Check Out Staci Heath’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Staci Heath.

Hi Staci, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I grew up on the western slope of Colorado, home of the beautiful San Juan Mountains, in Montrose. Looking back, the biggest benefit of having grown up in this semi-rural community was the abundance of outdoor recreation and beautiful scenery, which helped shape not only some of my interests but also who I am today. Extracurricular activities included summer days at the outdoor pool, camping, trips to Ridgway Reservoir and Blue Mesa Lake for boating and swimming in the summers and snowmobiling in the winters. My family also enjoyed frequent trips to nearby Ouray (a.k.a. “The Switzerland of America”), a small tourist town whose fresh mountain air and scenery are second to none. This environment instilled in me an appreciation for nature and was the genesis of my interest in health and fitness, leading to a passion for running and hiking. After briefly living in Arizona and Northern California after college, I always knew I would come back to beautiful Colorado, where I have been so grateful to live, work and raise a family here in the southwest Denver area for the past 19 years. My husband and daughter love our community as much as I do and we plan to continue to serve clients here for many more years to come; my husband as an entrepreneur and myself as a financial advisor with Edward Jones.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
A major challenge in my life that I have overcome is the fear of money. This may sound peculiar…allow me to explain! From an early age, I watched my family struggle financially and not be able to enjoy many of the delights that, as a child, I observed other families enjoying: participating in recreation activities or sports that had a cost assigned to them, regular vacations, what have you. During my formative years, I remember being taunted to a certain extent about this in school, which fed my feelings of fear that I would always be relegated to not having enough money to support even the essentials in life: an adequately stocked refrigerator and cupboards, keeping the utilities on, healthcare, etc. I remember continually feeling that “there has to be another way,” and this is what initiated my self-imposed fiscal responsibility. I vowed that I would live differently once I got out into the ‘real world.’ This ingrained fear of not having enough money followed me into early adulthood, and when I became a mother myself, I was unsure of how exactly to improve our financial picture beyond putting money in a savings account and not over-spending in non-essential areas. I didn’t know anything at that time about investing or formal money management, other than the fact that I knew I wanted to save for my daughter’s future education and that I also needed to be thinking about retirement planning. I began my young family’s search for a better way by looking for local assistance from a financial advisor. During my online search, I came across a female financial advisor in my area that I had no idea at the time would change my life dramatically, for the better, in multiple ways. Because of my lack of understanding of these financial subjects and my accompanying fear surrounding money, I knew I wanted to talk to and seek advice from a woman. I felt that I would be understood better and feel less judged. From our first meeting, I was met with kindness, empathy, and resources that provided me with education in the areas I wanted to learn about and fully understand. We looked at where my family was then, where we wanted to end up being, and developed a path with defined actions it would take to reach those milestones. Once I understood what my husband and I needed to do and we began taking action and having an accountability partner in our financial advisor, my internal prison of fear around money slowly started to dissipate. Over the next 10+ years of being a client of Edward Jones, I began to see not only the results of our hard work and commitment to building for retirement and education savings for our daughter but the fact that there are many people with these same needs whose lives I can help make better by paying forward what was given to me. I care about people and their personal struggles and situations and if I can impact their life in a positive way by helping them help themselves financially, I will spend the rest of my career happily serving as many people as I can in this regard.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
After spending many enjoyable years working in operations in the medical device industry, I began to feel a pull to do something different; to help people on a more personalized level. I am passionate about my job as a financial advisor because I have seen the impact that comprehensive financial guidance has had on my own life as a long-term client of Edward Jones before joining the firm. Understanding what is important to someone – financially, professionally, and personally – is the first step in our journey in developing an effective strategy to meet their financial goals. From there, we partner together for the duration to track progress and make the appropriate adjustments, as life events necessitate, to help keep clients on track. Leveraging alliances with CPAs and attorneys helps us provide comprehensive resources and strategies for individual investors and business owners alike. Along with our senior branch office administrator and home office team, we work hard to provide our clients with an ideal experience. We want you to enjoy each visit to our office and always know that you and your family’s best interests are at the forefront.

Defining success? How do you define success?
For me, success is defined as being healthy in all areas of life, having my family and close friends near, watching my daughter grow and thrive, and getting up every day to help people in a meaningful way. It’s not about the number of zeros in my bank account and accumulating ‘stuff’ – its caring about other people and asking myself, “what can I do to help them make their life better?” and knowing that I am in the place I am meant to be and that I can make a real difference in someone else’s life. This is my personal success.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.edwardjones.com/staci-heath