December 21, 2025 • 36 mins
🎧 Episode Summary:
What happens when a single mom in “hustle + survival mode” gets asked one simple question—“What would happen to your daughter if something happened to you?” In this episode, Tracie sits down with Sharda Ryan of Wealth Design Group to talk about how an “accidental” entry into finance became a purpose-driven career helping women create clarity, confidence, and real security with their money. Sharda shares the bold moves that reshaped her business (hello, niche + boundaries!), the lessons she learned starting her career right before the financial crisis, and why giving back through leadership and philanthropy is part of her personal mission.
✨ What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- How Sharda’s financial career began unexpectedly—from Starbucks manager to financial advisor
- Why “sales is service” (and how to sell without the salesy energy)
- The bold decision to niche down and who she’s dedicated to serving today
- How Sharda stopped “working for free” and set clear expectations + minimums
- What a complimentary consultation looks like (and how she decides if someone is a fit)
- The difference between investing a lump sum and building a full financial plan
- How Sharda’s philanthropy + board leadership supports women and girls across the Central Coast
- Why financial literacy can be life-changing—especially for survivors of financial abuse
🛠️ Actionable Tips from Sharda Ryan
- Ask the “what if” question now: If something happened to you, would your family know the plan?
- Start with a conversation: A complimentary consult can help you get clear—without pressure.
- Know your goals before you pick strategies: Retirement? College? Home? A career pivot? Your plan should match your life.
- Choose advisors (and helpers) who serve your whole picture: Not just your investments—your life plan.
- Set boundaries around your time and expertise: Clarity about how you work builds trust and respect on both sides.
🎤 Memorable Quote:
“Sales is service—getting paid for providing the service.”
🔥 Bold Moment of the Episode:
Sharda’s double-bold decision in early 2022: commit fully to serving single professional women and mothers and stop doing unpaid work—by setting minimums, defining clear ways to work together, and letting “not a fit” be a complete sentence.
📱 Connect with Sharda Ryan
https://www.wealthdesigngroup.com/team/sharda-ryan
🚀 Join the Bold and Brilliant Podcast Community:
If this episode sparked something in you—especially that “okay… I need to handle my money differently” feeling—come hang with us inside The Gather Community. Connection, confidence, and BOLD action live here.
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xoxo
Your host,
Tracie Root
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker (00:00):
Today on the podcast we're gonna be with Sharda Ryan
from Wealth Design Group.
Sharda and I met several yearsago in a women's networking
group, and I've always been soimpressed by her commitment to
supporting women in businessthrough her work and also
through her philanthropy and hervolunteering.
(00:21):
Let's meet Sharda.
Tracie (00:22):
Hi, Sharda.
I am so excited.
Welcome to the Bold andBrilliant podcast.
Thanks for being here.
Sharda (00:28):
Thanks for having me.
I'm excited.
Tracie (00:30):
Yay.
Okay, so for those of you whohaven't met Sharda and don't
know how we're connected, weactually are both on the board
for Professional Women's Networkof Monterey.
So we've had a lot of time theselast couple of years to get to
know each other, to understandkind of work styles and.
Strengths, right?
(00:51):
Mm-hmm.
Sharda and I actually have a lotof strengths in common as far as
being organized and likeunderstanding, looking at big
pictures and things like that.
So that's been really fun tohave that connection.
But clearly we're working indifferent, uh, what's the word
in different kinds of work.
Sharda is, and as you can see onher background, if you're
(01:13):
watching on YouTube WealthDesign Group, so Sharda iss in
the finance world, talking topeople about their money and
their money goals and how theycan get there.
So Sharda.
I would love for us to kick thisoff by learning a little bit
about why you got into what youdo now.
Like give us your kind ofbusiness origin story and let's
(01:36):
let people understand why you dowhat you do.
Sharda (01:39):
Yeah.
Great.
Um, thanks for having me,Tracie.
So, um, you know, I didn't co goto like Yale thinking or, or
even go to Yale or Harvard orany of those colleges and say,
oh, I'm gonna be in financeuntil I graduate, or anything
like that.
It was kind of an accidental.
Um, origin story.
So I was a, I was, I've been asingle mother, um, for many
(02:04):
years since my early twenties.
And so I was always in, um,restaurant and retail management
and I was, uh, manager at aStarbucks in Sacramento.
Tracie (02:15):
Mm-hmm.
Sharda (02:16):
And there was this gentleman that always came in
and would talk to me, and I hadthe feeling that he was, um.
Maybe trying to sell mesomething, right?
Yeah.
Trying to like, Hey, maybe I canhelp this person, uh, kind of
vibe that I got from him.
So I finally sat down with himand it turns out he was a
financial advisor.
(02:37):
And one of the, you know, firstquestions that he asked me was,
do you have life insurance?
And what would happen to yourdaughter if something happened
to you?
And I had just kind of been in,you know, survival mode, hustle
mode, and I never really stoppedto think, wow, what if something
happened to me?
You know, she just gonna havelike my, you know, piddly little
(03:01):
one times my salary, um, fromStarbucks to take care of her.
And where in writing did it saywho I wanted to, um, take care
of her if something were tohappen to me?
So he was my first mentor.
He really got me thinking about,um, finances and how I could not
only help myself, but how I canhelp people and other people
(03:25):
and, um, you know, women inparticular.
And it just became, uh, apassion of mine to learn as much
as I could about, uh, not justlife insurance, but financial
planning.
And that was back in, um, about2005.
So I've been, um, licensed since2007 for
Tracie (03:43):
about 20 years, then almost, almost
Sharda (03:45):
20 almost.
Tracie (03:46):
Did you find when, when you were first.
Finding out about kind of thisthought process and kind of woke
up to the fact that, yeah, it'sup to me to, to make a plan.
Um, did you find other peoplethat you were connected to,
other coworkers and things likethat, that you were like, not
only for me and my daughter, butwhat about then?
(04:07):
Like did you start to see all ofthe people that potentially
needed that kind of help aswell?
Sharda (04:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
It's so funny, um, that you saythat because I notice myself
doing that, right?
Like, I'll start talking to abusiness owner, or I'll start
talking to someone and they'llsay, oh, well I wanna be, I
wanna own the business.
Or, um, I.
I need to save money forretirement, or they just start
talking about different thingsand my mind just starts reeling
(04:33):
like, oh, maybe, um, maybe it'salmost like a problem solving,
right?
Like,
Tracie (04:38):
yeah,
Sharda (04:39):
you might need, um, this, or you, you know, you
might need that.
So actually some of my firstcoworkers, um, back at Starbucks
have become my clients because,um, you know, we developed that
trust, we had that relationshipand they, uh, saw that I was
growing and they wanted to.
Provide the same for theirfamilies.
Yeah.
Tracie (04:59):
Yeah.
That's amazing.
Well, and so in my mind, I'm,I'm imagining this story, right?
You, you finally felt safeenough to ask the guy what his,
what he was all about, and heshared it with you, and then,
you know.
It's, it's a, it's a fine linewhen you're starting a new
business to figure out how toapproach people.
(05:21):
But you had already built theserelationships with people who
knew you and knew that you hadyour daughter.
And like, you know, when we,when people get to see your
journey, they get inspired andthey feel safe enough to ask you
about it, which is somethingthat, you know, if you hadn't
built those relationships beforeand it probably never would've
happened.
Yeah.
Sharda (05:41):
Yeah.
It's a, it's a fine line, um,because basically what I do, it
is sales.
Yeah, but it's, but what issales?
Sales is service is getting paidfor providing the service.
Absolutely.
So in the beginning I did kindof feel like, Ooh, am I, do I
wanna be that salesy person?
Do I wanna have that kind oflike energy and vibe and no, I
(06:04):
don't.
I was able to like, grow intomyself, um, and attract people
who had.
Common values, common energy.
Um, so it, it, it was, you know,it's a little difficult with,
as, with any job in thebeginning, but, um, the more you
do it, the better you become.
Right,
Tracie (06:24):
right, right.
Well, and since you have thatsales service mentality, you
know, you know that you're notdoing it just to get a sale.
And when you know that and yourealize that, that's really what
it takes.
Right.
The salesy stuff comes frompeople who are.
Desperate to sell or don't careabout the other person.
(06:44):
They're just after the dollars,right?
Mm-hmm.
But when you're in that space ofreally wanting to serve that
other person and give them thesecurity that you now feel as a
client yourself, then it's somuch easier to, to lean into the
sales as service part.
So I love that you, that you usethat phrase, because that's the
phrase we always use and that Ialways use as well.
Mm-hmm.
(07:04):
Okay.
So.
Almost 20 years ago, 18 yearsago, you became licensed and,
but I know that you've had anevolution in your business as
well.
