Spousal Financial Planning Team Talks Personal Finance, Retirement With Patch

UPPER DUBLIN, PA — James and Lisa Burns raised four kids together in their home in this eastern Montgomery County community.

Now, the husband-wife team are partnering in another way — they're working side by side at Creative Financial Group, a Delaware County-based financial services business with clients that run the gamut from young millennials to retired septuagenarians.

Jim, 51, has been with the firm his entire career; he started out as an intern when he was 22.

"Along the way, just met great people. They had a phenomenal training program and a really good mentoring and teaming program," Jim said during an interview.

The couple met up with Patch recently not far from their Upper Dublin Township home.

With a staggering increase in the general cost of living recently — thanks, in part, to historic inflation — the couple said this is the perfect time for folks to consider working with a financial advisor.

“The whole financial wellness is a huge thing right now. Just the way everything is right now with the economy and inflation. People are panicky," Lisa said. "I think if you can step back and sort of understand where you are and how to read a statement. Even the basics, which a lot of people either never learn or feel is over their head. It’s really not. So we’re just trying to spread that.”

While Jim is the financial advisor, Lisa works in the marketing and communications sphere.

She began working with Creative Financial Group in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the time, Lisa was doing some work in her kids' elementary school, but after remote learning began, she needed something more to help fill her time.

With a strong background in marketing and business development, Lisa came aboard with Creative Financial, and now handles things like marketing, communication, client outreach and social media.

Jim, who grew up in Ridley Park, Delaware County, originally studied liberal arts while at Penn State University, but after his internship with Creative Financial decided he wanted to pursue this field as a career.

"I knew that this is where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do," he said.

Creative Financial, which was originally headquartered in Wayne, Delaware County, but has since moved to Newtown Square, is one of the larger financial services firm on the east coast, according to Jim.

"It's grown exponentially, which is pretty neat to see," Jim said.

Jim handles general financial services, such as investment advising, retirement planning and estate planning.

"I think there are so many different aspects of engaging someone and ultimately being a resource or an advisor to them," he said.

Jim said retirement planning in particular has been a very sought-after service in the field in recent time, especially with younger generations being concerned about things like the solvency of Social Security.

"There's a lot of concerns around that," he said.

Jim is currently in the midst of pursuing some new professional designations, such as the Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP).

Lisa, who during this past election ran for a seat on the Upper Dublin School Board, said she has enjoyed her time working with her husband's firm for the past couple of years.

One of the things she has been involved with is coordinating Zoom financial wellness events for clients.

She is also currently in talks with the Upper Dublin School District's superintendent about the prospect of getting financial education added to the curriculum in the middle school, something she said more school districts across the country should be considering.

Florida, she said, is an example of one state that recently passed legislation requiring such financial education in schools as a requirement for graduation.

Jim said his wife coming aboard has been invaluable, even though, he joked, "Most people told me, 'don't do it,'" on working with a spouse.

“For me to do what I want to do, and to have that kind of growth in this practice, I recognize, mostly from my experience, you need a go-to specialist that you can work with every day that you trust, and I’m very lucky and blessed that she came with a ton of marketing experience," he said. "Always been in marketing. Really understands the social media space.”

The couple stressed the importance of folks finding and retaining a financial advisor that they feel comfortable working with, since it all begins with formulating a basic, human relationship, and feeling at ease with an individual they choose to trust with managing their money and finances.

"There's a lot of financial advisors out there. It's a tough space to be in," Lisa said. "It's very competitive, so you have to kind of step back and start that relationship and take baby steps."

You can learn more about Creative Financial Group by visiting the firm's website.