Military Spouses Are Special Subset Of Financial Advisors

Military spouses, 96 percent of whom are women, make up a special subset of female financial advisors, according to Stacy Miller, who is both.

Miller, who now lives in Tampa and is an advisor with Bright Investments LLC, based in Auburn, Ala., admits her resume is atypical and often off-putting to potential employers.

It lists lots of jobs, not all in financial services, and has gaps because she was often not able to immediately find a job after relocating to a new military base with her husband.

Early in her career, Miller tried to hide her spotty work background and the fact that she was a military wife. But now she hopes the attitudes have changed. “I would tell advisors who are military spouses to embrace the fact that they have moved frequently” and do not have a typical looking resume, she said during a break at the Invest In Women conference, sponsored by Financial Advisor and ETF Advisor magazines being held in Houston

“We are some of the most talented and dedicated employees an employer can find, and we are resilient and can deal with change,” Miller said. “An employer will get more out of a military spouse during the two years she is there than anyone else. And most employees leave an employer after two or three years anyway.”

Many organizations and companies in financial services are promoting women in the profession now, and Miller said she hopes that will especially include military spouses.

A purposeful effort was made in the last decade to promote the hiring of veterans, which has had a positive effect in lowering the unemployment rate for veterans. The time is right to extend that to military spouses, she said. Bills are pending in Congress to extend tax credits to employers who hire military spouses.

Miller’s job experience and inability to find suitable employment after being relocated is far from unique. Military spouses have support networks at many bases to help then connect in the local communities, she said.

“For 27 years, [after obtaining a degree in financial services and an MBA] I was underemployed,” which is typical for military spouses, she said. Then she landed the job at Bright Investments through a former colleague. She is planning to sit for the CFP designation in March.

“Networking is important for everyone, but particularly for military spouses. The interviewer needs to know what you are capable of and how talented you are, even if your resume does not reflect that,” she said. “I would tell other military spouses to embrace their experience as a positive.”