Today we’d like to introduce you to Sue Burnett
Hi Sue, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was a math major in college, and when it came time to decide what I wanted to do as a career, the choice was between being a teacher (which meant more school), or being an actuary. The lure of a paycheck led me to be an actuary, which resulted in 7 years of exams while working full time! But, at least the paycheck was nice!
Most actuaries work in insurance agencies, coming up with premiums and not really talking to people. I’ve always been social, so I went the lesser-taken route of being a retirement actuary, which works with pension plans. We let businesses know how much money they need to contribute today to pay people’s pensions in the future – so, lots of math, but lots of working with clients to make sure they understand the results. For me, this was the best of both worlds, until 2008, when the market crashed and large businesses got rid of their pensions.
I then pivoted to small businesses, initially working for an insurance company that also had a retirement services group. They catered to small business owners, and I found that I absolutely loved it – so much, in fact, that I quit in 2019 and started my own business!
Monarch was born in 2019, right before COVID shut the world down, and has been going strong ever since. My mom was widowed when I was 5 years old, and raised 5 children on a school nurse’s salary. I grew up in upstate NY, and every summer, we would collect Monarch caterpillars and put them in mason jars, feeding them until they spun their chrysalises, and watching them hatch into butterflies. Some summers we must have had 30 jars on our porch table! Holding a butterfly in your hand, right before it flies away, is such an incredible feeling, and one that is a direct tie from my heart to my childhood. I was trying to figure out a name for the business that meant something to me, because I didn’t want to use my actual name, and was really at a standstill. I went to visit mom that summer, and the Monarchs were hatching – it was then, that we decided that Monarch would be perfect!
My focus on each individual business owner, and their unique goals and objectives for retirement, allows me to provide retirement plan options to them in an easy-to-understand manner, tying the pros and cons of each plan to their business and their financial situation.
I couldn’t have done it without the unwavering support of my friends and family. My mom, husband, boys, siblings, and friends, helped me to believe that I could start a business and be successful, and without their support, I would never have come this far.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has certainly not been a smooth road, but it’s gotten easier as the days, months, and years have gone by!
The main struggle is that I had no idea how to create a business! I figured that I was pretty smart, so how hard could it be? Well, it was hard!! From choosing a name, to setting up a website, to figuring out which networking groups to join, to how to effectively market myself…. it was all new, very overwhelming, and incredibly stressful. Luckily, I joined our local Chamber of Commerce, and met some incredible business owners that were more than willing to help me out and to be a sounding board for me, but there were many days where I felt like I was in way over my head.
Another major struggle was my timing. I started my business in August of 2019, and the first thing I needed to do was to make connections to business owners and their advisors. This would have worked very well if, 6 months later, the world didn’t shut down from COVID! Trying to market myself over social media and zoom, and network via phone calls, was a large challenge, because face-to-face meetings are so much more effective.
Finally, deciding whether to be a broad financial advisor or to focus on retirement plans was a challenge. Overall financial planning can apply to a wider range of clients – I am certified to sell life insurance, have passed my Series 65 and can provide investment advice, and I’m a credentialled pension actuary with a deep knowledge of retirement plans. I could market to more clients if I did it all, but I could also stretch myself too thin. If I focused on the retirement plans, which is where my experience and my passion was, I could be too limited. So, deciding on what my business focus should be was also a struggle.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Monarch Financial Advisors was founded as a way to combine my retirement plan experience and my passion for helping and educating others. With over 30 years of experience as a credentialled pension actuary, I’ve helped businesses with anywhere between 1 and 50,000 employees figure out which of the nine retirement plan options is right for them, based on the business owner’s own goals and objectives.
Although my focus is on retirement plans, I’m also an independent insurance agent and an investment advisor, I have access to multiple insurance companies and thousands of funds. This allows me to give recommendations and advice that’s right for YOU, not limited by ME. I don’t have an angle – I’m just helping business owners know and understand their options, so that they make an invormed choice.
We are known for our educational approach, and for our customer service. No strategy, or retirement plan, or investment, is finalized until the pros and cons are considered, and our clients understand the why behind our recommendations. Our focus on our clients, and not our wallets, allows our clients to trust us, and to know that they are in good hands.
We’ve won multiple awards in the five years that we’ve been in business, including the 2020 Woman Owned Business of the Year and 2021 Emerging Business of the Year from the LIttle Miami River Chamber Alliance. We were also a 2023 Goering Center honoree for making a Successful Difference, only one of 10 in the entire Cincinnati area to receive this award. These awards come not from our own nominations, but from someone nominating us – a fact that makes us very proud.
If people hear the name Monarch Financial Advisors, they think of my positivity, my responsiveness, my attitude, and my willingness to go above and beyond what’s expected in order to achieve a satisfying experience for my clients. Whether they’re big or small, I strive to make them feel as though they are my most important client, and my only focus. It’s part of my DNA, and it’s something that I’m very proud of. Everyone gets a call back, everyone gets a thorough response, and everyone gets the respect they deserve.
I’d like the readers to know that there are many retirement plan options out there for business owners. Some plans allow flexible contributions from one year to the next. Some allow maximum deductions, with hundreds of thousands of dollars being contributed – and deducted! – just for the owners. Some allow pre-tax contributions, some allow Roths. Our goal is to lay out what’s available, and to work with them to figure out what’s right for them, and for their business.
How do you think about happiness?
There are a lot of things that make me happy! It’s not anything huge, or expensive, or time consuming. It’s interacting with the special people (and pets!) in my life that bring me the most joy.
Business-wise, hearing a client say “I’ve never heard of that”, “You’ve helped me so much!’, and simply “Thank you!’ always makes me smile.
Personally, going on our family vacations with my husband and boys is always one of the best weeks of the year, and phone calls from my siblings or girlfriends always make me smile. Going for a run with my running group is always fun, because many of us share the same goals and will run races together. Spending down-time reading a book with a glass of wine and a cat on my lap, or taking a walk with my dog, brings me a sense of peace and happiness as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.monarchfinancialadvisors.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monarchsue/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/monarchfinancialadvisors
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sue-burnett-0b296318/