So talk to us about like what2007 looked like and what maybe
big decision, big, bold decisionyou made over the course of your
(07:25):
business that defined what youdo today.
Sharda (07:27):
So, uh, we all can go back to 2007, right?
It was right before the globalfinancial crisis.
Oh, the
Tracie (07:34):
housing crisis?
Yes.
Sharda (07:35):
Yeah.
And things are times thingswere, that were getting, yeah,
things were getting a littlestrange, but they didn't really,
you know, explode until a yearafter I started.
I started part-time just doinglife insurance, like for my
friends and family.
And I was actually, at thatpoint, I was a, um.
I was management at Target andthere was, I'll never forget,
(07:58):
there's a guy I, I ran into himby accident and he got literally
within an inches of my face andcussed me out at Target.
Like in
Tracie (08:07):
your
Sharda (08:07):
job
Tracie (08:08):
at Target
Sharda (08:08):
while I working was like yelling
Tracie (08:09):
at you as in your job.
Sharda (08:12):
Yeah.
And that's when I said, you knowwhat?
I'm not working here anymore.
I'm not putting up with thistype of client.
I'm not putting up with thiskind of person.
Yeah.
Anymore.
So that night I went and startedapplying for different jobs
because I had had my lifelicense Right.
Uh, at MetLife.
So my first, you know, full-timejob was, um, at MetLife.
(08:34):
And then, um.
I, I joined them and then justlike a few months later was the
global financial crisis.
I remember just coming into workand people were just kept
talking about the stock market,you know, just fell another 500
points or something like that.
So it was a really strange time,but I was able to, you know,
(08:55):
work through that and, um, what
Tracie (08:57):
an educational time to be new in that job, new-ish in
the field, and have everything.
Change.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
From like drop out from underyou basically.
And, and figuring out what to dowith that and who can you, like,
who has good thoughts about itand can move forward and who is
really gonna like, struggle withthe new challenges and how to
(09:21):
align yourself, like you said,with the people who have the
same values as you as far asbeing in a growth mindset and
all of those kinds of things.
What an incredibly interestingopportunity.
Sharda (09:32):
Yeah.
And it's, and it was a goodlearning, um, experience because
I was able to, uh, learn how tohave conversations with clients,
right?
Yeah.
Because they're freaking out,they're cashing out their 4 0 1
ks, they're having a reallydifficult time.
So it was such a good learningexperience.
So whenever there are.
Like earlier this year whenthere was the tariff tantrum in
(09:54):
the markets, I was able toreally draw on those, on that
experience and conversations andlanguages, uh, and language that
I would have with, um, clientsthroughout the years so that
when.
Things do happen because they,they, it happens in the stock,
it always happens.
It goes up and down.
Mm-hmm.
Always.
Yeah.
It just depends on the severity.
Right?
Yeah.
(10:14):
And, um, we have a saying that,uh, you know, history, it
doesn't repeat, but it rhymes,so.
Tracie (10:21):
Mm.
Oh, I love that.
Sharda (10:23):
Yeah.
In the markets.
So, um, yeah, it was, I, every,every day is a, is a learning
experience to be able to helpyour clients.
And those big events like thepandemic, um,
Tracie (10:37):
yeah.
Sharda (10:37):
You know, those just really enforce those even more,
those things.
Tracie (10:40):
Yeah.
Well, I love that.
And you know, that's somethingthat I always talk about as
well, the idea that while ourspecific instances are not
exactly the same, the, it's likewe're, oh, you know, the, the
phrase, like, we're all in thesame boat, right?
Mm-hmm.
That we're all in our own boatsactually, but the storm is the
same storm.
(11:01):
But depending on how big yourboat is, it's gonna be
different.
Your experience is gonna bedifferent, but we can have a
common language around it.
Um, the pandemic is a greatexample.
You know, when I talk aboutlosing my first husband, uh, who
passed away, a lot of peoplecan't, can't relate to their
partner passing away when theywere 40 or whatever, you know,
(11:23):
youngish.
But what they can relate to isnot understanding, uh, or
experiencing.
It a future that wasn't whatthey imagined.
Right, right.
Which really is what thatwhittled itself down to is like
I had this imagination of ourlife together and life didn't
turn out that way.
(11:43):
The pandemic is the same way.
We had this vision of what thatnext year or two years, or five
years was gonna look like, andit didn't turn out that way.
And that's, it just keeps goingthe same way.
There's always something that'sgonna pop up in the middle of.
Us moving forward that justmakes things not turn out the
way we thought it was going to,and how do we navigate that?
(12:04):
Mm-hmm.
And not only with expectationsand emotions, but literally with
our money and our situations andour lives.
How do we navigate the detailsof getting through that next
obstacle instead of letting itknock us down?
Sharda (12:21):
Right.
Just keep testing ourresiliency.
Tracie (12:25):
Yep.
Absolutely.
So you, so at some point in allof this, you said to yourself,
well this is great, and I thinkthat, so actually I'm not gonna
put words in your mouth, I'm notgonna do that.
I'm gonna ask you, I know that abig turning point for you was
when you narrowed your niche ofwho you were primarily working
(12:49):
with.
So take us back to when thathappened and what was the
catalyst for that decision?
Sharda (12:55):
Yeah.
Yeah, it, early in my career,you know, I, I worked at a
couple big companies likeMetLife and Waddell and Reed and
Franklin Templeton, and theyalways just had their own
culture.
They always wanted you to focuson what they wanted you to focus
on.
Mm-hmm.
Um, maybe their product or theirmutual fund.
(13:15):
And so of
Tracie (13:16):
course they did, because that's their company.
Right,
Sharda (13:18):
exactly.
Tracie (13:18):
They're like, you're gonna sell our thing.
First and then you can do more.
Sharda (13:23):
Do it.
Yeah.
Play if you wanna play in oursandbox and um, there was a lot
of good old boy club.
You know, energy there as well.
Tracie (13:32):
Yeah.
Sharda (13:32):
But, um, speaking of the pandemic, at the end of 2020,
uh, I was at Franklin Templetonand they um, they laid off a
bunch of people.
They had bought a company, theymerged with another mutual fund
company.
I can't even remember'causethere's so many mergers that
happened.
And, um, so I was one of the,um, people that they laid off.
(13:53):
And so I, um, just reached outto my network.
And someone that I knew long agofrom MetLife, he said, Hey, you,
you should go talk to Gary atWealth Design Group.
And so, um, Gary, he really, um,embraced me and embraced my, um,
all of my skills and value andeverything.
(14:14):
And then we joined anothergentleman.
So there's three of us, uh, inour firm.
And, um, and then also about,uh, during that time or about a
few months after that time,there had been a lot of
wildfires in the, in California.
Mm-hmm.
And so all of the smoke wouldsit in Sacramento for months.
Mm-hmm.
(14:34):
And it really was affecting myhusband's health.
And he had grown up in, uh,marina, which is right down the
street from here.
And so he's like, we have tomove.
And so I said, okay, I guesswe're gonna move.
So I went to Gary and I said,Hey, um, you know, we have to,
we have to move to the centralcoast.
And so I said, I'm giving youplenty of time.
I can work remote, you know, wecan still work together, work
(14:57):
remote, or, uh, I might have tojust find something else.
And he said, um, he was like,no, let's, I want, I want this
to work.
Um, I want you to continue to,you know, learn, uh.
About his business and, um, youknow, to eventually become his
succession.
So I decided.
That when I moved that, I'mlike, okay, this is a fresh
(15:19):
start.
And I started, um, a coachingprogram with um, this lady who
coaches financial advisor.
She's amazing, Stephanie Bogan.
And she said, you know, the bestthing that you can do, the most
efficient, uh, thing you can doas an advisor is to have a niche
market.
That way that you, you're themost effective in what you do
(15:43):
and your clients are served thebest, right?
Yeah.
So I said, you know what?
I'm sorry guys, but I'm tired ofdealing with jerks.
I was like, I'm gonna startworking with single professional
women and mothers.
And I'm also going to stopworking for free.
That was another thing thatsometimes we do as advisors.
(16:04):
We'll do a lot of service work,give a lot of advice.
Mm-hmm.
Do a lot of work and not reallyget paid for it in any way.
So those were the two decisionsthat I made in, um, when we
moved in early 2022.
And, and
Tracie (16:19):
how did that, how did that go over with Gary?
Sharda (16:23):
Oh, Gary's fine.
He, Gary loves it.
Yeah.
Gary's like all, all of the, um,'cause he has clients, you know,
two from years back and, uh, anysingle women, he, he always
gives, uh, you know, lets metake the lead on Great.
Glen Glen, same way.
He's had some divorcees, he'shad some, um.
(16:45):
You know when widows and thingsare like, are widows Yeah.
