The Future of Financial Services: Training, Talent, & Personal Development with Lindsey Lewis

If you haven't already, you’re about to meet Lindsey Lewis, Managing Director at The American College and passionate advocate for the next generation in financial service professionals. 

With over 100,000 financial professionals set to retire in the next decade, Lindsey is on a mission to bridge the talent gap and create new pathways for emerging leaders. 🌟

In this episode, Lindsey dives into the staggering industry shifts ahead, the importance of succession planning, and unique strategies to attract—and retain—diverse talent. 

Whether you’re inside financial services or charting your own career journey, this conversation will inspire you to take action and invest in your own personal, financial, and business growth.

Let’s talk about opportunity, reinvention, and building a future where everyone has a seat at the table. 💡

📽️ To watch this episode: https://youtu.be/-jrGsN2O8Lw

🔗 To connect with Lindsey Lewis: 

📲 Website: https://influencingfinance.io 

📲 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseycarolyn

📲 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/influencingfinance/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D

📲 Catalyst: https://startwithcatalyst.com/about

📲 Advisor Launch Lab: https://advisorlaunchlab.com

📲 The American College: https://www.theamericancollege.edu

#pathwayswithamberstitt #lindseylewis #amberstitt #influencingfinance #startwithcatalyst #advisorlaunchlab #theamericancollege #naifae3 #amberstittmediacompany 

📻 Thank you for tuning in to Pathways!

🔗 Connect with Amber on Social Media:

• AMBER’S INSTAGRAM
• AMBER’S LINKEDIN
• AMBER’S FACEBOOK

📲 Be sure to visit Amber's website:

www.AmberStitt.com

🎬 And remember, let's take action today!!!

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Transcript

Lindsey Lewis [00:00:00]:
So, there are a 100K financial professionals who plan to retire in the next 10 years and that is 30% to 40% of the entire workforce. Just let that settle in.

Amber Stitt [00:00:11]:
Our audience...they're not all in the industry. So this is really important, I think for you to share because this is hitting different demographics and businesses. It's across the board important.

Lindsey Lewis [00:00:22]:
It is so wild when you think about, what if a 1/3 of all doctors retired within a decade period. It's alarming.

Amber Stitt [00:00:31]:
Hello and welcome to Pathways e3, a special edition of Pathways with Amber stitt. The Pathways e3 podcasts were recorded with special guests who were attending and collaborating at the NAIFA e3 conference in Newport Beach, California in September 2025. Let's join the conversation.

Amber Stitt [00:00:51]:
So we are live at e3 and I have my friend Lindsey Lewis here and this is not the first time we've been together in the last 30 days. Quite a bit's been going on. I'm so excited. We got to do a panel today. And for those of you that don't know her, she is at The American College. And I'll let you say what you do there, but really I'll link her up in the show notes because she does amazing things if you don't already know. She's all over the interwebs on social media. But Lindsey, I want to talk about what is exciting for you over at The American College.

Amber Stitt [00:01:20]:
In our time we have together today.

Lindsey Lewis [00:01:23]:
There are so many things that are exciting at The American College. My role there, I'm the managing director of our Center for Women and then I champion our representation strategic focus area. And on top of that, I do own a business with other partners. Alanah Phillips, Iyana Harris, called Catalyst and Advisor Launch Lab. So that's where we were connected.

Amber Stitt [00:01:42]:
Hold on we gotta...I know I gave my bracelet away. Oh my gosh, we have one in a bag. All right, so Catalyst.

Lindsey Lewis [00:01:47]:
Catalyst. So at the college, what's really exciting me right now is a lot of the work that we're doing with the next generation of folks who are coming into financial services. So there are a 100K financial professionals who plan to retire in the next 10 years and that is 30% to 40% of the entire workforce. Just let that settle in.

Amber Stitt [00:02:10]:
Our audience...they're not all in the industry. So this is really important, I think for you to share because this is hitting different demographics and businesses. It's across the board important.

Lindsey Lewis [00:02:20]:
It is so wild when you think about, what if a 1/3 of all doctors retired within a decade period. It's alarming. And currently financial services has a pretty poor attrition rate.

