in this business, but we’re still a huge minority.

ON AN ADVISOR’S ATTRIBUTES

“I came to Raymond James in 1988 because it is truly focused on financial planning and that's what I do best. I like being a part of a client’s total plan—in retirement and estate strategies and in managing inheritances, for example—not someone who just advises what stock to buy.

“As a former teacher, I'm good at recognizing where someone is in the learning process and I don't ever talk down to anyone. I was accustomed to preparing lesson plans and doing something different every 45 minutes throughout the day.

“One of the most difficult things in this business is helping clients to understand what you're doing for them, why they need a balanced portfolio, why you’re doing asset allocation. I'm best at talking to new or prospective clients and taking them step-by- step so they can become comfortable and confident with my expertise.

“Adults are nothing but big kids. We don't ever really grow up. We still have a 10 to 15 minute attention span in a classroom so I’ve got that long to transfer the most important points to a client. I'm very, very good at that.

“And all of my clients have phone or face-to-face reviews, usually once or twice a year, depending on what I'm doing for them. One-on-one meetings create a strong connection.”

ON SUCCESSION

“About five years ago, a client who was about to retire said to me, ‘You helped me create a financial plan and you're helping me to execute it, but when you retire, what's going to happen?’ As a result, I created the Faust-Boyer Group which now consists of seven members, six of whom have Series 7 licenses. I recognized the need to hire people with experience, whether they’re advisors or administrative assistants, to create a cohesive and trusting team. We do not have a great deal of turnover and clients always have someone they can talk to.

“Everyone in the team knows our clients and can help them make intelligent decisions. I've built a legacy for my clients as well as a legacy for their children. We work hard on generational planning, which has helped add to my revenue over the years. When a client dies, we like to be able to carry on his lineage and financial philosophy. Many clients’ children became clients while their parents were still alive and remain clients.

“I hold a luncheon for the children of my clients when they graduate from high school and from college. I prepare high school seniors to deal with credit card requests and managing their checkbooks. Parents are appreciative of that.”

SPEAKING OF INHERITANCE

• FOF: I’ve come into an inheritance. What should I do?
  • LF: Embrace what you've got and don't make any quick decisions. Give yourself the time to get through the emotion of what's happening.
  • Don’t put the money in a joint account with your spouse. If anything happens to your relationship, and the money is in your name alone, consideration is typically given to the fact that the money was inherited, not earned. Put it in a joint name and you don't have a chance.
• FOF: Even if your husband has supported you for years? Isn’t it unfair that he’s not getting a piece of the inheritance?
  • LF: It doesn't mean that you shouldn’t buy a beach house with it for you both. You should just keep the money in your name. Keep the beach house titled in your name. It's got nothing to do with actually sharing, but with the legality if your relationship goes haywire.
• FOF: What if it makes your husband crazy?
  • LF: There are people who are uncomfortable with this approach.
• FOF: Other advice?
  • LF: Never look at the inheritance as guilt money. Let’s say you live in New Jersey and your mother was in a nursing home in North Carolina and you didn’t see her as often as you would have liked. You may feel guilty when you get her inheritance because you weren’t more involved in the later stages of her life. You need to give guilt away before you make any decisions about what to do with the money. You need to wait until you think back about the things you did with your parent that brought them joy.
  • Don’t let guilt cause you to ignore the money, to just let it sit where it is and not invest it effectively.

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