And, uh, things like that.
And they both just like, ohyeah, you need to talk to
Sharda.
So,
Tracie (16:52):
so kind of out of the three of you, you each kind of
had your category of people thatyou would specialize in and like
kind of cross handoff people asthey came in.
Sharda (17:07):
Yeah.
Tracie (17:07):
Yeah, that's
Sharda (17:08):
great.
And sometimes, and we share themtoo, so sometimes it's ours and
sometimes it's yours, and it allworks out really well.
Mm-hmm.
Because we all, uh, you know,respect each other's skills and
passions.
So
Tracie (17:21):
amazing.
Sharda (17:22):
That was the bold move that I made, and I'm so happy
that I did it.
And it's, um, so rewarding nowbecause, uh, I can, there's only
about, I think 25% of.
Advisors are female.
So I like to be able to be thatresource for women.
Tracie (17:39):
Yeah, I love that.
And because it's true.
So as a woman, right, we knowthat most of the, most of the
time, and especially as a womenbusiness owner, most of the time
you go out networking and if youfind people who are in finance
now, it's a different, I thinkfor me, just'cause I've
cultivated a more femalecommunity mm-hmm.
Across the board.
Um, but in general, before thathappened, before I found PWN,
(18:04):
before I found Polka dot, youknow, all of these different
communities of women, I would goto networking and all the,
almost all of the finance peoplewere male.
Were male.
And if there was a woman inthere in the business, I would
say she was a lot more like youin that she was.
On the feminine side, like shereally had made that departure
(18:26):
from the kind of bro culturethat, you know, while you still
work with men, and I'm surethey're fabulous, you're, the
way that you serve a woman is,is by relating to her, not by,
by still acting like one of theguys, right?
Sharda (18:42):
Mm-hmm.
Exactly.
Tracie (18:44):
Yeah.
Yeah.
You.
What was the other thing thatyou said?
So not only niching down, oh,not working for free.
So let's talk about that.
Mm-hmm.
Because yeah, a lot of advisorsand a lot of people in business,
honestly, myself included, I'llgive free advice.
I'll network, I'll tell peoplelike give people ideas.
I do free workshops.
Like that still is definitely athing.
(19:06):
But I think you're talking abouteven more than that.
Um, and so tell us like whatreally changed for you from the
whole, I'm not working for freeanymore.
What were you doing and how doyou build influence with people
now when maybe some of thatisn't happening?
Sharda (19:23):
So there would be times where I'd be introduced to
someone, just a random, youknow, prospect, we call them and
they wanted help with, um,allocating their funds.
They wanted advice on how to,how to, uh, yeah, how to
allocate their funds, what todo, what to do with them.
But at the same time, they wouldnever.
(19:44):
Actually move the funds tomyself so that I could get paid.
And so I would be constantlychasing these, like everyone,
anyone, everyone, and anyone whofogged a mirror and had a dollar
to, um, try to get them asclients and they would have, um,
it, it, it wouldn't matter howmuch they had.
(20:05):
So now I have, um, minimums aswell.
So you have to have this muchmoney.
This is how much it's gonnacost, and if we can't work
together, then.
Sorry, you know, maybe I canrefer you.
I'm not the person for
Tracie (20:20):
you.
Sharda (20:20):
Right.
Maybe I can refer you to someoneelse.
So it's just, it was a mindshift change where it, instead
of being like hungry for everydollar, when I said, okay, I was
only gonna do this and I wasonly gonna do it.
And until I, and you know, asfar as like.
Until I got paid, because a lotof advisors do a lot of work and
(20:42):
they never get, they don't getpaid or it takes a long time for
them to get paid.
Then um, things just started toreally click.
Yeah.
And people, uh, appreciate thattoo because they know exactly
what you're all about.
And if they, like you said, ifthey don't wanna work with you,
then you know.
Tracie (20:59):
Then that's okay.
Then they can move on.
Next one to someone else that'sa better fit.
Yeah.
And so can you, right.
So tell us like what does thatlook like for someone?
Who's coming in, like, uh, likea new client.
So if someone new comes to youand they, they get referred to
you and you need to find outabout them, obviously and find
out what their goals are andwhat they want to do and what
(21:20):
they have and whether or notthey're a fit, like what does
that look like when an, whenyou're onboarding a new
potential client, a new lead,and how do you find out whether
or not there's someone that'sfor you?
Sharda (21:31):
Sure.
So we usually would do, we'll dolike, um, an a, an an initial,
uh, complimentary consultation.
Right?
Okay.
So it'll be about a half anhour.
So I'll just ask them a bunch ofdifferent questions about
themselves.
Right.
I let them talk a lot more thanI talk.
Mm-hmm.
So, you know your age, yourgoals, your, um, family
(21:54):
situation, job situation,income, children.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
How much money that, how muchmoney do you have?
And then after they, after Igather all of that information,
then I say, you know, I let themknow, okay, these are the
different ways that we can worktogether.
I can, you said you had.
$500,000, you don't know what todo with it.
(22:14):
We can just manage your$500,000or if you feel you need more of
a comprehensive financial plan,then we can, um, you know,
arrange a fee for that as well.
Tracie (22:25):
And so what does, like, what does that include when you
say more comprehensive?
So the idea of like, here's my500, do thousand dollars that
needs to be invested in some waythat is in line with my risk
level or whatever.
Right.
But if they need something morecomprehensive, what does that
mean?
Sharda (22:41):
So that would mean more of a in-depth financial plan.
So we look at all of yourexpenses, okay?
We look at, um, everything thatyou have that you're able to
invest with, any money thatpotentially could come.
And then what are your goals?
Do you want to pay, you know, doyou have children?
Do you wanna, um, pay for theircollege or do you want them to
(23:03):
have.
Um, you know, maybe you'll payfor half of it, right?
They can pay for the other half.
Uh, do you wanna buy a house?
When do you wanna retire?
Or do you just maybe wannaretire from what you have now
and maybe go into something elselater at a different age?
Um,
Tracie (23:20):
right.
Sharda (23:21):
So it would be more in depth as far as all your
cashflow and all of your, um,balance sheet.
Tracie (23:28):
Got it.
More of a life plan as opposedto a plan for this kind of chunk
of money.
Sharda (23:32):
Right, right.
Tracie (23:33):
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
I love that.
Sharda (23:34):
Taxes and estate planning and all of that good
stuff.
Yeah.
Tracie (23:38):
Okay.
Do you find that, like for yourclient.
Base these days.
Do you have more people kind ofin that life planning section?
Like how, what are peoplelooking at these days?
What do you find most people areinterested in?
Sharda (23:53):
Yeah, I do.
I find, especially because the,of the clientele that I serve,
which are women, women are muchmore of, uh, big picture.
Tracie (24:02):
Mm-hmm.
Sharda (24:03):
When it comes to their finances and investing.
They also, um, tend to have notas much confidence.
So they like the, um, when it,when it comes to money, just
period.
Mm-hmm.
So they like the, um, you know,the in-depth planning.
Tracie (24:20):
Yeah.
Do you, um, do you find that youspend a lot of time kind of, I
would, IM, or I would imaginethat you might spend time
debunking myths or old thought.
Old thinking like,'cause we aregonna hold onto all of that
knowledge that we've gained inthe last 50 years and a lot of
(24:42):
that isn't really valid anymore.
Mm-hmm.
Or, um, or might not reallyapply to us as.
Women, women at this kind ofstage of our lives.
Mm-hmm.
Um, do you find that you spend alot of time kind of Reed
reeducating incorrectinformation?
Sharda (25:00):
I wouldn't, I would not say, I wouldn't say there's a,
there, it doesn't, I don't spendthat much time debunking myths.
Okay.
There are some, there's stuffthat kind of floats around that
I, um, run into every once in awhile.
Mostly it's just education.
And then a lot of times asopposed
Tracie (25:19):
to correcting.
Sharda (25:20):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And a lot of time too, it's kindof like, okay, you're going a
little too deep.
Sharda.
Like, I trust you.
Let's just,
Tracie (25:29):
yeah.
I
Sharda (25:30):
mean, sometimes
Tracie (25:31):
we just want the expert to go do her thing and, and
Sharda (25:34):
yeah,
Tracie (25:34):
we're gonna go now.
Sharda (25:35):
Yeah, I hear that a lot.
Okay.
I, I trust you, you know?
Tracie (25:40):
Well, and maybe that's part of like, that's when you
build that influence and theytrust you.
You can be like, well, let metell you about this.
And they're just like, you knowwhat?
I don't wanna know all of that.
Like, it's too much.
Too much noise.
I hired you, I'm gonna let youtake it from here.
Sharda (25:55):
Yeah.
