Treece Talk Blog

In almost all instances of working with LGBTQ+ clients, there is ONE question that comes up when we're doing financial planning and investment management. 

When they ask me for a referral — it could be to an estate planning attorney, it could be to a CPA, it could be to anybody — they ask … 

Are they part of our community? 

And the answer to that is, of course, I'm going to refer to people who I know are culturally competent in dealing with LGBTQ+ people. Often these are straight people, but they're solid allies to our community. 

But that this question gets asked, tells me that this is an issue. It's a comfort level issue. People just want that taken off the table, so they don't have to worry about it. 

Why is it that people ask this question? 

There are several reasons why…

• You don't want to be discriminated against. 
• You don't want to be misunderstood. 
• You don't want to feel that you're being judged, or looked down upon, or that you're working with somebody who may not respect your values. 

For example, I was working with a company on long-term-care Insurance and they had a policy stating no same-sex couples at company events. And they lied to me about it. They said it had to do with taxes and with keeping standardized policies across all the companies they own. And I said, Well, my husband will go with me as my guest, and we'll make our own travel arrangements. And well, it turned out that the CEO of the company was a very conservative Christian. And this was a policy that was imposed. And it was pure discrimination. 

This is a prime example of why working with companies and individuals who share your values is important - and why having professionals who will have your back and advocate for you is paramount. 

As a gay-identified financial advisor, I have dealt with all of these issues and many more by providing advice, creating a plan, building a team, and most importantly, being there to actually help implement everything. 

I am here to advocate for you. Schedule a time to chat here.

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