Twenty Years in Financial Planning: A Letter to My Younger Self

To my younger self, twenty years ago,

As I celebrate twenty years in this business, I want to offer you some advice. Almost two decades ago, when you were transitioning back to work after taking seven years off from your career to raise your kids, your only goal was to be working, while having flexible hours. With your background in the financial services industry, you decided to start a financial planning practice because in your naivete you thought that it would be easy being your own boss, and you bought into the promise of flexibility. I want to share with you how this chapter unfolded.

The journey has been incredibly rewarding but not in the way that you are thinking. In these early years, you will be tested on many fronts, as building a practice is more than a full-time gig, especially with young children, family and community commitments. But those early years will also be full of miracles, with family and new connections stepping in to support you. Many of those early clients will still be there 20 years later. On this journey, your husband, Iftikhar Ahmed will be your biggest cheerleader, always supportive, picking up where needed, with kids and work. Many times, he will have more confidence in you than you had in yourself.

As you started looking for a place to network and seek mentorship, you ended up at

Open Silicon Valley and realized that it was a sea of men with a sprinkle of women. Thankfully, those men were committed to creating networking opportunities for women and the OPEN Women Leadership Forum was born. You will get an opportunity to volunteer with an incredible group of like-minded women, who are purpose-driven to create something unique; a platform for Pakistani/ South Asian women to see role models and success stories that looked like them. As the founder and first Chair of OPEN Women Leadership Forum, you will be instrumental in organizing and bringing to life this signature event for four years, and in the process, will have the opportunity to learn from highly dedicated and accomplished speakers; women who have walked the path of pursuing their dreams and passions and succeeded by all measures, not just professional. Through one of these remarkable women, you will get introduced to Landmark Education, which will introduce you to the world of transformation and self-development. The desire to constantly improve yourself as a human being will provide you with incredible friends and put you on the path of strengthening all your relationships. 

When you started your practice, you wondered, how open will people be to working with a South Asian woman who wore a hijab? Let me tell you that over the years you will have the opportunity to work with families and especially women, whose values are firmly aligned with yours. You will learn that every person has a unique relationship with money, and it manifests in many different ways. Through countless, deeply meaningful conversations, you will have the honor to have a front row seat to the dreams, aspirations and personal goals of your clients. Guiding your clients through the ups and downs of their financial journeys, their successes and challenges, and the insights they share over the years, will become a platform for your learning and growth. By having the unique privilege of working with people across a wide spectrum of ages and stages in life, you will have the gift of understanding what truly matters in life, what habits have a long-term impact on personal and financial success, and what causes joy or regret as we age. As you earn their trust, they will share with you, not just their finances, but their personal lives, their fears, their aspirations and their most cherished goals. That level of trust is a transformative gift that you will get to experience on most days.

Seven years into this journey, an unexpected miracle happens. Iftikhar decides to leave his high-tech corporate job, change careers and you become business partners. This will be a turning point for the practice as your endeavor becomes a family business! Together, you will become co-founders of a Registered Investment Advisory firm, Kaizen Financial Strategies. Your team will grow with amazing professionals who will bring their best to the table every day and be a source of ongoing success of the business. 

As you become a veteran in helping your clients align their values with their money, you and Iftikhar will realize that there is a need for a planning guide for American Muslims to help them coordinate their finances with their Islamic values. Over a period of four years, you will write and publish your first book, ‘Personal Finance and Inheritance in Islam; A Planning Guide for American Muslims’ and will have the distinction of being an author! 

I cannot say that the journey will be without trials or challenges. Nothing in life worth having comes without struggle. But I can say that through all these trials, many ups and some downs, you will feel God’s hand keeping you steady. Some doors that you thought would open will remain closed, but many that you didn’t know existed blew wide open. When you look back at the success of that nascent practice twenty years later, you will be filled with gratitude and a sense of awe, as it has taken a shape that you never dreamed possible. You will be surprised how well the pieces of your life fit together and you will be humbled by how you were guided and supported every step of the way. 

So I say to you, my unsure, self-doubting, dear younger self, stay true to your values, keep faith, live every moment and leave the rest to God. You will be covered!