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Women In Wellness: Julie Quick of ‘Cultivate Financial Wellness’ on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

Consider All Dimensions of Wellness: Wellness can be viewed as a multi-dimensional approach to living life to the fullest — by cultivating and engaging the mind, body and spirit. To do so requires conscious and deliberate attention to what is referred to as the eight dimensions of wellness. Here’s a brief summary of each dimension:

As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Julie Quick, CFP®, BFA™, CDFA®

Julie Quick is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER TM professional with over 20 years of experience working with a wide variety of clients. Throughout her career, she learned that financial planning is about so much more than numbers. It’s about paying attention to the emotions and life experiences of each individual person.

Julie understands that women, in particular, face unique financial challenges. These may include the long-term effects of the gender wage gap, time out of the workforce to care for family members, and longer life expectancies — all of which can be compounded by a death, divorce or other major life events. As founder of Cultivate Financial Wellness, she uses her personal and professional experience to help women take charge of their financial lives and move from feelings of uncertainty to a place of freedom in pursuit of overall well-being.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?

I am the third of four daughters. My early childhood was pretty idyllic. We lived in the country where we could run around, explore, build forts, ride horses and eat carrots out of the garden after a quick rinse with the hose.

My parents divorced when I was eight years old. Overnight, my mother went from a stay-at-home mom to a single mother of four girls who had to work as she put herself through nursing school. Money was tight and a persistent source of stress. Even at that young age, I understood the vulnerable position my mom was in and how quickly financial security could change — especially for women.

The next formative money moment in my life came much later, when I was in college. I wanted work experience in business and I came across a listing for a part-time job at a consulting company — which turned out to be a financial planning firm.

I quickly fell in love with the idea of being deliberate with money and understanding how all the pieces of our “financial puzzle” (income and expenses, investments, taxes, insurance, etc.) fit together to form a cohesive picture. I went on to get licenses and certifications to further my technical expertise but also realized that financial planning is about much more than numbers — there is an emotional component to money.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?

Years ago we had a client pass away suddenly and I was working with his daughter to settle his estate. Three months after her father died, her husband asked for a divorce. This made an already emotional period of her life far more challenging. I enjoyed guiding her, serving as a confidant and helping her evaluate the various financial implications of her situation with objectivity. This is something that is hard for anyone to do in the midst of turmoil.

From a physiological standpoint, emotionally charged events affect the quality of our decision-making. The emotional portion of our brain takes over. We may think we’re making rational and objective decisions when the fight-or-flight response may actually be in play. Having an objective third party helps to reduce mistakes and any unintended consequences when we react emotionally.

Because her father had done good planning, her inheritance was not included in the divorce settlement. I saw first hand the necessity of combining both the technical and emotional aspects of financial planning.

Throughout my career, I naturally gravitated to working with women finding themselves in similar situations — highly emotional life events surrounded by uncertainty. It’s a privilege and an honor to stand beside someone during their darkest days and see them emerge with confidence and resilience.

It seems obvious now, however, only after doing my own reflective work did I make the connection between my personal story and my desire to help women in similar circumstances. I knew I had to cater my services to women.

Can you share a story about the biggest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

It’s ironic but my biggest mistake was playing it safe out of fear of making mistakes. Despite my desire to provide financial planning to women, my fear of failing prevented me from making it my focus. Instead, I stayed in my comfort zone, supporting other financial advisors and their businesses. I found myself feeling unfulfilled. I came to a point where I couldn’t deny the dream that was in my heart to build my own financial planning practice catered specifically to women going through major life events. There is a quote by Ernest Shackleton that sums up how I felt: “I believe it is in our nature to explore and to reach into the unknown. The only true failure would be not to try at all.”

As a result, I linked my passion for helping women navigate financial challenges to my desire of having a business that provides meaning and serves the life I want. I used to think that I stumbled into this profession by accident. I now believe, wholeheartedly, that finding this profession was no coincidence. This is absolutely the work I am supposed to be doing and God has had His hand in guiding me the entire time.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I have been blessed to work with some amazing people over the course of my career — colleagues and clients alike. The widows and divorcees I’ve been able to serve have especially impacted me. They have shown me the courage to be vulnerable and also the resilience of the human spirit.