And I've gotten, again, like I,I've gotten better throughout
the years, um, that they don'twant to know how the sausage is
made.
Right.
Right.
That they don't need to knowwhat sharp ratio means.
They just wanna know that you'repaying attention to their money
and it's gonna be there for whatit's, they need it to be.
Yeah.
Tracie (26:13):
Right.
And, you know, you keep'emupdated plus, minus flat.
Let us know how everything isworking and why, if it's working
and why it's working, so you cancapitalize on it and if it's not
working, why it's not working,and how you can learn that for
the future.
Right.
Sharda (26:27):
Yeah, exactly.
Tracie (26:28):
I wanna talk about other things that you do because while
you work with clients in thisway, you also are really big
into volunteering and supportingyour community.
Mm-hmm.
So like I mentioned in thebeginning, you and I met through
PW n and a part of P W's missionis.
Philanthropy to support womenand girls in the, in California
(26:52):
with the, the charitable fundthat we build every year.
And you also are a rotary galand you also work for another
group.
And I don't remember what thatis off the top of my head.
So talk about like, that's threeboards that you're on that you
are, are.
Spending your free time forfree, valuable time to support.
(27:13):
So talk about why you do that,what you get out of it, and why
you think it's important.
Sharda (27:18):
Mm-hmm.
I've always been, um, prettyphilanthropic and liked to
volunteer.
Even when I was at Starbucks,you know, I dragged my daughter
to go do the river cleanups andthings like that.
Oh
Tracie (27:29):
yeah.
Great.
Sharda (27:30):
Um, and then just throughout the years I've become
about the past, I'd say 10, 15years becoming, um, more in the
leadership positions, right?
So like serving on boards.
And, um, in addition to beingthe secretary of PPWN, I'm also
the community service chair for,uh, the downtown Salinas Rotary
(27:54):
Club.
Tracie (27:55):
Oh, yeah.
Sharda (27:56):
Yeah.
And then I'm also on the, um,fund development committee and
on the board of, um, girls Inc.
Of the Central Coast,
Tracie (28:05):
which I love Girls Inc.
That's great too.
Awesome.
And so did you, um, did you kindof have this kind of
philanthropic work?
Like as, like, do you see it aslike a mission that you have
personally or has, have you justkind of.
Fallen into like, oh, I metthese people and that was fun
and no, now I really wanna, likewas it a goal to be, to spend
(28:28):
your time that way, or was itjust, did it just happen?
Sharda (28:32):
No, it was very intentional because I think that
as business owners, it's our.
It's our duty to give back tothe community that provides us
with our livelihood.
Right?
And um, rotary very much hasthat service mentality and I
really enjoy Rotary also becauseI've met.
(28:53):
You know, some great friends andalso, um, a lot of business
leaders are in that community aswell.
Mm-hmm.
So I learned so much aboutSalinas, especially when I was
brand new, um, to the communityso that I really, that's why I
enjoy Rotary and it's, you know,very deep.
Um.
Very special to my heart.
(29:15):
And then as far as Girls, Inc.
They um, provide classes forgirls from ages eight to 18 that
teach them how to be, you know,smart, bold, and, um, they will
teach classes in schools.
So they'll be one about socialmedia or one about health, one
(29:35):
about leadership.
They have a, um.
Class where they teach, um, the,uh, girl and their parents about
communication.
Like if I had that communicationclass with my little girl, when,
well, that was
Tracie (29:49):
gonna be my question, was like, how old was your
daughter when you got involvedwith Girls Inc.
Was she the beneficiary of anyof their programs or was it
after she was already.
Sharda (29:58):
No, I wish.
'cause she is, she's older now.
She's, you know, she's in herthirties.
But I, I just thought, oh, if Ihad that or she had that when,
uh, she was a girl, thatwould've been so amazing because
I really do believe that girlsneed that extra help when it
comes to, and that extraknowledge and that extra
education.
(30:19):
They have a financial.
Um, they have a budgeting classthat they do as well.
What about, um, you know, girls'health?
It's just all that extra stuffthat girls need to become, you
know, great women.
Tracie (30:33):
Yeah, I love that.
I love that.
That's a really big one for me,that, that I really see is that
it's that confidence buildingbecause you're learning about
these things that wow otherpeople like you end up with this
knowledge.
As a young person that withoutthat program you never would
have learned.
It's not something that's inyour standard school.
(30:54):
And other things can offer thattoo.
Like scouting can do some ofthat.
Like there's similarities Ithink in those ways.
Obviously Girls Inc.
Has their own methodology andthe way that they go into the
schools I think is really cool.
Learned about them.
Mm-hmm.
Just in the last year myself, sovery thanks to you.
So very cool.
Um.
Yeah.
Well, I love that.
And you know, being involvedwith three different
(31:18):
organizations in that way is alot of time.
Mm-hmm.
And so I wanna acknowledge youfor, you know, the, the.
The volume of effort that youmake in serving your community
and helping these programs reachthe people that they're trying
to reach.
'cause that really is a hugeimpact outside of you and your
(31:38):
life and your household, right?
You're making an impact outthere in the world that is
really important.
And so I really admire you forthat.
That's really very cool.
Sharda (31:49):
Oh, well thank you.
Tracie (31:50):
Yeah.
Sharda (31:50):
And um.
I'm also going to, this is anew, a newer thing that we're
gonna be doing, but the FamilyJustice center, um, yeah.
That's in its infancy here inMonterey County.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, I'm also going to startteaching once they get up and
running literacy classes.
Fantastic.
For the women.
So yeah, that will be like thevictims of domestic violence,
(32:11):
sexual assault, humantrafficking, you know, we'll
teach them everything aboutcredit budgeting.
Tracie (32:16):
Yeah.
For, so they don't end up, up ina bad situation or how to build
out of their current situation,right?
Sharda (32:22):
Yeah.
Uh, I think, I believe it's, uh,90% of victims of domestic
violence are victims offinancial abuse because it's a
way to control
Tracie (32:31):
Sure.
If it's control thing, if, ifthey're working, if they're
allowed to work.
Right, right.
Then they don't get to controlthe money that they make often.
Right.
Yeah.
So yeah, I think that'sfantastic.
I mean, that's something thatmost of the finance women that I
do get to meet, that's their bigthing is to teach young women,
(32:54):
girls, young women and, andolder women too.
But to, to break that historicalsituation of.
You know, the, the whole thingthat, you know, just a few years
ago we couldn't even get creditcards on our own or sign a loan.
Like all of those
Sharda (33:10):
right.
Tracie (33:10):
Rights things that are still young that mm-hmm.
You know, there's a lot ofchange that still needs to be
made.
So thank you for doing that.
I think that's really awesome aswell.
Anything I can do to helpsupport that, please let me
know.
Sharda (33:25):
Of course.
Tracie (33:25):
Yeah.
Amazing.
Well, my friend, okay, so.
You know the opportunities forpeople to get you, you're in the
community a lot, obviously.
Mostly you're working withpeople.
Um.
That you've met personally, howfar can you work with anyone in
California?
(33:46):
Do you, is it even onlyCalifornia?
Like, what is your opportunityfor working with people that
might hear this episode and belike, that gal has the vibe that
I'm looking for.
I wanna meet her.
Sharda (33:59):
Yeah.
I can work with anyone in theUnited States,
Tracie (34:01):
in the States.
Okay, great.
Mm-hmm.
Awesome.
And do you have, is thatsomething like,'cause this,
there's lots of differencesacross the country and you know,
we're here in California,obviously our situation might be
different than someone who'sliving in Missouri or something
like that.
So, I mean, obviously
Sharda (34:19):
different.
Different rules.
Different states have differentrules as far as like community
property and taxes and thingslike that.
But, um, as an experiencedadvisor, you, you, you kind of
get the feel for what you needto ask and what you need to look
out for.
Tracie (34:34):
Great.
Great.
Sharda (34:35):
Yeah.
Tracie (34:35):
Love that.
Um, awesome.
And I know that we'll put in theshow notes, you know, how people
can reach you and everything.
Mm-hmm.
So if you're listening to thisand you are a woman business
owner, mother.
Single women, business owner,mother, right?
Those are, that's kind of the,the definition, right?
Sharda (34:53):
Mm-hmm.
Tracie (34:54):
Um, then, you know, you're gonna wanna talk to
Sharda and just figure outwhether or not it's the right
fit.
'cause you know, I think there'salso a lot of, um, concern or
fear if you've never worked witha financial advisor before,
right?
What does that even feel like?
And so with the, you know, withthe complimentary consultation,
(35:16):
it's just a conversation, so youmight as well have it and then
you know more.
And when we know more, we canmake changes and, and do things
differently.
Sharda (35:26):
Mm-hmm.
Tracie (35:27):
Yeah.
