The team at Financial Advisor and FintekNews are pleased to offer our readers our “3 Questions” column, where we chat with a thought leader within a unique sector of fintech and ask them to answer three questions about their company. We recently spoke with Kim Gaxiola of TechGirl Financial, a company that empowers women in technology and their families to create financial roadmaps and investment strategies that lead to a “work-optional” lifestyle.
NAME:
TITLE: Financial Advisor, Founder
COMPANY: TechGirl Financial
WEB ADDRESS: http://www.techgirlfinancial.com
Founder, speaker and CFP practitioner, Gaxiola for the past 19 years has been advising female tech professionals and their families who aspire to a work-optional lifestyle. She is a six-year member of the Cambridge Investment Research New Century Council, a forward-looking advisory board that makes recommendations to the executive board on the cutting-edge tools needed for advisors and their clients.
1. How did you become involved in fintech?
A combination of geography, catering to a tech-savvy clientele and a strong need to be flexible lead me to invest heavily in fintech. Living in San Jose, California, you can’t escape technology. Clients need me to be flexible in delivering advice because traffic makes it a challenge to come to an office. In addition, I have clients in more than 15 states. We leverage technology to enhance our service, make us easily accessible, and maintain a trusting and intimate relationship with our clients. It has rewarded us by keeping client loyalty strong and allowing a very lean team to grow at a good rate.
2. What area(s) of fintech do you believe will grow the most in the next five years?
Fintech is such a broad term and it’s compartmentalized into many companies offering varied services. If we are to solve how to deliver advice to more people with less time and develop a new generation of advisors, we need to make seamless experiences. Technology that allows easy account opening while providing the most transparency of fees and services will speak loudly to clients. For a younger set of advisors who need to be armed with tools that gives them the confidence to create great plans for clients, we need to create a plug-and-play dashboard that allows ease of use while offering flexibility to build the necessary components to make your practice successful.
3. How do you feel consumers and businesses are adapting to the facet of fintech that your company operates within?
I’m always surprised when other advisors say their market won’t adapt to technology. Maybe it’s fear of change on the advisor’s part. I don’t know any grandparents these days who aren’t talking, texting, Skyping, or Facetiming their grandchildren and friends and families to feel connected. Technology that bridges people happens nationwide, globally and multi-generationally. As long as people feel the need to be connected, technology will be there to enhance our relationships. We are providing the flexibility to meet clients where they are, and that is always adaptable.