Lindsey Lewis [00:02:35]:
So a lot of folks leave. So they have a really bad retention rate. And so in order to hire and replace the amount of folks that are leaving, we'd need to hire like half a million to a million folks in the next little bit. So we're, we're going to have this hiring crisis that's going to happen. And so the college has a lot of forethought around some of the coursework and curriculum that we're looking at building. So I'm in the process of building a course around the landscape of financial services. So even for listeners and for practitioners, it's really tricky for folks to identify where a firm lands on the industry spectrum.

Lindsey Lewis [00:03:13]:
So there's wirehouse, there's banks, there's insurance broker-dealers, RIAs, hybrid RAs, fintech firms. And then they all say that they want a financial advisor, but how you're compensated is totally different in each arena. So it's very fascinating to see folks that are trying to get into financial services. So maybe there's a doctor on here that doesn't want to practice anymore and they want to switch over to financial services. They've done that and they definitely have done that. And they've been like, Carolyn, she's been so successful because she's like, "I need someone to plan my life. And so I just left being a medical doctor and became a financial planner," but really understanding the landscape. And so we're working on this introductory course really for all folks that we complimented and then working on an accelerator program.

Lindsey Lewis [00:04:03]:
So people who are in the business to help them be more successful faster.

Amber Stitt [00:04:08]:
Sure.

Lindsey Lewis [00:04:08]:
So that's some of the work that we're doing at the college.

Lindsey Lewis [00:04:10]:
And in addition, our regular scholarship programs, so we do that two times per year. And then the women's events and networking and fostering community and then all of our educational programs. So that's our core.

Amber Stitt [00:04:24]:
Well, I mean, that's where I got my fast track to figure out what I wanted to do. And it was the CLU® ChFC®. It makes it interesting. It gets the job done. Like my dad even said the CLU® is like the backbone and he's old school, you know, so it was the intel I needed to be super proficient. But in my niche, I went to a different direction than say planning, but it was all important. And then I figured out I do like the estate planning, the tax planning, and special needs is kind of like my next thing that I might hit you up on.

Amber Stitt [00:04:54]:
You can go so many areas with it.

Lindsey Lewis [00:04:56]:
I think the beauty of the content at the college is that everything is applicable to your own life. You learn about it and...

Amber Stitt [00:05:03]:
Just like that physician you mentioned, she's gonna go learn and then she's starting a new business out of it.

Lindsey Lewis [00:05:08]:
Absolutely. So a lot of amazing things that are happening out of the college and part of the reason why we have the other business that we run is we just, we still see a gap. So with Advisor Launch Lab, which, you know, I have a role within that space, we're helping independent teams hire and train next gen talent. And this is really to foster that talent pipeline and that engagement. Because frequently if you have like a Generation one advisor, Generation two advisor, and you have Gen three coming in, there's just, you know, norms, vernacular vocabulary, things that just don't get translated super well. And some of these independent teams, if they've broken off right, and they don't associate with home office, they need some support of training and development. And in the American College's recent Gen Z research study, it's 1 in 4 Gen Z financial professionals found their training ineffective.

Amber Stitt [00:06:02]:
Really?

Lindsey Lewis [00:06:03]:
Yes.

Amber Stitt [00:06:03]:
Oh wait, from the firm level?

Lindsey Lewis [00:06:05]:
From the firm level. I don't think it's surprising. When you see those folks, you also look at how long they want to stay in the industry. Fewer than six years.

Amber Stitt [00:06:13]:
Okay. Because there was a stat for a long time, because it's been almost 15 years for me, where it takes you 5 years to really get it going. So this is kind of different. This is saying we're seeing even other data that could make it even harder.

Lindsey Lewis [00:06:26]:
Oh yeah. Across the board, I've heard the 3 years. If you can last 36 months, you can last in the industry, or 5 years. But in this younger generation, when you have more instant knowledge, technology, all this stuff, that runway is getting shorter. So if you're not doing a good job, they're going to exit, or they're a flight risk.

Lindsey Lewis [00:06:47]:
They're going to switch firms quite a bit. They don't see that as a bad thing versus previous generations.

Amber Stitt [00:06:53]:
Oh yeah.