Do you have anything like wrapup wise that you'd like to, to
share as we close out theepisode?
Sharda (35:34):
Uh, no, I just wanna say thank you so much for having me
and, um, I really, uh, I mean, Ihope that my passion for helping
women really comes throughbecause I think, uh, money
personally, money's.
One of the most important thingsand, um, the more you have
control and education around it,I think the better that you are,
(35:59):
the better you can serve yourfamily and, um, you know, your
community and, and those aroundyou.
So
Tracie (36:05):
yeah.
Great.
I love it.
Well, I know that you're superpassionate about it and I hope
that everyone else gets thatfrom this as well.
And I wanna thank you for beinghere on the Bold and Brilliant
podcast.
And we'll talk to you againsuper soon.
Sharda (36:20):
All right, thank you.
Tracie (36:21):
Thanks, Sharda.
Thank you for listening to theBold and Brilliant podcast.
I'm your host, Tracie Root, andI wanna invite you to check out
the show notes, find out whereyou can connect with our guests,
find out more about what I andthe Gather community have to
offer you, and be sure tosubscribe to this podcast on
your favorite platform.
(36:42):
Thanks so much.
Today on the podcast we're gonna be with Sharda Ryan
from Wealth Design Group.
Sharda and I met several yearsago in a women's networking
group, and I've always been soimpressed by her commitment to
supporting women in businessthrough her work and also
through her philanthropy and hervolunteering.
(00:21):
Let's meet Sharda.
Tracie (00:22):
Hi, Sharda.
I am so excited.
Welcome to the Bold andBrilliant podcast.
Thanks for being here.
Sharda (00:28):
Thanks for having me.
I'm excited.
Tracie (00:30):
Yay.
Okay, so for those of you whohaven't met Sharda and don't
know how we're connected, weactually are both on the board
for Professional Women's Networkof Monterey.
So we've had a lot of time theselast couple of years to get to
know each other, to understandkind of work styles and.
Strengths, right?
(00:51):
Mm-hmm.
Sharda and I actually have a lotof strengths in common as far as
being organized and likeunderstanding, looking at big
pictures and things like that.
So that's been really fun tohave that connection.
But clearly we're working indifferent, uh, what's the word
in different kinds of work.
Sharda is, and as you can see onher background, if you're
(01:13):
watching on YouTube WealthDesign Group, so Sharda iss in
the finance world, talking topeople about their money and
their money goals and how theycan get there.
So Sharda.
I would love for us to kick thisoff by learning a little bit
about why you got into what youdo now.
Like give us your kind ofbusiness origin story and let's
(01:36):
let people understand why you dowhat you do.
Sharda (01:39):
Yeah.
Great.
Um, thanks for having me,Tracie.
So, um, you know, I didn't co goto like Yale thinking or, or
even go to Yale or Harvard orany of those colleges and say,
oh, I'm gonna be in financeuntil I graduate, or anything
like that.
It was kind of an accidental.
Um, origin story.
So I was a, I was, I've been asingle mother, um, for many
(02:04):
years since my early twenties.
And so I was always in, um,restaurant and retail management
and I was, uh, manager at aStarbucks in Sacramento.
Tracie (02:15):
Mm-hmm.
Sharda (02:16):
And there was this gentleman that always came in
and would talk to me, and I hadthe feeling that he was, um.
Maybe trying to sell mesomething, right?
Yeah.
Trying to like, Hey, maybe I canhelp this person, uh, kind of
vibe that I got from him.
So I finally sat down with himand it turns out he was a
financial advisor.
(02:37):
And one of the, you know, firstquestions that he asked me was,
do you have life insurance?
And what would happen to yourdaughter if something happened
to you?
And I had just kind of been in,you know, survival mode, hustle
mode, and I never really stoppedto think, wow, what if something
happened to me?
You know, she just gonna havelike my, you know, piddly little
(03:01):
one times my salary, um, fromStarbucks to take care of her.
And where in writing did it saywho I wanted to, um, take care
of her if something were tohappen to me?
So he was my first mentor.
He really got me thinking about,um, finances and how I could not
only help myself, but how I canhelp people and other people
(03:25):
and, um, you know, women inparticular.
And it just became, uh, apassion of mine to learn as much
as I could about, uh, not justlife insurance, but financial
planning.
And that was back in, um, about2005.
So I've been, um, licensed since2007 for
Tracie (03:43):
about 20 years, then almost, almost
Sharda (03:45):
20 almost.
Tracie (03:46):
Did you find when, when you were first.
Finding out about kind of thisthought process and kind of woke
up to the fact that, yeah, it'sup to me to, to make a plan.
Um, did you find other peoplethat you were connected to,
other coworkers and things likethat, that you were like, not
only for me and my daughter, butwhat about then?
(04:07):
Like did you start to see all ofthe people that potentially
needed that kind of help aswell?
Sharda (04:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
It's so funny, um, that you saythat because I notice myself
doing that, right?
Like, I'll start talking to abusiness owner, or I'll start
talking to someone and they'llsay, oh, well I wanna be, I
wanna own the business.
Or, um, I.
I need to save money forretirement, or they just start
talking about different thingsand my mind just starts reeling
(04:33):
like, oh, maybe, um, maybe it'salmost like a problem solving,
right?
Like,
Tracie (04:38):
yeah,
Sharda (04:39):
you might need, um, this, or you, you know, you
might need that.
So actually some of my firstcoworkers, um, back at Starbucks
have become my clients because,um, you know, we developed that
trust, we had that relationshipand they, uh, saw that I was
growing and they wanted to.
Provide the same for theirfamilies.
Yeah.
Tracie (04:59):
Yeah.
That's amazing.
Well, and so in my mind, I'm,I'm imagining this story, right?
You, you finally felt safeenough to ask the guy what his,
what he was all about, and heshared it with you, and then,
you know.
It's, it's a, it's a fine linewhen you're starting a new
business to figure out how toapproach people.
(05:21):
But you had already built theserelationships with people who
knew you and knew that you hadyour daughter.
And like, you know, when we,when people get to see your
journey, they get inspired andthey feel safe enough to ask you
about it, which is somethingthat, you know, if you hadn't
built those relationships beforeand it probably never would've
happened.
Yeah.
Sharda (05:41):
Yeah.
It's a, it's a fine line, um,because basically what I do, it
is sales.
Yeah, but it's, but what issales?
Sales is service is getting paidfor providing the service.
Absolutely.
So in the beginning I did kindof feel like, Ooh, am I, do I
wanna be that salesy person?
Do I wanna have that kind oflike energy and vibe and no, I
(06:04):
don't.
I was able to like, grow intomyself, um, and attract people
who had.
Common values, common energy.
Um, so it, it, it was, you know,it's a little difficult with,
as, with any job in thebeginning, but, um, the more you
do it, the better you become.
Right,
Tracie (06:24):
right, right.
Well, and since you have thatsales service mentality, you
know, you know that you're notdoing it just to get a sale.
And when you know that and yourealize that, that's really what
it takes.
Right.
The salesy stuff comes frompeople who are.
Desperate to sell or don't careabout the other person.
(06:44):
They're just after the dollars,right?
Mm-hmm.
But when you're in that space ofreally wanting to serve that
other person and give them thesecurity that you now feel as a
client yourself, then it's somuch easier to, to lean into the
sales as service part.
So I love that you, that you usethat phrase, because that's the
phrase we always use and that Ialways use as well.
Mm-hmm.
(07:04):
Okay.
So.
Almost 20 years ago, 18 yearsago, you became licensed and,
but I know that you've had anevolution in your business as
well.
So talk to us about like what2007 looked like and what maybe
big decision, big, bold decisionyou made over the course of your
(07:25):
business that defined what youdo today.
Sharda (07:27):
So, uh, we all can go back to 2007, right?
It was right before the globalfinancial crisis.
Oh, the
Tracie (07:34):
housing crisis?
Yes.
Sharda (07:35):
Yeah.
And things are times thingswere, that were getting, yeah,
things were getting a littlestrange, but they didn't really,
you know, explode until a yearafter I started.
I started part-time just doinglife insurance, like for my
friends and family.
And I was actually, at thatpoint, I was a, um.
I was management at Target andthere was, I'll never forget,
(07:58):
there's a guy I, I ran into himby accident and he got literally
within an inches of my face andcussed me out at Target.
Like in
Tracie (08:07):
your
Sharda (08:07):
job
Tracie (08:08):
at Target
Sharda (08:08):
while I working was like yelling
Tracie (08:09):
at you as in your job.
Sharda (08:12):
Yeah.
And that's when I said, you knowwhat?
I'm not working here anymore.
I'm not putting up with thistype of client.
I'm not putting up with thiskind of person.
Yeah.
