Discussing LGBTQ+ Financial Health and Well-Being with Marci Bair of Bair Financial Planning

Both members of the LGBTQ+ community, Ethos ESG's Kevin Jarussi and San Diego-based Certified Financial Planner professional Marci Bair discuss the details of a recent study on financial health in the gay / trans communities and how best to prepare for a changing future.

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

 Kevin Jarussi, Ethos ESG

Thank you for joining us for another edition of The Ethos ESG Podcast, where we break down the latest developments in the world of sustainable and responsible investing. I'm Kevin Jarussi and with me today is Marci Bair, Founder of Bair Financial Planning in San Diego. How's it going today, Marci?

Marci Bair, Bair Financial Planning

It's great. Thank you for having me.

Kevin Jarussi, Ethos ESG

Thank you for joining. I asked Marci to join the podcast today because the month of June is well upon us. And officially, that means it's Pride Month. Both Marci and I count ourselves as members of the LGBTQ+ community. We wanted to devote an episode of the podcast to financial issues surrounding our community. We're going to focus on a study put out by the Motley Fool and the Debt Free Guys that was designed to get a picture of the state of finances within the LGBTQ+ community. It was a  survey of about 2005 LGBTQ+ Americans, including over 700 transgender Americans. They found that many LGBTQ+ Americans, along with every other American, face challenges in achieving long-term financial health and generational wealth. Before we dive into that, Marci, would you want to tell me a little bit about your background and how you came to found Bair Financial Planning?

Marci Bair, Bair Financial Planning

Sure. We started about 30 years ago and specialized in working with the LGBTQ+ community and women in leadership. It was natural for me, obviously, being part of the community. We work with business owners as well.

Kevin Jarussi, Ethos ESG

What were you doing prior?

Marci Bair, Bair Financial Planning

I was pretty much like right out of college. I grew up with my dad in a similar business. He was in the life insurance business. So I grew up seeing him interact with his clients. I got a good sense of customer service. Then I decided I wanted to get into financial planning. I started from scratch, which made the most sense for me to work with the community and people that were most like me.

 Kevin Jarussi, Ethos ESG

 I see on your website that you have a partner. Has he been around since the beginning as well?

 Marci Bair, Bair Financial Planning

I think when I started, he was in elementary school. Victor Orozco is my business partner. He's been with me for 17 years now. He started as an intern from San Diego State. We utilize interns a lot and like to give kids a chance in the business. He was one that was excellent and stuck around. We just really got along really, really well.

Kevin Jarussi, Ethos ESG

Let's move on to the article. There were some interesting statistics that I wanted to bring up before I started asking you questions. First off, LGBTQ+ plus Americans are less likely to use important financial tools such as retirement savings, life insurance, and estate plans than Americans overall, and most don't feel ready to make important decisions. Second, two-thirds of LGBTQ+ Americans carry a high amount of financial stress. Keeping up with the cost of living and being prepared for a financial emergency are their top financial concerns. Third, nearly half of LGBTQ+ Americans have experienced discrimination by someone in financial services, and a similar percentage say this has contributed to financial insecurity. Then lastly, LGBTQ+ Americans are more likely to have student loan debt, credit card debt, and personal loan debt than Americans overall but less likely to have a mortgage or auto loan. Do you see that last one? Does that make sense to you?

Marci Bair, Bair Financial Planning

One thing that stands out is the student loan debt. I see that a little bit more because the LGBTQ+ community experiences a lot of family discrimination. Many times when a teenager or young adult comes out to their family, they are cut off from the family. So they have to take on more student loan debt themselves. Lack of family support can contribute to them having more debt and less financial security. And we're talking about like generational wealth in this conversation as well. They often get cut out of family wills and eliminated.

Kevin Jarussi, Ethos ESG

Given your work with the community, would you say these findings are relatively accurate? Do you have a lot of clients who have expressed issues with discrimination in the financial sector?

