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Connection and Empowerment
Kathryn Kubiak-Rizzone of About Time Financial Planning
By Kevin Adler
The decision by Kathryn Kubiak-Rizzone, CFP®, Certified SRI Counselor® to change careers and become a financial planner was inspired by a desire to help people and spark change in the industry. On a personal level, she and her wife felt dissatisfied with financial advisors they met over the years and knew there was a better way. “A financial advisor’s value should be the advice, not the product,” Kubiak-Rizzone says. “But that was not what I was hearing.”
If she asked a question unrelated to investments, Kubiak-Rizzone said she would get the brush-off. “I wanted someone who understood our lives, took the time to explain things, and shared guidance on every aspect of our finances. That's the kind of help I want to provide for others."
On top of that personal experience, Kubiak-Rizzone sees biases in the financial system that she believes advisors can help address. “The foundational economic principles of our country weren’t designed to be inclusive,” she says. “Layer on top of that a really complex set of rules that we all have to follow, but we’re not taught how to navigate them. And then financial professionals — the people who are best suited to give advice — the vast majority have competing interests in selling their commissioned or proprietary products.”
Kubiak-Rizzone named her solo firm About Time Financial Planning to reflect her deeper values and mission. “The name has multiple meanings,” she says. “In a financial system built on exclusion, opaqueness, and shame, it’s about time people have a financial ally who is inclusive, transparent, and empowering. It’s about time we address the financial disparities in our country and commit to pursue racial, gender, environmental, and economic justice.”
Time also refers to the moments that comprise our lives and give nod to the life planning elements Kubiak-Rizzone incorporates in her work with clients. “All the ways we talk about money are truly about time and how we want to spend it,” she says.
“At my core, I’m a person who cares about people as people,” Kubiak-Rizzone says. “I want to connect with clients about what’s truly important in their lives and use money as a tool for achieving those goals and dreams.”
Serving Professional Women and Families
A new advisor might be tempted to take any client who is interested. But when Kubiak-Rizzone launched her firm in 2023, she set out to avoid the trap of trying to be all things to all people. She’s oriented her practice toward early- and mid-career professional women and families, particularly physicians and small business owners. She also specializes in LGBTQ+ individuals and families.
Clients can hire her either for a one-time project or for ongoing planning, billed quarterly. However, Kubiak-Rizzone has priced her services so that ongoing planning is not significantly more costly than projects. “I don’t want people to choose one-time planning to save money, and then find that the implementation falls short,” she says.
Often, she’ll bring in a specialist or work with one a client already has. Kubiak-Rizzone acts as a sounding board and questioner to get the most out of those relationships. As an example, she helps people think through their estate planning questions ahead of time, “before they are on the clock with an attorney.”
Regardless of a client’s age or circumstances, Kubiak-Rizzone says that taxes are likely to come up early in the conversation. “Almost everything advisors do has some link to taxes, and the Tax Code creates a lot of stress. Taxes happen every year — there’s a lot that most people don’t understand, and a lot we can do to optimize for them.”
While Kubiak-Rizzone isn’t a tax preparer, she can help clients ask the right questions of their tax preparer and review their draft tax returns. “I provide a layer of accountability, helping ensure everything is reflected accurately before their taxes are submitted,” she says.
Affirming Spaces, Empowered Clients
Kubiak-Rizzone says it takes patience to get people to share their motivations and empathy to make them comfortable. "That’s where advisors can connect and find success,” she says. “It’s not always an epiphany revealed in one session. It’s peeling the onion in layers over time.”
Connections don’t come from running clients through scripted questions but from her personality and training such as the Kinder Institute’s EVOKE® five-day program. Reaching through to clients “is less about the words that are used” than being present and non-judgmental, she says. “Numbers on paper are important, but they are a very small piece,” this self-described “numbers nerd” says.
One thing she’s seen among friends is professional burnout. Married to a physician, Kubiak-Rizzone says mid-career healthcare professionals face immense stress, and they’re not unusual. American culture is filled with people who stay with their high-paying jobs “that are slowly wearing away at them from the inside,” she says.