Anymore.
So that night I went and startedapplying for different jobs
because I had had my lifelicense Right.
Uh, at MetLife.
So my first, you know, full-timejob was, um, at MetLife.
(08:34):
And then, um.
I, I joined them and then justlike a few months later was the
global financial crisis.
I remember just coming into workand people were just kept
talking about the stock market,you know, just fell another 500
points or something like that.
So it was a really strange time,but I was able to, you know,
(08:55):
work through that and, um, what
Tracie (08:57):
an educational time to be new in that job, new-ish in
the field, and have everything.
Change.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
From like drop out from underyou basically.
And, and figuring out what to dowith that and who can you, like,
who has good thoughts about itand can move forward and who is
really gonna like, struggle withthe new challenges and how to
(09:21):
align yourself, like you said,with the people who have the
same values as you as far asbeing in a growth mindset and
all of those kinds of things.
What an incredibly interestingopportunity.
Sharda (09:32):
Yeah.
And it's, and it was a goodlearning, um, experience because
I was able to, uh, learn how tohave conversations with clients,
right?
Yeah.
Because they're freaking out,they're cashing out their 4 0 1
ks, they're having a reallydifficult time.
So it was such a good learningexperience.
So whenever there are.
Like earlier this year whenthere was the tariff tantrum in
(09:54):
the markets, I was able toreally draw on those, on that
experience and conversations andlanguages, uh, and language that
I would have with, um, clientsthroughout the years so that
when.
Things do happen because they,they, it happens in the stock,
it always happens.
It goes up and down.
Mm-hmm.
Always.
Yeah.
It just depends on the severity.
Right?
Yeah.
(10:14):
And, um, we have a saying that,uh, you know, history, it
doesn't repeat, but it rhymes,so.
Tracie (10:21):
Mm.
Oh, I love that.
Sharda (10:23):
Yeah.
In the markets.
So, um, yeah, it was, I, every,every day is a, is a learning
experience to be able to helpyour clients.
And those big events like thepandemic, um,
Tracie (10:37):
yeah.
Sharda (10:37):
You know, those just really enforce those even more,
those things.
Tracie (10:40):
Yeah.
Well, I love that.
And you know, that's somethingthat I always talk about as
well, the idea that while ourspecific instances are not
exactly the same, the, it's likewe're, oh, you know, the, the
phrase, like, we're all in thesame boat, right?
Mm-hmm.
That we're all in our own boatsactually, but the storm is the
same storm.
(11:01):
But depending on how big yourboat is, it's gonna be
different.
Your experience is gonna bedifferent, but we can have a
common language around it.
Um, the pandemic is a greatexample.
You know, when I talk aboutlosing my first husband, uh, who
passed away, a lot of peoplecan't, can't relate to their
partner passing away when theywere 40 or whatever, you know,
(11:23):
youngish.
But what they can relate to isnot understanding, uh, or
experiencing.
It a future that wasn't whatthey imagined.
Right, right.
Which really is what thatwhittled itself down to is like
I had this imagination of ourlife together and life didn't
turn out that way.
(11:43):
The pandemic is the same way.
We had this vision of what thatnext year or two years, or five
years was gonna look like, andit didn't turn out that way.
And that's, it just keeps goingthe same way.
There's always something that'sgonna pop up in the middle of.
Us moving forward that justmakes things not turn out the
way we thought it was going to,and how do we navigate that?
(12:04):
Mm-hmm.
And not only with expectationsand emotions, but literally with
our money and our situations andour lives.
How do we navigate the detailsof getting through that next
obstacle instead of letting itknock us down?
Sharda (12:21):
Right.
Just keep testing ourresiliency.
Tracie (12:25):
Yep.
Absolutely.
So you, so at some point in allof this, you said to yourself,
well this is great, and I thinkthat, so actually I'm not gonna
put words in your mouth, I'm notgonna do that.
I'm gonna ask you, I know that abig turning point for you was
when you narrowed your niche ofwho you were primarily working
(12:49):
with.
So take us back to when thathappened and what was the
catalyst for that decision?
Sharda (12:55):
Yeah.
Yeah, it, early in my career,you know, I, I worked at a
couple big companies likeMetLife and Waddell and Reed and
Franklin Templeton, and theyalways just had their own
culture.
They always wanted you to focuson what they wanted you to focus
on.
Mm-hmm.
Um, maybe their product or theirmutual fund.
(13:15):
And so of
Tracie (13:16):
course they did, because that's their company.
Right,
Sharda (13:18):
exactly.
Tracie (13:18):
They're like, you're gonna sell our thing.
First and then you can do more.
Sharda (13:23):
Do it.
Yeah.
Play if you wanna play in oursandbox and um, there was a lot
of good old boy club.
You know, energy there as well.
Tracie (13:32):
Yeah.
Sharda (13:32):
But, um, speaking of the pandemic, at the end of 2020,
uh, I was at Franklin Templetonand they um, they laid off a
bunch of people.
They had bought a company, theymerged with another mutual fund
company.
I can't even remember'causethere's so many mergers that
happened.
And, um, so I was one of the,um, people that they laid off.
(13:53):
And so I, um, just reached outto my network.
And someone that I knew long agofrom MetLife, he said, Hey, you,
you should go talk to Gary atWealth Design Group.
And so, um, Gary, he really, um,embraced me and embraced my, um,
all of my skills and value andeverything.
(14:14):
And then we joined anothergentleman.
So there's three of us, uh, inour firm.
And, um, and then also about,uh, during that time or about a
few months after that time,there had been a lot of
wildfires in the, in California.
Mm-hmm.
And so all of the smoke wouldsit in Sacramento for months.
Mm-hmm.
(14:34):
And it really was affecting myhusband's health.
And he had grown up in, uh,marina, which is right down the
street from here.
And so he's like, we have tomove.
And so I said, okay, I guesswe're gonna move.
So I went to Gary and I said,Hey, um, you know, we have to,
we have to move to the centralcoast.
And so I said, I'm giving youplenty of time.
I can work remote, you know, wecan still work together, work
(14:57):
remote, or, uh, I might have tojust find something else.
And he said, um, he was like,no, let's, I want, I want this
to work.
Um, I want you to continue to,you know, learn, uh.
About his business and, um, youknow, to eventually become his
succession.
So I decided.
That when I moved that, I'mlike, okay, this is a fresh
(15:19):
start.
And I started, um, a coachingprogram with um, this lady who
coaches financial advisor.
She's amazing, Stephanie Bogan.
And she said, you know, the bestthing that you can do, the most
efficient, uh, thing you can doas an advisor is to have a niche
market.
That way that you, you're themost effective in what you do
(15:43):
and your clients are served thebest, right?
Yeah.
So I said, you know what?
I'm sorry guys, but I'm tired ofdealing with jerks.
I was like, I'm gonna startworking with single professional
women and mothers.
And I'm also going to stopworking for free.
That was another thing thatsometimes we do as advisors.
(16:04):
We'll do a lot of service work,give a lot of advice.
Mm-hmm.
Do a lot of work and not reallyget paid for it in any way.
So those were the two decisionsthat I made in, um, when we
moved in early 2022.
And, and
Tracie (16:19):
how did that, how did that go over with Gary?
Sharda (16:23):
Oh, Gary's fine.
He, Gary loves it.
Yeah.
Gary's like all, all of the, um,'cause he has clients, you know,
two from years back and, uh, anysingle women, he, he always
gives, uh, you know, lets metake the lead on Great.
Glen Glen, same way.
He's had some divorcees, he'shad some, um.
(16:45):
You know when widows and thingsare like, are widows Yeah.
And, uh, things like that.
And they both just like, ohyeah, you need to talk to
Sharda.
So,
Tracie (16:52):
so kind of out of the three of you, you each kind of
had your category of people thatyou would specialize in and like
kind of cross handoff people asthey came in.
Sharda (17:07):
Yeah.
Tracie (17:07):
Yeah, that's
Sharda (17:08):
great.
And sometimes, and we share themtoo, so sometimes it's ours and
sometimes it's yours, and it allworks out really well.
Mm-hmm.
Because we all, uh, you know,respect each other's skills and
passions.
So
Tracie (17:21):
amazing.
Sharda (17:22):
That was the bold move that I made, and I'm so happy
that I did it.
And it's, um, so rewarding nowbecause, uh, I can, there's only
about, I think 25% of.
Advisors are female.
So I like to be able to be thatresource for women.
Tracie (17:39):
Yeah, I love that.
And because it's true.
So as a woman, right, we knowthat most of the, most of the
time, and especially as a womenbusiness owner, most of the time
you go out networking and if youfind people who are in finance
now, it's a different, I thinkfor me, just'cause I've
cultivated a more femalecommunity mm-hmm.
