Building a Legacy Through Purpose and Passion
- Feb 12
- 3 min read
By Kaylee McClellan, CFP®
Financial Planner
Women account for fewer than 25% of all CFP® professionals in the United States, and only about 6% of CFP®s are under the age of 30. That statistic probably surprises no one. When most people think “financial advisor,” the image is predictable: grey hair, man in a suit, bleak office building. That’s how I’ve always imagined them and for most of my career, that’s exactly who I’ve seen across conference rooms and industry events.
I don’t fit that mold. Never have, never will. I’m a (nearly) 27-year-old woman whose top hobbies include style, fashion, and design. You might wonder why that matters. It matters because I am more than my credentials, and I intentionally weave those parts of myself into how I serve clients. Not everyone wants the “typical” advisor. Many want someone who genuinely gets them, someone who understands how their creativity, identity, and lifestyle shape their financial decisions.
My legacy is to serve the people who’ve never felt represented in this industry. Creatives, beauty professionals, artists, content creators, individuals who fall outside the traditional advisor playbook of attorneys, executives, and physicians. I want them to experience what it feels like to have a true financial partner who understands them inside and out, beyond the numbers, and beyond stereotypes about who “deserves” high-quality advice.
Leading with purpose is the only way I know how to lead. Independence has always been my number-one value. Anything that threatens it is a non-negotiable. I’ve been doing things my own way since the day I turned sixteen and got my driver’s license – quite literally gaining freedom the minute I was allowed to. I chart my own path, I prefer doing things the way I know works for me, and I rarely apologize for it. I say rarely because fierce independence can step on toes, and I recognize that. But to say that someone else inspired me to lead with intention would be inaccurate. I inspired myself. I learned to trust my own vision, my own resilience, and my own voice. It reminds me of my college graduation speech where I said, “…and most importantly, I thank myself, because I did this.”
In an industry that rarely looks like me and even more rarely acts like me, I’m here to disrupt patterns. I show up authentically, have no-B.S. conversations, and deliver high-quality advice to communities that have been underserved for far too long.
My legacy matters to me, but so does the legacy of the people I help. They deserve lives, businesses, and futures that reflect their true selves. And money, frankly, is one of the most powerful tools in creating that. That’s where I come in.
As a modern woman, legacy isn’t about grandeur, it’s about impact. Big or small, it has to be true to oneself, or it falls into the B.S. category. I don’t plan to have kids; I’ve never wanted them. For many, family is the core of legacy, and that’s awesome. But if I adopted that narrative simply because it’s the norm, I’d be betraying my own values. Legacy, for me, is the reminder I leave behind for others: that you can show up fully as yourself, without shrinking, without conforming, and without compromising what matters to you.
So each day, I commit to doing one more hard thing. To showing up even when I’m scared. To speaking to, and for, the people who share my mindset. The financial industry is remarkable in many ways, but it’s also outdated and overdue for a refresh. I’m here as a breath of fresh air, proving that financial advisors don’t have to look one type of way. We don’t have to fit the mold to create a legacy that lasts.
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