My previous employer and mentor, Tom Duncan, with whom I worked for 14 years gave me the opportunity to learn, freedom to make decisions (and mistakes), and encouragement to grow professionally. Under his leadership, I was able to gain experience in all aspects of this business which has been instrumental in my ability to run my own firm.

Last, and most certainly not least, my husband of 18 years, Jeff. He has been a source of unending love, confidence and support. Because of him I understand the massive power behind the phrase, “I believe in you” and have depended on that belief in moments when it was hard for me to believe in myself.

Ok perfect. Now let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?

It’s important to expand our definition of wellness. I firmly believe that our financial wellness contributes to our overall sense of well-being. It’s just as important as our physical, emotional, spiritual, and social health, etc. The opposite of this is also true: financial stress impedes our ability to feel happy and fulfilled.

Year after year, money is cited as the leading source of stress among Americans. Stress has far reaching implications. It leads to physical health issues (migraines, heart disease, diabetes, difficulty sleeping and more), emotional issues (anxiety, depression), and social issues (affecting relationships with loved ones).

To complicate matters, most of us aren’t adequately taught how to manage money by our families and schools. In fact, our culture views money as taboo. Furthermore, we all tend to have what is known as “Money Scripts”, a term coined by psychologist Dr. Brad Klontz, which are the unconscious money beliefs that stem from our childhood and shape our current and future financial state.

And yet, we can’t escape the fact that money touches every single one of our lives every single day. We must intentionally and proactively address our financial wellness like we would other aspects of our health.

Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.

1.) Identify Your Core Values: Financial wellness goes beyond numbers and investments. Knowing our values helps clarify the “Why” behind our money. It allows us to establish meaningful goals which determine the financial decisions that need to be made. When our goals are aligned with our values, we are more likely to achieve them and we feel more fulfilled as a result. Keeping our core values top of mind when making any major decision (not just financial) can contribute to optimal wellness. I like to start client engagements with a values identification exercise. To do this yourself, you can search online for a list of values. Identify the 15 that resonate the most with you. Reduce the list down to 10 and then to your top five core values. Post them somewhere conspicuous so that you see them on a regular basis.

2.) Consider All Dimensions of Wellness: Wellness can be viewed as a multi-dimensional approach to living life to the fullest — by cultivating and engaging the mind, body and spirit. To do so requires conscious and deliberate attention to what is referred to as the eight dimensions of wellness. Here’s a brief summary of each dimension:

  • Physical Dimension — recognizing the importance of physical activity, good sleep, and proper nutrition
  • Emotional Dimension — identifying, understanding and respecting feelings (both in ourselves and in others); managing emotions in a constructive and healthy manner; promoting positivity and resilience
  • Social Dimension — developing and maintaining meaningful relationships and a sense of belonging with others and our communities
  • Intellectual Dimension — expanding our knowledge, skills and creativity; maintaining curiosity
  • Spiritual Dimension — connecting to a sense of purpose and meaning in life — with or without organized religion; aligning our actions with our beliefs and values
  • Occupational Dimension — finding satisfaction and fulfillment by contributing our unique gifts, skills and talents in a meaningful way
  • Financial Dimension — managing our money in a responsible way; feeling confident with current and future financial conditions
  • Environmental Dimension — seeking pleasant, healthy and stimulating environments — both in our personal surroundings and global environment.

Each dimension is interconnected and makes up our overall sense of well-being. Disruption in one dimension can have ripple effects in other areas of life. Although each dimension requires focus and awareness, it’s important to note that there doesn’t have to be equal balance among them. Rather, thoughtful contemplation and assessment on our level of satisfaction within each dimension can identify areas needing attention. As humans, we are constantly ebbing and flowing. Regularly evaluating each dimension allows us to determine different areas that require our awareness as we grow and change.