Across the board.
Um, but in general, before thathappened, before I found PWN,
(18:04):
before I found Polka dot, youknow, all of these different
communities of women, I would goto networking and all the,
almost all of the finance peoplewere male.
Were male.
And if there was a woman inthere in the business, I would
say she was a lot more like youin that she was.
On the feminine side, like shereally had made that departure
(18:26):
from the kind of bro culturethat, you know, while you still
work with men, and I'm surethey're fabulous, you're, the
way that you serve a woman is,is by relating to her, not by,
by still acting like one of theguys, right?
Sharda (18:42):
Mm-hmm.
Exactly.
Tracie (18:44):
Yeah.
Yeah.
You.
What was the other thing thatyou said?
So not only niching down, oh,not working for free.
So let's talk about that.
Mm-hmm.
Because yeah, a lot of advisorsand a lot of people in business,
honestly, myself included, I'llgive free advice.
I'll network, I'll tell peoplelike give people ideas.
I do free workshops.
Like that still is definitely athing.
(19:06):
But I think you're talking abouteven more than that.
Um, and so tell us like whatreally changed for you from the
whole, I'm not working for freeanymore.
What were you doing and how doyou build influence with people
now when maybe some of thatisn't happening?
Sharda (19:23):
So there would be times where I'd be introduced to
someone, just a random, youknow, prospect, we call them and
they wanted help with, um,allocating their funds.
They wanted advice on how to,how to, uh, yeah, how to
allocate their funds, what todo, what to do with them.
But at the same time, they wouldnever.
(19:44):
Actually move the funds tomyself so that I could get paid.
And so I would be constantlychasing these, like everyone,
anyone, everyone, and anyone whofogged a mirror and had a dollar
to, um, try to get them asclients and they would have, um,
it, it, it wouldn't matter howmuch they had.
(20:05):
So now I have, um, minimums aswell.
So you have to have this muchmoney.
This is how much it's gonnacost, and if we can't work
together, then.
Sorry, you know, maybe I canrefer you.
I'm not the person for
Tracie (20:20):
you.
Sharda (20:20):
Right.
Maybe I can refer you to someoneelse.
So it's just, it was a mindshift change where it, instead
of being like hungry for everydollar, when I said, okay, I was
only gonna do this and I wasonly gonna do it.
And until I, and you know, asfar as like.
Until I got paid, because a lotof advisors do a lot of work and
(20:42):
they never get, they don't getpaid or it takes a long time for
them to get paid.
Then um, things just started toreally click.
Yeah.
And people, uh, appreciate thattoo because they know exactly
what you're all about.
And if they, like you said, ifthey don't wanna work with you,
then you know.
Tracie (20:59):
Then that's okay.
Then they can move on.
Next one to someone else that'sa better fit.
Yeah.
And so can you, right.
So tell us like what does thatlook like for someone?
Who's coming in, like, uh, likea new client.
So if someone new comes to youand they, they get referred to
you and you need to find outabout them, obviously and find
out what their goals are andwhat they want to do and what
(21:20):
they have and whether or notthey're a fit, like what does
that look like when an, whenyou're onboarding a new
potential client, a new lead,and how do you find out whether
or not there's someone that'sfor you?
Sharda (21:31):
Sure.
So we usually would do, we'll dolike, um, an a, an an initial,
uh, complimentary consultation.
Right?
Okay.
So it'll be about a half anhour.
So I'll just ask them a bunch ofdifferent questions about
themselves.
Right.
I let them talk a lot more thanI talk.
Mm-hmm.
So, you know your age, yourgoals, your, um, family
(21:54):
situation, job situation,income, children.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
How much money that, how muchmoney do you have?
And then after they, after Igather all of that information,
then I say, you know, I let themknow, okay, these are the
different ways that we can worktogether.
I can, you said you had.
$500,000, you don't know what todo with it.
(22:14):
We can just manage your$500,000or if you feel you need more of
a comprehensive financial plan,then we can, um, you know,
arrange a fee for that as well.
Tracie (22:25):
And so what does, like, what does that include when you
say more comprehensive?
So the idea of like, here's my500, do thousand dollars that
needs to be invested in some waythat is in line with my risk
level or whatever.
Right.
But if they need something morecomprehensive, what does that
mean?
Sharda (22:41):
So that would mean more of a in-depth financial plan.
So we look at all of yourexpenses, okay?
We look at, um, everything thatyou have that you're able to
invest with, any money thatpotentially could come.
And then what are your goals?
Do you want to pay, you know, doyou have children?
Do you wanna, um, pay for theircollege or do you want them to
(23:03):
have.
Um, you know, maybe you'll payfor half of it, right?
They can pay for the other half.
Uh, do you wanna buy a house?
When do you wanna retire?
Or do you just maybe wannaretire from what you have now
and maybe go into something elselater at a different age?
Um,
Tracie (23:20):
right.
Sharda (23:21):
So it would be more in depth as far as all your
cashflow and all of your, um,balance sheet.
Tracie (23:28):
Got it.
More of a life plan as opposedto a plan for this kind of chunk
of money.
Sharda (23:32):
Right, right.
Tracie (23:33):
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
I love that.
Sharda (23:34):
Taxes and estate planning and all of that good
stuff.
Yeah.
Tracie (23:38):
Okay.
Do you find that, like for yourclient.
Base these days.
Do you have more people kind ofin that life planning section?
Like how, what are peoplelooking at these days?
What do you find most people areinterested in?
Sharda (23:53):
Yeah, I do.
I find, especially because the,of the clientele that I serve,
which are women, women are muchmore of, uh, big picture.
Tracie (24:02):
Mm-hmm.
Sharda (24:03):
When it comes to their finances and investing.
They also, um, tend to have notas much confidence.
So they like the, um, when it,when it comes to money, just
period.
Mm-hmm.
So they like the, um, you know,the in-depth planning.
Tracie (24:20):
Yeah.
Do you, um, do you find that youspend a lot of time kind of, I
would, IM, or I would imaginethat you might spend time
debunking myths or old thought.
Old thinking like,'cause we aregonna hold onto all of that
knowledge that we've gained inthe last 50 years and a lot of
(24:42):
that isn't really valid anymore.
Mm-hmm.
Or, um, or might not reallyapply to us as.
Women, women at this kind ofstage of our lives.
Mm-hmm.
Um, do you find that you spend alot of time kind of Reed
reeducating incorrectinformation?
Sharda (25:00):
I wouldn't, I would not say, I wouldn't say there's a,
there, it doesn't, I don't spendthat much time debunking myths.
Okay.
There are some, there's stuffthat kind of floats around that
I, um, run into every once in awhile.
Mostly it's just education.
And then a lot of times asopposed
Tracie (25:19):
to correcting.
Sharda (25:20):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And a lot of time too, it's kindof like, okay, you're going a
little too deep.
Sharda.
Like, I trust you.
Let's just,
Tracie (25:29):
yeah.
I
Sharda (25:30):
mean, sometimes
Tracie (25:31):
we just want the expert to go do her thing and, and
Sharda (25:34):
yeah,
Tracie (25:34):
we're gonna go now.
Sharda (25:35):
Yeah, I hear that a lot.
Okay.
I, I trust you, you know?
Tracie (25:40):
Well, and maybe that's part of like, that's when you
build that influence and theytrust you.
You can be like, well, let metell you about this.
And they're just like, you knowwhat?
I don't wanna know all of that.
Like, it's too much.
Too much noise.
I hired you, I'm gonna let youtake it from here.
Sharda (25:55):
Yeah.
And I've gotten, again, like I,I've gotten better throughout
the years, um, that they don'twant to know how the sausage is
made.
Right.
Right.
That they don't need to knowwhat sharp ratio means.
They just wanna know that you'repaying attention to their money
and it's gonna be there for whatit's, they need it to be.
Yeah.
Tracie (26:13):
Right.
And, you know, you keep'emupdated plus, minus flat.
Let us know how everything isworking and why, if it's working
and why it's working, so you cancapitalize on it and if it's not
working, why it's not working,and how you can learn that for
the future.
Right.
Sharda (26:27):
Yeah, exactly.
Tracie (26:28):
I wanna talk about other things that you do because while
you work with clients in thisway, you also are really big
into volunteering and supportingyour community.
Mm-hmm.
So like I mentioned in thebeginning, you and I met through
PW n and a part of P W's missionis.
Philanthropy to support womenand girls in the, in California
(26:52):
with the, the charitable fundthat we build every year.
And you also are a rotary galand you also work for another
group.
And I don't remember what thatis off the top of my head.
So talk about like, that's threeboards that you're on that you
are, are.
Spending your free time forfree, valuable time to support.
(27:13):
So talk about why you do that,what you get out of it, and why
you think it's important.
