WOMEN'S MONEY EMPOWERMENT NETWORK LLC
SARASOTA, FLORIDA

Money as a resource is power. Understanding, controlling, managing, spending and earning money provides status, power, freedom and control of everyone and everything that money can buy. As women holding these abilities over money tips the scales and balances power. Female characteristics related to building relationships and solving problems that help their clients live better lives align with a career as a Certified Financial Planner (CFP Board’s Women Initiative asserts that women are turned off by firms pushing product sales. There seems to be a disconnect between what we want to achieve in our work as a Financial Planner and what large financial services firms are focused on. We are thinking about our client’s best interest but we wonder if the companies and organizations care, or are they just thinking about shareholders? Our mission is to help the industry create a more supportive environment where this type of conflict does not exist. We support the firms that allow women to work with the intention of truly helping their clients. We also support the many women planners who like the idea of helping other women, regardless of the size of their assets. Understanding, controlling, managing, spending and earning money provides status, power, freedom and control of everyone and everything that money can buy. As women holding these abilities over money tips the scales and balances power. Dr. Mattia’s financial expertise is a unique combination of advanced financial degrees and certifications, and over 30 years of financial leadership experience as a CFO/Controller for fortune 500 companies, Wall Street firms, and individuals preparing for retirement, and as a Finance Professor at University of South Florida and Rutgers University. She is the program director and professor of a newly created Personal Financial Planning Program at Muma College of Business, University of South Florida where she has created a degree to train a new breed of competent and ethical financial advisors. She is a member of the Financial Planning Association and a board member of her local chapter. She is also a member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA). Dr. Mattia received her Ph.D. in Personal Financial Planning from Texas Tech University, a Masters in Business Administration in Accounting/Finance and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Montclair State University. Created a scholarship called “Empowering Women in Financial Services” intended to encourage more women to enroll in the new Personal Financial Planning degree program at Muma College of Business, University of South Florida. Created “Women’s Money Empowerment Network” (WoMEN) podcasts and blogs for women interested in becoming educated and learning from someone who is not selling products. The website also showcases trustworthy female financial professionals. Created a program called Financially Empowering Women and provided seminars and workshops throughout NJ at Rutgers University, Montclair State University and other venues where I was asked to speak. ABCNEWS.COM Business Columnist- Column Title: Financially Empowering Women http://abcnews.go.com/author/laura_mattia Dr. Mattia is nationally acclaimed as a women’s advocate and educator within the profession and has been recognized as a Sarasota-Manatee Biz (941) Women of Influence, Best 50 Women in Business by NJBIZ and received the Women’s Choice Award® for Financial Advisors, a premier recognition award for advisors who provide quality service to their female clients. My Mission:  the vision of the financial planning profession where all planners are fiduciaries will evolve from a new breed of financial advisor who has studied the financial planning body of knowledge, preferably from a Business College within a University and sat for the CFP exam - similar to how students become CPA’s. This is why I created a new degreed program at Muma College of Business at University of South Florida to train this new breed of competent and ethical advisors.  the financial planning profession will better serve the community if more women participate. Although the industry is making efforts to include women, the women themselves need support, advocacy and encouragement to push through and circumvent the existing gender-challenges. This is why I created WoMEN workshops, WoMEN Advocacy Circle programs and wrote Gender On Wallstreet: Uncovering Opportunities for Women in Financial Services, to help women in financial services consciously engage in their career to achieve success. money is the final source of power and inequity. I am calling for a fourth wave of the women’s movement to encourage all women to gain control over money. Helping women to live their lives without worry and on their own terms is a goal for us all to strive for! Please join the calling. Money as a resource is power. Understanding, controlling, managing, spending and earning money provides status, power, freedom and control of everyone and everything that money can buy. As women holding these abilities over money tips the scales and balances power. Female characteristics related to building relationships and solving problems that help their clients live better lives align with a career as a Certified Financial Planner (CFP Board’s Women Initiative asserts that women are turned off by firms pushing product sales. There seems to be a disconnect between what we want to achieve in our work as a Financial Planner and what large financial services firms are focused on. We are thinking about our client’s best interest but we wonder if the companies and organizations care, or are they just thinking about shareholders? Our mission is to help the industry create a more supportive environment where this type of conflict does not exist. We support the firms that allow women to work with the intention of truly helping their clients. We also support the many women planners who like the idea of helping other women, regardless of the size of their assets.