3.) Take an Active Role in Your Finances: Even if the day-to-day financial activities are delegated to a partner as a way to divide and conquer household tasks, you can stay on top of what is going on through regular reviews of budgets, accounts and mutual goals. Regardless of your marital status, understand how much it costs you to live, put some money aside for your future self, protect yourself from the financial devastation of various risks. This also sets an awesome example for children. In the event you should become fully responsible for your finances, being familiar with your situation will put you in a much better position.

4.) Seek Out Professional Help. There is an abundance of information available on personal finance. Educating yourself is a good place to start; however, it can be daunting and the information isn’t personalized and curated to your unique circumstances, goals and values. Not to mention, some people simply do not have an interest or the time to do it all themselves. Similar to hiring a trainer when we want to get in shape or a therapist to help us through a difficult time, hiring a financial planner is a great way to develop financial wellness. When looking for a financial planner, take some time to consider your needs and desires. More and more planners are specializing in a specific niche such as a specific occupation or industry, stage of life, and more. Furthermore, don’t be too quick to let physical location prevent you from working with someone who would otherwise be a perfect fit. Thanks to technology, many financial planners are effectively serving clients nationwide. Simply entering your needs into a search engine could help you find a great match.

5.) Practice Mindfulness. Mindfulness exercises such as meditation and journaling provide a whole host of benefits not the least of which include exploring and improving our relationships with money. They are a great way to resist impulsive purchases, reconnect with core values, and explore your history around money and any prevailing money scripts. These practices can help to redirect our attention away from external influences, such as advertisements and social media, instead allowing us to focus on our internal motivations, goals and desires.

If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?

Without a doubt, I encourage people, especially women, to take a much more active role in their finances and to consider it another form of wellness. Women, in particular, face unique financial challenges including the long-term effects of the gender wage gap, time out of the workforce to care for family members, and longer life expectancies — all of which can be compounded by a death or divorce. Unfortunately, despite all the advances in women’s power and equality, it is incredibly common for women of all age groups to defer financial matters to their partner. According to a 2019 UBS study, 58% of women globally — including millennials — defer to men on important financial decisions. Yet, life expectancies and divorce rates suggest that more and more women will be responsible for their own finances at some point in their lives.

Even though “money can’t buy happiness” I firmly believe that when our financial resources are used intentionally and in alignment with our values and goals, they can be a tool to enhance our lives as we seek fulfillment.

Even though “money can’t buy happiness” I firmly believe that our financial resources can be a tool to enhance our lives and seek fulfillment when used intentionally and in alignment with our values and goals.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?

  1. Emotions can often trump facts. The financial planning industry is improving, however, much of the education and training has been mostly technical in nature. There has been very little focus on the emotional relationships people have with money or how to help them address those emotions. When left unchecked, strong feelings will often influence decisions despite knowing better or being presented with strong analytical evidence to do otherwise.
  2. Living life in fear of failing, isn’t really living at all. Failure is part of the process, an opportunity to learn, evolve and experience joy. It isn’t something to be avoided at all costs.
  3. Progress not perfection. I’m a huge fan of Brené Brown and her work on courage and vulnerability. I love her quote “Perfectionism is a 20-pound shield that we lug around thinking it will protect us when, in fact, it’s the thing that’s really preventing us from taking flight.”
  4. The Universe is working for you. However,…
  5. Anything worthwhile takes time. In a world of instant gratification it’s easy to lose sight of this. I think it’s the Universe’s way of testing how bad we want something.

Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?

Definitely mental health. Especially as it relates to our relationships with money — which are often complex. We all have individual histories and beliefs around money that ought to be examined as part of our pursuit to financial wellness. Human beings can’t be boiled down to numbers and spreadsheets.

What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?

They can find me on Instagram and Facebook with the handle @cultivatemyfw. Or for deeper insights they can sign up for my email newsletter through my website.

Thank you for these fantastic insights!

Thank you!


Women In Wellness: Julie Quick of ‘Cultivate Financial Wellness’ on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.