Sharda (27:18):
Mm-hmm.
I've always been, um, prettyphilanthropic and liked to
volunteer.
Even when I was at Starbucks,you know, I dragged my daughter
to go do the river cleanups andthings like that.
Oh
Tracie (27:29):
yeah.
Great.
Sharda (27:30):
Um, and then just throughout the years I've become
about the past, I'd say 10, 15years becoming, um, more in the
leadership positions, right?
So like serving on boards.
And, um, in addition to beingthe secretary of PPWN, I'm also
the community service chair for,uh, the downtown Salinas Rotary
(27:54):
Club.
Tracie (27:55):
Oh, yeah.
Sharda (27:56):
Yeah.
And then I'm also on the, um,fund development committee and
on the board of, um, girls Inc.
Of the Central Coast,
Tracie (28:05):
which I love Girls Inc.
That's great too.
Awesome.
And so did you, um, did you kindof have this kind of
philanthropic work?
Like as, like, do you see it aslike a mission that you have
personally or has, have you justkind of.
Fallen into like, oh, I metthese people and that was fun
and no, now I really wanna, likewas it a goal to be, to spend
(28:28):
your time that way, or was itjust, did it just happen?
Sharda (28:32):
No, it was very intentional because I think that
as business owners, it's our.
It's our duty to give back tothe community that provides us
with our livelihood.
Right?
And um, rotary very much hasthat service mentality and I
really enjoy Rotary also becauseI've met.
(28:53):
You know, some great friends andalso, um, a lot of business
leaders are in that community aswell.
Mm-hmm.
So I learned so much aboutSalinas, especially when I was
brand new, um, to the communityso that I really, that's why I
enjoy Rotary and it's, you know,very deep.
Um.
Very special to my heart.
(29:15):
And then as far as Girls, Inc.
They um, provide classes forgirls from ages eight to 18 that
teach them how to be, you know,smart, bold, and, um, they will
teach classes in schools.
So they'll be one about socialmedia or one about health, one
(29:35):
about leadership.
They have a, um.
Class where they teach, um, the,uh, girl and their parents about
communication.
Like if I had that communicationclass with my little girl, when,
well, that was
Tracie (29:49):
gonna be my question, was like, how old was your
daughter when you got involvedwith Girls Inc.
Was she the beneficiary of anyof their programs or was it
after she was already.
Sharda (29:58):
No, I wish.
'cause she is, she's older now.
She's, you know, she's in herthirties.
But I, I just thought, oh, if Ihad that or she had that when,
uh, she was a girl, thatwould've been so amazing because
I really do believe that girlsneed that extra help when it
comes to, and that extraknowledge and that extra
education.
(30:19):
They have a financial.
Um, they have a budgeting classthat they do as well.
What about, um, you know, girls'health?
It's just all that extra stuffthat girls need to become, you
know, great women.
Tracie (30:33):
Yeah, I love that.
I love that.
That's a really big one for me,that, that I really see is that
it's that confidence buildingbecause you're learning about
these things that wow otherpeople like you end up with this
knowledge.
As a young person that withoutthat program you never would
have learned.
It's not something that's inyour standard school.
(30:54):
And other things can offer thattoo.
Like scouting can do some ofthat.
Like there's similarities Ithink in those ways.
Obviously Girls Inc.
Has their own methodology andthe way that they go into the
schools I think is really cool.
Learned about them.
Mm-hmm.
Just in the last year myself, sovery thanks to you.
So very cool.
Um.
Yeah.
Well, I love that.
And you know, being involvedwith three different
(31:18):
organizations in that way is alot of time.
Mm-hmm.
And so I wanna acknowledge youfor, you know, the, the.
The volume of effort that youmake in serving your community
and helping these programs reachthe people that they're trying
to reach.
'cause that really is a hugeimpact outside of you and your
(31:38):
life and your household, right?
You're making an impact outthere in the world that is
really important.
And so I really admire you forthat.
That's really very cool.
Sharda (31:49):
Oh, well thank you.
Tracie (31:50):
Yeah.
Sharda (31:50):
And um.
I'm also going to, this is anew, a newer thing that we're
gonna be doing, but the FamilyJustice center, um, yeah.
That's in its infancy here inMonterey County.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, I'm also going to startteaching once they get up and
running literacy classes.
Fantastic.
For the women.
So yeah, that will be like thevictims of domestic violence,
(32:11):
sexual assault, humantrafficking, you know, we'll
teach them everything aboutcredit budgeting.
Tracie (32:16):
Yeah.
For, so they don't end up, up ina bad situation or how to build
out of their current situation,right?
Sharda (32:22):
Yeah.
Uh, I think, I believe it's, uh,90% of victims of domestic
violence are victims offinancial abuse because it's a
way to control
Tracie (32:31):
Sure.
If it's control thing, if, ifthey're working, if they're
allowed to work.
Right, right.
Then they don't get to controlthe money that they make often.
Right.
Yeah.
So yeah, I think that'sfantastic.
I mean, that's something thatmost of the finance women that I
do get to meet, that's their bigthing is to teach young women,
(32:54):
girls, young women and, andolder women too.
But to, to break that historicalsituation of.
You know, the, the whole thingthat, you know, just a few years
ago we couldn't even get creditcards on our own or sign a loan.
Like all of those
Sharda (33:10):
right.
Tracie (33:10):
Rights things that are still young that mm-hmm.
You know, there's a lot ofchange that still needs to be
made.
So thank you for doing that.
I think that's really awesome aswell.
Anything I can do to helpsupport that, please let me
know.
Sharda (33:25):
Of course.
Tracie (33:25):
Yeah.
Amazing.
Well, my friend, okay, so.
You know the opportunities forpeople to get you, you're in the
community a lot, obviously.
Mostly you're working withpeople.
Um.
That you've met personally, howfar can you work with anyone in
California?
(33:46):
Do you, is it even onlyCalifornia?
Like, what is your opportunityfor working with people that
might hear this episode and belike, that gal has the vibe that
I'm looking for.
I wanna meet her.
Sharda (33:59):
Yeah.
I can work with anyone in theUnited States,
Tracie (34:01):
in the States.
Okay, great.
Mm-hmm.
Awesome.
And do you have, is thatsomething like,'cause this,
there's lots of differencesacross the country and you know,
we're here in California,obviously our situation might be
different than someone who'sliving in Missouri or something
like that.
So, I mean, obviously
Sharda (34:19):
different.
Different rules.
Different states have differentrules as far as like community
property and taxes and thingslike that.
But, um, as an experiencedadvisor, you, you, you kind of
get the feel for what you needto ask and what you need to look
out for.
Tracie (34:34):
Great.
Great.
Sharda (34:35):
Yeah.
Tracie (34:35):
Love that.
Um, awesome.
And I know that we'll put in theshow notes, you know, how people
can reach you and everything.
Mm-hmm.
So if you're listening to thisand you are a woman business
owner, mother.
Single women, business owner,mother, right?
Those are, that's kind of the,the definition, right?
Sharda (34:53):
Mm-hmm.
Tracie (34:54):
Um, then, you know, you're gonna wanna talk to
Sharda and just figure outwhether or not it's the right
fit.
'cause you know, I think there'salso a lot of, um, concern or
fear if you've never worked witha financial advisor before,
right?
What does that even feel like?
And so with the, you know, withthe complimentary consultation,
(35:16):
it's just a conversation, so youmight as well have it and then
you know more.
And when we know more, we canmake changes and, and do things
differently.
Sharda (35:26):
Mm-hmm.
Tracie (35:27):
Yeah.
Do you have anything like wrapup wise that you'd like to, to
share as we close out theepisode?
Sharda (35:34):
Uh, no, I just wanna say thank you so much for having me
and, um, I really, uh, I mean, Ihope that my passion for helping
women really comes throughbecause I think, uh, money
personally, money's.
One of the most important thingsand, um, the more you have
control and education around it,I think the better that you are,
(35:59):
the better you can serve yourfamily and, um, you know, your
community and, and those aroundyou.
So
Tracie (36:05):
yeah.
Great.
I love it.
Well, I know that you're superpassionate about it and I hope
that everyone else gets thatfrom this as well.
And I wanna thank you for beinghere on the Bold and Brilliant
podcast.
And we'll talk to you againsuper soon.
Sharda (36:20):
All right, thank you.
Tracie (36:21):
Thanks, Sharda.
Thank you for listening to theBold and Brilliant podcast.
I'm your host, Tracie Root, andI wanna invite you to check out
the show notes, find out whereyou can connect with our guests,
find out more about what I andthe Gather community have to
offer you, and be sure tosubscribe to this podcast on
your favorite platform.
(36:42):
Thanks so much.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.