Morningstar - Q4 2021 - 86

Investors
Finding Her Mission
Danika Waddell creates an inclusive
practice to help women.
Charles Keenan
USER PROFILE
As a financial advisor, Danika Waddell is on
a mission: Let women know that they can handle
their own finances just fine.
" I just want every woman to know that she has the
ability, " Waddell says. " So many women are
just really terrified of money. So, just leveling that
playing field a little bit and letting women
know they have the ability really drives me. "
Waddell, president and founder of Xena Financial
Planning in Seattle, works with men, too, but
her focus is on women in the technology industry.
Many of them are executives, who have
to navigate various types of compensation to
maximize rewards, minimize taxes, and diversify
concentrated portfolios.
Waddell, 45, didn't enter financial planning until
her late 30s. She took a hard look at what
was a new industry to her and has melded it with
her own philosophy. Part of her ethos revolves
around inclusivity, or focusing on underserved
groups, which also includes women of color and
those in the LGBTQ+ community.
She also eschews charging clients a percentage
of assets under management. She thinks
that approach leaves behind too many people,
especially those without much wealth
accumulation. Instead, Waddell is part of a
growing share of advisors offering flat fees for
their counseling, charging by the hour.
" I really reject this whole notion of valuing our
practices that way, and evaluating the client that
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way, " she says. " I've found there are a lot
of people that don't either have enough assets
to manage yet, or don't want their assets
managed, yet are very happy to pay for advice. "
Waddell's approach certainly has resonated. Since
founding her firm in May 2020, she has gained
60 clients. She's now looking for another advisor
to join the practice to handle the load.
Finding Her Niche
Like many advisors, Waddell found her way into
financial planning after working in other
industries. She majored in mathematics at Oberlin
College and then took a teaching job at a
private high school in Philadelphia. There, she
found that she didn't like the discipline aspect of
the classroom. She moved to Seattle in 2000,
taking a job at a startup, which closed after six
months when funding ran out, but she
stayed in the city. She worked in accounting
positions, working her way up to a
controller position.
But something was missing. She liked math and
knew from her teaching days that she liked
explaining complex topics to people. That came in
handy when helping her husband navigate
the complex world of equity compensation when
he worked at Amazon.com AMZN in the early
2000s. He hails from Great Britain, so while doing
their taxes, Waddell had to school herself
in the arcane nature of foreign asset ownership.
She knew others in the Seattle market in the same
predicament-expats working in technology-
and saw an untapped market.
While working as a controller, she obtained her
Certified Financial Planner designation and started
working with clients in late 2014. She worked
at a few firms in Seattle over the following
years. At her last post, Waddell suddenly found
herself sidelined for three months without
pay because the firm failed to have filed the proper
registration papers for her. The experience led her
to look elsewhere for employment.
Yet in that search, she found that most firms
in Seattle catered to high-net-worth clients, and
their offerings struck her as too traditional,
primarily focused on investment management. The
environment of people wearing suits also
felt alien. " I didn't see any firms working with
underserved communities or clients who
have not yet accumulated $1 million in investable
assets, " she says.
Many younger women in technology don't have
many assets to be managed but are making
good salaries and are vesting in company equity.
" That gave me a lot of confidence knowing
that this model works, and there's plenty of people
willing to pay a fee, " she says.
Her fees are simple: She charges $3,000 to
$6,000 up front, plus $750 a quarter for individuals,
and $900 for couples. Fees are based on time
spent, at $300 per hour.
Waddell specializes in helping women in part
because she says they're underserved when
it comes to financial services, and she stresses
inclusivity on her website. The name of her
practice is inspired by the television show
" Xena: Warrior Princess, " about a mythical female
action hero. The character resonates
with many women, and has a following in the
LGBTQ+ community.
Getting People Comfortable Talking About Money
Waddell encourages clients to be open about
their finances, something she experienced
at an early age. Growing up in western New York,
when she was about 10, her dad had her
write checks (he signed them) and balance the
checkbook. " It made me feel engaged in the
household finances, " she says. " I could see what
the balances were. It wasn't a secret. "
As part of her practice, she draws on her own
emotional experience with money and asks clients
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Morningstar - Q4 2021

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