Marci Bair, Bair Financial Planning

It's not as much perhaps blatant discrimination as just being uncomfortable sharing who they are with a financial person. I don't see how we can do a good job for our clients if we don't know who they are. As financial planners, that means knowing who they love. If a prospective client is not comfortable telling you who they are and sharing that, then we're only getting half the story. It hinders us from giving good quality advice to a client if we are not sure about everything that's going on in their life and what they're concerned about. For example, I had clients who were one of the first couples in San Diego to get legally married. They had been together for a very, very long time. Prior to coming to me as a financial planner, they had two separate tax people and two separate financial planners. So they just were not comfortable sharing their life.

So when they came to me, it was all just a hodgepodge. We were able to pull it all together and give them a comprehensive financial plan and analysis. Unfortunately, one of them got really sick soon after we completed the financial plan. Thank goodness we had done that because we were able to shore up a lot of things.

Kevin Jarussi, Ethos ESG

What kind of advice would you give members of the LGBTQ+ community about making sure that they prepare financially for the future?

Marci Bair, Bair Financial Planning

Unfortunately, they have to plan for themselves if they can't rely on family support. We should all be more self-reliant anyway. We need to take it upon ourselves to educate ourselves on becoming more financial literate. I'm a big proponent of Certified Financial Planners. It's the gold standard for financial planning. The CFP website has a list of certified financial planners in your area. That would be a place where somebody could start. They also have a lot of resources for the LGBTQ+ community.

Kevin Jarussi, Ethos ESG

Is there an LGBTQ+ center in San Diego?

Marci Bair, Bair Financial Planning

Yep. A lot of major cities have them. That would be a good place to start as well.

Kevin Jarussi, Ethos ESG

As we prepare for the overturning of Roe v Wade, we're also opening up the possibility that other cases will be overturned. Among them is Obergefell v Hodges, which allowed same-sex couples to receive the same financial benefits as other married couples. Hopefully, this doesn't come to pass, but do you have any thoughts or advice on how same-sex couples can prepare just in case?

Marci Bair, Bair Financial Planning

Some of the planning would be like what we did before we could get legally married. So lots of financial documents, legal documents, and estate planning documents that spell out exactly what each of you owns. Should one of you pass, the assets go to the right person. And medical documents that give the authorization to visit a spouse or partner in a hospital. We might have to go back to those days of making sure that everything's shored up. Meet with a Certified Financial Planner that can look at your whole financial life and see where there are holes.

Kevin Jarussi, Ethos ESG

Last question: according to the article, some LGBTQ+ Americans feel that investing isn't for them. 10% think it's too risky or intimidating. 7% feel like investing tools aren't made for them. And 2% think investing is ethically wrong. How can we as a community better educate and support one another on financial matters? And then, do you think there's enough literature and information geared toward our community?

Marci Bair, Bair Financial Planning

In 30 years, I've never had a client say they saved too much. Like when they got to retirement, right. Nobody's done that yet. Our goal is to get everybody saving and investing early and often. Members of our community are pretty discerning about where they want to invest their money. On the weekend, they might be protesting a company that's in their 401k. I got to cut my teeth on socially responsible investing 30-plus years ago, and it has been in our DNA.

Kevin Jarussi, Ethos ESG

Have you seen a bump in people interested in responsible investing in the last few years?

Marci Bair, Bair Financial Planning

Definitely. We've also seen a bump in clients coming to us that already have advisors who are not giving them the kind of support that they want. They've specifically asked for this type of investing, and the advisors sometimes don't want to learn or provide this for them. And so we're here.

Kevin Jarussi, Ethos ESG

We're coming to an end now. What's something that inspires you to work with the LGBTQ+ community?

Marci Bair, Bair Financial Planning

It's so rewarding to see our clients grow over all of these years. Thirty years ago, I had clients just starting out in their careers, and now they're retiring. We have worked with clients before they got married, now they have kids, and we're sometimes even working with the grandkids. I also really like being part of the solution on the investing side. I want to be on the good side of the fight and move companies in the correct direction in supporting the environment and future generations.

Kevin Jarussi, Ethos ESG

Do you have anything planned for San Diego Pride?

Marci Bair, Bair Financial Planning

 Victor and I host a large business mixer every year to kick off Pride for the business community. Then we'll be celebrating the Pride Parade as well.

 Kevin Jarussi, Ethos ESG

Merci, thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate it. This has been another episode of The Ethos ESG Podcast, and we will talk with you again soon.

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