Lindsey Lewis [00:06:53]:
See it as a bad thing.

Amber Stitt [00:06:57]:
Thank you for joining us on this episode of Pathways. Please consider giving us a "like" and subscribing to the channel. Your support goes a long way towards helping us bring you more compelling content. Remember, let's take action together! Now, let's jump back into the conversation.

Amber Stitt [00:07:14]:
From today, you brought up something in a panel that made me think the alums need to rethink coming back and just immersing themselves again because there's a bunch of new content. So there's some of that that I think needs to be reintroduced. So you think, "Oh, I got my designation, I have to do my CE." But I think that we can think of it differently now. You guys are adding on so many things.

Lindsey Lewis [00:07:33]:
Yes. We have so many different offerings. So one is The Knowledge Hub+ platform. So consider this your CE. One stop shop, but on very specialized topics. So if you are needing more work and special needs, or more work on crypto, or more work on annuities, or reverse mortgages, or how to deal with clients who have children with drug addictions, so many varying things there. And so you have that. So if you're an alum and

Lindsey Lewis [00:08:04]:
you're in current good standing. You can access all of that.

Amber Stitt [00:08:07]:
I didn't know that. I mean, these are very important topics and I didn't even know that happened. So, that has been available. I'm so excited that you brought that up. And I think we all need to share that. Just for the alums. But you have other things too, you were saying.

Lindsey Lewis [00:08:20]:
Yeah, so we have different certificates, too. So we have a Trust Certificate. So historically, our Center for Ethics has really done work with corporations that are part of the Ethical Alliance. And so they're working towards creating business processes and practices that help foster ethical behaviors. And now they're taking that for individual advisors to learn more about ethical trust practices, building trust and establishing that. So we have that. We have a couple of new graduate certificates that are launching.

Lindsey Lewis [00:08:50]:
Dr. Barbera, who is also on our panel, is launching some leadership modules earlier in 2026.

Amber Stitt [00:08:56]:
What's the demographic for that technically?

Lindsey Lewis [00:08:59]:
Well, anyone could take a leadership module course. So it is geared towards organizational behavior, organizational leadership, and change leadership. But, folks from different professions could hop in there.

Amber Stitt [00:09:14]:
But I mean, if you're saying the statistics for the Z's are saying that they're not getting...I didn't feel like it had a lot of leadership, and that was so long ago. So, I mean, this could be anybody probably should be redirected and think about tapping into this because you know how I like the personal development side of things. We have to be doing better at that.

Lindsey Lewis [00:09:31]:
You are a personal development junkie. Always learning over there.

Amber Stitt [00:09:36]:
I know, but I mean, I think that successful firm owners, even outside the industry, very entrepreneurial, they're kind of little balloon floating in the sky and it's like, "Come down to ground zero," and you got to start remembering to lead your teams. And so people are really great making money also need to reinvest in themselves. And I think your teams appreciate that.

Lindsey Lewis [00:09:55]:
Also a lot of financial planners, they do a lot of business planning for clients and a lot of them do not do succession planning for themselves. It's definitely...

Amber Stitt [00:10:04]:
That happens? It's like a hot topic. Every time I go to a conference, there's people in the rooms for the succession planning. But I don't want to get too into the weeds about it on stage, or in rooms where we are because we keep talking about it, but I don't think anyone's taking it as seriously worrying about their identity. And that's like, "Oh gosh, who am I going to be next?"

Lindsey Lewis [00:10:24]:
Yeah. I think what's tricky is nobody likes to think about like the end of their working time. It's like same for selling for insurance. Like, "I don't want to think about it," like unexpected early life departure, or disability, or whatever. Same thing with business planning.

Lindsey Lewis [00:10:43]:
Especially if you get a lot of assets under management, you have a lot of reoccurring revenue, you're not thinking about it, and then all of a sudden something happens to them. Maybe it's a life event, maybe it's personal changes, who knows? And then if you're trying to fire sale, or I don't know, it just turns out bad for everyone. And I've had some advisors just close up shop where it's like, "You have an asset." Especially if you're an independent broker dealer, or an RIA where you have an asset that you could sell. It could be part of their individual retirement plan, but they're not thinking in advance. So typically succession planning needs to start at least 10 years in advance.