When working with this type of client, she may be able to show them that financially they are in better shape than they realize, perhaps enabling them to retire earlier than they expected or cut back on their hours. “Maybe they can pivot to a different career that’s less stressful and more fulfilling, and find themselves again, find the balance they seek with other parts of their lives,” she says.
But with those types of changes come disruption — and she’s aware of that too. “Sometimes, the emotional piece is harder … giving yourself permission to change your identity when your identity is wrapped up in your profession,” she says. She is building a network of coaches who can help clients with that transition.
Your Personal Trainer
Kubiak-Rizzone understands career transitions. A former physical therapist and educator, she’s joined the financial planning profession in which one-on-one activity and education are crucial. And she knows that good education isn’t just reciting the facts but it’s about connecting them to people’s lives. “In grad school for physical therapy, we’d read articles about the most effective exercises for patients,” she says. “But it doesn’t matter what ‘the best exercise’ is if they don’t do it. The ‘best’ exercise is whatever one you’ll do.”
Through courses in public health, she learned about what motivates people and how to reduce barriers to behavior change. She sees many similarities in the financial planning field. “A lot of the same factors that help people build their physical health and well-being can help strengthen their financial health and well-being,” she says.
Bouncing her ideas off fellow NAPFA members has been valuable as she builds her client base, Kubiak-Rizzone adds. In her short tenure as a NAPFA member, she’s joined a MIX group, multiple NAPFA Facebook groups, and has participated in numerous knowledge circle conversations. “There’s always something to learn from the varied approaches that people take. That’s the beauty in sharing knowledge in the NAPFA community,” she says.
Kubiak-Rizzone also was a personal trainer, and she says there is one big difference in working with clients in that sphere compared to financial planning. As a trainer or physical therapist, she could show people exercises that they could do with her or on their own. But it was up to them to do the work. A financial planner, however, can do a lot of the work for the client, or at least make it much easier to complete. “There are certain things people have to do themselves, but other jobs I can take off their plate,” she says. “Wouldn’t everyone want a personal trainer who would run on the treadmill for them?”
A personal trainer who does your workout for you? It’s about time!
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, JusticeKathryn Kubiak-Rizzone’s website proclaims diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) as founding principles on par with Fee-Only planning and a transparent compensation structure. A graduate of NAPFA’s DEI certification program, Kubiak-Rizzone is committed to integrating these tenets into every component of her work. She provides a safe and affirming space for clients to bring their whole selves, stands behind the strong DEIJ commitment posted on her website, and seeks referral partners and vendors owned by women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals. DEI is so important to Kubiak-Rizzone that she has included the clause in her client agreement:
“I want specific language that communicates my values and commitment to a safe space. I want clients to know I’m standing behind my values,” she explains. "I consider statements like this to be simply one component of many in a firm's broader commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and justice.” |
About Time Financial Planning
Location: Rochester, N.Y.
Website: abouttimefinancial.com
Year founded: 2023
Number of staff: 1
Typical clients and their needs: Early- and mid-career professional women and families, especially physicians, entrepreneurs, and LGBTQ+ folks. Busy and even overwhelmed, they don’t know where to start to organize their financial lives and don’t have the time to figure out how to maneuver through our complex financial system.
Investment strategy and methods: A low-cost, broadly diversified, evidenced-based investing approach with a focus on the long-term, including tax optimization. If desired, the firm incorporates sustainable and impact investing approaches.
Favorite financial planning apps: Altruist, RightCapital and Holistiplan — cited for being innovative and responsive to advisors’ feedback — and Calendly for its functionality.
Favorite nonfinancial planning website: Instacart
Advice to other advisors: “For newer financial planners, I think some of the best things you can do for your career are to always be learning and connecting with people. Fee-Only financial planners are an extremely supportive and generous community. Join the groups, ask questions in the forums, reach out to people individually, attend conferences—whatever time and energy you put in you’ll get out in multiples.”
