Elizabeth is passionate about the financial planning profession and the difference that financial life planning can make in people’s lives. She and her husband, Michael J. Smith, CFP®, recently merged their financial life planning firm with RTD Financial Advisors, a nationally prominent independent planning and investment management firm that specializes in bringing economic freedom to individuals and small businesses through a process that begins with understanding what truly matters to clients.
Elizabeth has worked in the financial services industry since 1981. A Certified Financial Planner® professional since 1991, Elizabeth was the President of the Financial Planning Association in 2004 and Chair of the FPA in 2005. She served on the state and national boards of FPA, the 29,000 member professional organization for the financial planning community, from 1997 through 2005 and continues to be active in the profession.
Elizabeth is a nationally and internationally recognized speaker on many aspects of “the Art, Heart and Science” of Financial Planning. She offers presentations, consulting and coaching on all things financial life planning-related, to advisors and financial services firms, in the areas of leadership and staff development, financial life planning process, tools development and delivery of the “art and heart” of financial planning
While serving as president of FPA, she helped FPA lead a successful lawsuit against the Securities and Exchange Commission in support of higher standards and consumer protection. She traveled internationally as part of the US contingent at gatherings of the international financial planning leaders community.
Elizabeth currently serves on the faculty of the Secretan Center, an organization created by business leader and author, Lance Secretan, dedicated to Conscious Leadership principles. She is the founding chair of the Financial Planning Foresight Group, a multi-disciplinary think-tank dedicated to studying issues that impact people’s financial well-being, and she serves on the FPA Public Issues Advisory Committee and Major Firms Advisory Team. In addition she serves as a Mentor for the FPA Residency Program, an educational one-week intensive program for new CFP® practitioners.
Recognitions:
Listed as a “Mover & Shaker in the profession” by Financial Planning Magazine, January 2005.
“Top Ten Atlanta Financial Planning Firms”, 1996, by the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
“The 150 Best Financial Advisers for Doctors” for the past four annual listings by Medical Economics magazine.
Elizabeth has been featured on the NBC Nightly News, CNN, CNBC and Lifetime Television, as well as in the Wall Street Journal; Washington Post; LA Times; San Francisco Chronicle and The Atlanta Journal & Constitution. She has also been featured in magazines including: TimeMagazine,Money, Real Simple, RedBook, Pink, Glamour, Parents, Smart Money, More, Working Mother, the Journal of Financial Planning, Financial Advisor and New Choices.
Prior to joining RTD Financial, Elizabeth was a Strategic Advisor and head of the financial planning department at Mercer Advisors, a firm with nine offices throughout the country. She and her husband, Michael, had their own successful firm, Financial Vision Advisors, for ten years prior.
A native of Memphis, Tennessee Elizabeth is a graduate of New School University in New York City. She began her financial planning career in New York City and was an adjunct professor at Hofstra University.
