Taking a direct path into fee-only financial planning

Aysha Ballis of Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group

By Bridget McCrea

Aysha Ballis took a straightforward path into fee-only financial planning. It began when she selected her college major, continued when she accepted an internship with Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group in Athens, GA, and culminated in her current position as partner and managing director of the firm.

“When I found the financial planning major in college, it just seemed like a great fit for me,” says Ballis, who attended the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, where she recalls being “drawn in” by financial planners doing very meaningful and relevant work.

Ballis was also fortunate to pick a college that puts financial planning education on the front burner. “The University of Georgia has one of the top financial planning programs in the country,” says Ballis, who particularly liked the school’s experiential learning offering (see “The value of experiential learning” below).

Elwood & Goetz Founding Partner and Chief Investment Officer Joe Goetz worked as a full-time professor at UGA and helped start the university’s financial planning program. “Joe played a significant role in the program’s development, so it was nice to be able to work with him as a professor and now as a colleague,” Ballis says.

Optimal financial planning solutions

Founded in 2006, Elwood & Goetz has locations in Atlanta, Charleston, SC, and Naples, FL, in addition to its Athens headquarters. With 24 employees (17 full-time and seven part-time), the company serves about 475 households and has over $550 million in AUM.

When the company’s founders, Goetz and Lindsay Elwood, moved to Athens to set up shop, no other NAPFA-registered firms served the community. “They didn’t want to work for a firm that was operating on commissions, and they strongly believed in the fee-only model,” says Ballis. “They wanted to be able to offer optimal financial planning solutions for their clients’ needs and ultimately fulfilled that goal by starting Elwood & Goetz.”

Ballis came onboard as an intern in 2016, when the company had just four full-time employees. She says the practice’s growth has been “incredible” over the last six years—so much so that associates now use technology to communicate with one another.

“When I joined the firm, we were in one smaller office where we could ask each other questions and collaborate across the hallway,” says Ballis. “Now we’re using Slack to communicate across four different offices.”

Elwood & Goetz’s growth has been 100% organic, with Ballis opening the Charleston office when she moved there with her husband in 2018, and two other partners using a similar strategy in Atlanta and Naples.

As it grew geographically, the company also added a 401(k) plan service to meet a need for its business owner clientele. “It became apparent that the opportunities for improvement within the 401(k) platforms were plentiful, so we decided to add a retirement plan service,” says Ballis. “It was an adjustment for us, but so far it’s going very well.”   

Bringing their whole selves to work

A majority woman-owned firm (Ballis, Lindsay Elwood, and Alden Shmerling are partners), Elwood & Goetz takes workplace diversity and inclusion seriously. Ballis says the firm views diversity through a variety of lenses, including race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, cultural background, and educational experience. She says the firm is particularly proud of its majority woman-owned status and the fact that its full-time staff is also mostly female.

“That tends to be a rarity in finance, and we recognize that there’s always more work to be done in this area,” Ballis says. “Ultimately, our overall focus is on creating a workplace environment that’s inclusive and celebratory of all of our employees, so they always feel comfortable bringing their whole selves to work.”

Always room for improvement

Ballis joined NAPFA as a student in 2016 and as an advisor the following year. She’s been a consistent attendee at NAPFA symposiums, conferences, and other events ever since. “I honestly love the NAPFA community,” says Ballis, who finds members to be very supportive and willing to share their best practices.

“I think we should all recognize that we aren’t doing every single thing perfectly and that there’s always room for improvement,” says Ballis, who is a current member of NAPFA’s webinar committee.

“Being able to bounce ideas off someone who is like-minded and hear his or her perspective on strategies provides a lot of value,” she adds, “and helps us all continue to grow as financial planners.”

Academic investment approach

Being situated near a major university with an established financial planning degree program, Elwood & Goetz has advantages that other practices may lack. For example, it has three distinguished professors on staff who have collectively published hundreds of articles and several books on financial topics. As a result, the firm spends much time focused on the science and art of asset allocation, and it uses an academic evidence-based investment approach.

According to Ballis, that approach focuses primarily on low-cost ETFs, with some Dimensional Fund Advisor options to populate various asset classes. “We focus on strategic and tactical asset allocation,” says Ballis, “and all with a clear academic evidence-based approach.”

Another advantage to being near UGA is the continual flow of new financial planning graduates. Even now, when finding and retaining new employees is difficult for organizations across all industries, Elwood & Goetz has a pool of candidates to choose from.

Looking ahead, she says the firm plans to continue on its high-growth trajectory. It recently hired three new planners who started working there in January, and it wants to recruit more over the next few months. “We’re excited about having new talent joining our team,” says Ballis. “Having new colleagues to work with and share ideas with is always fun.”

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The value of experiential learning For Aysha Ballis, getting “hands on” with financial planning while she was still in college helped pave the way for her success in the profession. She credits experiential learning—an engaged learning process where students “learn by doing” and then reflect on that experience—with giving her realistic insights into what it means to be a financial planner. For fall semester 2016 (the year Ballis joined Elwood & Goetz as an intern), the University of Georgia introduced a new requirement for all undergraduate students. They would have to complete at least one academic course or activity that includes a hands-on experience, encouraging students to extend their learning beyond the classroom. Ballis was an early participant in the school’s experiential learning program in 2015 (when it wasn’t yet required). Through the program, she had the opportunity to work directly with clients via a supervised clinic on campus. This gave Ballis workplace experiences that she continues to draw on in her role as an Elwood & Goetz partner and managing director. “I found during that time, and still continue to find, tremendous joy in partnering with clients to discover their goals,” Ballis says, “and working with them on achieving the dreams that they have for themselves, their children, and their partners.” Ballis also likes being invited into people’s lives, where she can learn more about their struggles and challenges. This, in turn, helps her guide those individuals and families toward positive financial outcomes. “It’s easy to view life in black and white, but helping clients discover the gray areas is very gratifying,” she says. “As planners, we can provide a lot of value by giving our clients the tools, resources, and support that they need to achieve their goals and discover peace of mind,” Ballis adds. “I find that very rewarding.”

 

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Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group, at a glance

Location: Athens, GA

Website: elwoodgoetz.com              

Year founded: 2006

Number of staff: 24  

Number of clients: 475 households

Amount of money managed: $550 million

Description of typical clients: University professors, business owners, entrepreneurs, and healthcare professionals.

Typical client needs: Help in understanding, organizing, and managing finances so that they can focus on more important aspects of their lives.

Favorite financial planning website: kitces.com

Favorite nonfinancial planning website: goodreads.com

Piece of advice to fellow NAPFA members: “Try to push yourself out of your comfort zone and engage with the NAPFA community. As an introvert, I think it’s easy to stay on the fringe and just maintain that same status quo. Growth and community really happen when you’re engaging with advisors and hearing different feedback. Attend conferences, join a committee, and participate in the study group or a MIX group. When you’re at conferences, attend the sessions that focus on the areas that you need to grow in, whether that be technical skills or the softer side of things.”