When we launched Chicory Wealth in 2018, we carefully chose the name of our practice to reference the chicory plant, known for flourishing where other plants can’t survive. Its deep roots and piercing blue flowers have been used throughout the ages for healing, flavoring, and ritual ceremonies. It seemed to us the perfect symbol of the balance between strength and beauty we strive to create for our clients.
At the same time, we chose for our tag line “Integrating Money and Meaning” to further characterize the bold mission we have for our practice. This phrase likely speaks differently to different people, but here is what it means to us:
We are a financial practice, so yes – we help people with their finances. But we look at wealth in a much broader context than most traditional financial practices. We understand that we all live within a vast, complex monetary system that affects every aspect of society, as well as every corner of our individual lives. It’s common to pigeonhole money into its own separate category of “what I can and cannot afford,” without acknowledging money’s connection to and impact on our emotions, our health, and our spirit. This disconnect can cause unhealthy stress, anxiety, guilt, anger, and fear, which many people experience when dealing with money.
Our mission at Chicory Wealth is to resolve this disconnect by delving more deeply into the concept of wealth and the use of resources for good. We help people recognize and embrace their basic values and dreams for themselves and the wider world. We also help them understand the nature of their wealth (in all meanings of the word — time, talent, health, as well as assets) and to help them build a strategy for using that wealth in pursuit of their values and dreams.
This is the reason holistic Financial Life Planning is such a key component of our work with clients. We absolutely look at the nuts-and-bolts of financial planning, but we also deepen the conversation to help people understand themselves better and to recognize their personal tendencies and dysfunctions around money and elsewhere. We can’t move beyond these tendencies until we see them. We also help clients articulate their true values and desires, and provide opportunities such as ESG and socially responsible investing, shareholder activism, and charitable giving strategies to help them support those values and desires. We see ourselves as advocates and guides, helping clients on their journey toward heart-felt goals.
This work is not just something we provide for our clients – it is our mission as individuals and as a company. We strive to live up to our values in the workplace and to be a force for good in the world. We are continually learning and pushing ourselves to be better people and better at our work. Indeed, it would not be too much to say that this work is a calling for us, and we believe it can be transformative – for our clients, for ourselves, for the wider world.
How do we help make this transformation happen? By remembering that money is a tool, and if it is used on behalf of that which is true and meaningful – “integrating money and meaning” – it can change not just individual lives, it can change the world.
