Up Close & Personal with Angela Moore
Financial Educator | Speaker | Coach
Angela is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional (non practicing)
Master Planner Advanced Studies℠
Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor℠
Certified Financial Education Instructor
Only approximately 20% of financial advisors in the U.S. have the CFP® designation and of that, only 23% are women.
When you factor in age and diversity, Angela represents less than half of 1%.
Note: Angela teaches, speaks and coaches full time now and no longer practices financial planning.
“…pay attention to all the billboards, advertisements and commercials. These companies are spending millions to get a piece of your money. Every day, you have a choice to either make yourself richer or to make someone else rich.”
“…no matter what level of education someone may have, most people have never been taught the basics of personal finance.”
How did you become so passionate about personal finance?
Well, in the beginning, like so many people, I thought I knew it all. After all, I had graduated with honors with an accounting degree, had been keeping a detailed budget since age 18 and had an 820 credit score by age 25.
I began my career in finance in the area of lending. Time after time I saw credit reports of people with massive consumer debt, particularly credit card debt. When structuring loans for them, many people of all ages, even in their late 50’s and 60’s didn’t even have $500 or $1000 saved for a down payment. That was when I first began to notice how big of a problem this was.
What was the turning point in your life?
Personally, I had questions of my own. Even though I had a financial background, I didn’t know how much I should be saving each month or how to invest it. I also got pressure from people around me to buy a house (renting is a waste of money they said)… buy a new car (you can afford it they said). I soon found myself in debt living paycheck to paycheck. I had some savings but would soon find out that $50k in a 401k doesn’t go very far after taxes and penalties.
At age 26 I decided that I needed a financial advisor. The problem was that I didn’t have much liquid savings to invest outside of my 401k. I couldn’t find a financial advisor that would work with me at first because most of them have very high asset minimums. Finally, I found an advisor that would listen to me. I poured out my life story to him and he agreed to help me as a “public duty”. When he told me what he was going to charge me (a very large amount of money), I almost fell out of my chair. I said there's no way! Then I went home and noticed a pair of designer shoes in my closet that I had paid $700 for. I thought to myself, “You’re willing to spend money on shoes but not invest in your financial future?” The next day I went back to him and in that very first planning meeting, he cut $800 from my monthly budget which we then used to pay off debt each month and eventually to build up savings. How I saw money changed forever. One of the things he said that I’ll never forget is, “Angela, when you leave here today, I want you to pay attention to all the billboards, advertisements and commercials. These companies are spending billions to get a piece of your money. Every day, you have a choice to either make yourself rich or to make someone else rich.”
How did you become a Financial Advisor?
Two years later, I applied and was selected to participate in one of the industry’s top training programs with Merrill Lynch. While at Merrill Lynch, I specialized in wealth planning and worked with one of the largest teams at the firm under direct guidance of a Barron’s advisor. After several years with Merrill Lynch, I relocated to Miami and worked as a financial advisor specializing in financial planning with over 300 families at Charles Schwab.
Why was Modern Money created?
One of the things I realized was that no matter what level of education or wealth someone may have, most people have never been taught the basics of personal finance. I found that even the most educated and successful people needed to go back to the basics like something as simple as a budget or spending plan as an example. I also noticed that there were a large number of young professionals that needed and wanted the guidance of a financial advisor but didn’t have the minimum assets needed to work with most advisors in the industry. I found myself helping so many young professionals and loving it that I decided to launch Modern Money Advisor to focus on it full time.
How are you making a difference?
I have made it my mission to help people of all walks of life build a strong financial foundation, one focused on aggressively eliminating debt and accumulating wealth. In addition, I am passionate about teaching all of the fundamental personal financial principles to lead young people to financial success well into the future, preparing them early for their short-term and long-term goals including retirement and building a legacy. I help my clients with a customized strategy and then I am there throughout the process to teach them, help implement, coach them and serve as an accountability partner. In addition, I monitor their progress and we make adjustments when needed. This is a real solution with real results.
Financial Educator. Speaker. Financial Literacy Activist. Commentator. Coach. Philanthropist.
Angela Moore is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and founder of Modern Money Education, a financial education firm for Gen X and Y women in the accumulation phase. A former financial advisor at Merrill Lynch and Charles Schwab, Moore realized that many young professionals were seeking financial help but lacked the minimum amount of assets to qualify for working with a financial adviser. She launched Modern Money Advisor in 2018, a boutique financial planning firm dedicated to helping young professionals build a financial foundation. In 2020, she and her partner Arielle launched Modern Money Education, a platform focused on delivering financial education from credentialed financial professionals, specifically CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals. in August 2021, Angela and Arielle made the decision to focus on group courses, financial coaching and speaking engagements with Modern Money Education.
Calling herself an "honorary millennial," she said the generation has "complex financial planning needs" because it has so many competing priorities — from trying to reach financial goals such as home buying and family planning to career goals to typically managing massive student loan obligations, in addition to contributing financially to their parents and planning for their children's education. The Florida-based Moore said millennials "go through many years of higher education without ever learning anything about personal finance."
Moore regularly speaks in public on financial literacy for millennials, hosting seminars and workshops everywhere from schools to non-profit organizations. Angela has made it her mission to empower others financially and founded Modern Money Education in 2020 to offer real-world live financial courses focused on topics like money mindset and student loans through Modern Money Education.
Angela has served as an Executive Board Member of the Financial Planning Association of Miami and is a member of the XY Planning Network and the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors. In 2018, Angela was honored by Brickell Magazine as one of Miami’s Top 20 Professionals Under 40 and in 2021, Angela was honored by Business Insider as one of the top 23 Financial Advisors for Millennials.
Angela holds multiple certifications including the Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor™, Certified Financial Education Instructor and Master Planner Advanced Studies. She holds a Masters degree in Financial Planning from the College for Financial Planning and a Bachelors in Business Administration from Howard University with a concentration in Accounting where she graduated Cum Laude.