About this episode
Even sophisticated clients don’t always understand why financial planning can help them achieve their goals. Regina McCann Hess, Founder and President of Forge Wealth Management, hopes to change that.
Regina joins Ginevra Czech, FS Investments Director of Client Value Add Programs, to discuss her passion for educating women about finance, insights from her book, Super Woman Wealth, and how she mobilizes her clients’ vision and values to help them secure their futures.
“A friend of the family wanted to teach me about the stock market. And I said, look, I grew up poor. That’s for rich people. And he said, no, I’m going to give you a stock for a graduation gift, but you have to do the research; you have to tell me why I’m buying this. So, I did it, and he created a monster. I absolutely loved it.”–Regina McCann Hess
Transcript excerpt
Regina Hess: A friend of the family wanted to teach me about the stock market. And I said, look, I grew up poor. That is, rich people, don’t understand it. So he said, no, I’m going to give you a stock for graduation gift, but you have to do the research.
You have to tell me why I’m buying this for you. What are the good, the bad, the ugly of the company? Of course, I said okay, I’ll do it. It’s a challenge, right? I’m not going to turn down the challenge. So I did it, and he created a monster. I absolutely loved it.
Ginevra Czech: Welcome back to FS Thrive, a podcast by FS Investments. I am Ginevra Czech, the Director of Client Value Add Programs here at FS, and I am very excited to be joined by Regina McCann Hess, who is the Founder and President of Forge Wealth Management, with over two decades of experience in financial planning.
She is both a Certified Financial Planner, as well as a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, and she’s dedicated to helping her clients achieve their financial goals. I had the opportunity to connect with Regina when she came into the office with one of our ERGs or employee resource groups—the FS Women’s Network—and she was able to talk a little bit about a book that she wrote, “Super Woman Wealth,” but also just gave us some basic financial planning tips or some basic financial literacy. And so we thought it would be a really great idea to bring her on as a guest. There is so much information and knowledge, and wealth is the word that’s coming to mind that she has to share with us.
So we’re really excited to sit down and talk about how we can help empower women to take an active role in their finances. So Regina, thanks for being with us today.
Regina Hess: Thank you for having me. I love coming to the FS Investments building. It’s such a cool place to be.
Ginevra Czech: And how did you get connected to FS?
Regina Hess: So Marshall is my wholesaler or representative for FS Investments and I’ve known him for years and I know I was here several years ago for an educational opportunity. And then he and I have met at multiple meetings. When he heard I was writing a book, he said, I have to connect you with people internally at FS and bring you in for the women’s educational group and have you speak to them. So he is definitely a champion of mine right now.
Ginevra Czech: We love Marshall. So let’s zoom out a little bit. And I would love for you to tell us a bit about your background and what inspired you to start your Forge Wealth Management financial planning practice.
Regina Hess: Okay, cool. I have been in the financial industry for almost 28 years.
I grew up the traditional way of working at broker/dealers and eventually decided that I wanted to go out on my own and be able to do what I thought was best for my clients and not have anybody trying to push things onto the product placement without me having to fight back all the time. So in 2015, right around July 4 weekend, I got my independence and I started Forge Wealth Management.
