The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors today announced it named Linda Leitz as its national chair for 2013-14. Leitz is a principal at It’s Not Just Money Inc., a fee-only planning firm in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Leitz, 56, will serve as chair-elect until September 1, when she’ll take over for current chair Lauren Locker. Napfa, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, is going through a transition with its long-time executive director and CEO, Ellen Turf, scheduled to step down in August. Napfa is conducting a search for her replacement.
Leitz currently serves on Napfa’s national board and several conference committees. She says she’ll continue to champion Napfa’s strong stance that all financial planners should be fiduciaries, and to further Napfa’s work in the Financial Planning Coalition, a lobby group that also includes the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. and the Financial Planning Association.
Leitz adds that one of her main goals is to carry on Napfa’s work to help consumers understand that financial planning is a discipline onto itself and not just investment advice or tax advice. “We want the public to know that financial planning looks at a person’s entire financial solution and blends finances with their values and life goals,” Leitz says.
In that vein, she notes that Napfa wants to make sure that regulators fully understand what financial planning is about, too. “One of the big challenges could be if the regulatory environment doesn’t recognize who we are and who we aren’t,” Leitz says. “We’re not sales people, and we don’t consider ourselves to be lumped in with the folks who primarily make their living by selling to people en masse.”
Leitz’s 34-year financial career included stints as a state bank examiner, a banker, an investment registered representative and branch manager. She founded her financial planning firm in 1995. Starting on January 1 this year, she and co-owner Jane Young changed the firm’s name from Pinnacle Financial Concepts Inc. to It’s Not Just Money Inc.
“Pinnacle is a fairly common name in Colorado, for obvious reasons,” Leitz says. “Jane and I feel strongly that our relationship with clients isn’t just about numbers crunching. It’s about the role money can play in their life and how they can have a healthy relationship with it. We figured the new name was a good way to convey what we’re about and what we believe in.”
The firm provides comprehensive financial planning, portfolio management, tax and estate planning to more than 130 clients. It specializes in clients who are divorced or widowed, along with baby boomer households.