Amber Stitt [00:11:19]:
Yeah, that's what I've learned. And I think like again, sneak peek with Panos, talking with him. But I think if we can make it exciting to organize for the potential sale, make your business as juicy as possible. But in that process, that can help you go, "What else do I want for myself?" I hope it's more exciting. There's gotta be a way to reframe it a little bit so that if we're gonna live to 100, you have so many more choices. So if you start earlier, it should be for the greater good. We hope, that's what I hope for people, that we can convey to get them the resources they need.

Amber Stitt [00:11:48]:
Start talking to people about it. But you gotta do it. You gotta do it!

Lindsey Lewis [00:11:51]:
Yes, you have to do it. It's actually interesting how sometimes there are things that happen in financial planning at large that you can apply to your own life. So there was this financial planning software. I don't know if it still exists. It's called Lumiant. And they would do goals in 8 dimensions of life, not just financial. So they would do spiritual, emotional, physical, occupational, intellectual, environmental, financial, and social. I think that's all of them.

Lindsey Lewis [00:12:20]:
And so when you logged onto your financial plan, perhaps your financial goal might have been a little bit off, but your intellectual goal was better, or your family relationships.

Amber Stitt [00:12:31]:
Sometimes you have to do that, right? You gotta give, and then something's gonna get depleted. But it's part of the journey.

Lindsey Lewis [00:12:36]:
It's a pendulum. And I hear frequently about work life balance. I don't think balance exists. There's a good book about work life harmony, I kind of like that. But I'm like, "It's work life integration."

Amber Stitt [00:12:46]:
I like that.

Lindsey Lewis [00:12:47]:
So things are going to...like which balls are glass, which balls are rubber? All that stuff. So that's what I love about this profession and why I do a lot of the work that I do is really trying to help individuals realize that they can make really good and well for themselves while making other clients well. And that's why I'm so passionate an advocate of women, women of color, different identity groups, getting into financial services, because it really does change generational wealth for them as an individual, and for future generations.

Amber Stitt [00:13:21]:
All right, so if someone's just ending this podcast episode, they're done. And they're like, "Lindsey gave me this action item today." What do you want to tell them to do today?

Lindsey Lewis [00:13:31]:
Ooh, if you don't have a financial advisor, you should get one.

Amber Stitt [00:13:33]:
Ooh, that's a good one.

Lindsey Lewis [00:13:34]:
A lot of financial advisors do not have their own financial advisor.

Amber Stitt [00:13:38]:
Teach what we don't do.

Lindsey Lewis [00:13:39]:
Exactly.

Amber Stitt [00:13:40]:
So we're talking to you, audience.

Lindsey Lewis [00:13:42]:
We're talking to you, audience. But it really is important because if your financial house is in order, finances weave into so many different categories of life - relationships, love, how you feel about work, how you feel about all the different environments.

Amber Stitt [00:13:55]:
Keep your house in order.

Lindsey Lewis [00:13:57]:
Correct. So get a financial advisor if you don't have one. And if you do have one, do a little audit, a little RFP, Request For Proposal. Make sure that they still are meeting standards.

Amber Stitt [00:14:08]:
Because things are changing. Things are changing. Are they keeping up with it? We'd say the same for our tax advisors. So the same should be for your planner.

Lindsey Lewis [00:14:14]:
Exactly.

Amber Stitt [00:14:15]:
All right, that's good. Get on your phone, find a financial advisor.

Lindsey Lewis [00:14:18]:
Find a financial advisor.

Amber Stitt [00:14:19]:
We know a few.

Lindsey Lewis [00:14:19]:
We do know a few. You can always send us...I love a good DM on LinkedIn, or Instagram, so feel free to reach out and I'm happy to help in whatever way possible.

Amber Stitt [00:14:31]:
And then in the show notes we'll have more about your businesses because there's more than one. You're able to find Lindsey. So thank you so much, Lindsey, for sharing.

Lindsey Lewis [00:14:39]:
Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me.

Amber Stitt [00:14:41]:
Awesome.

Lindsey Lewis [00:14:42]:
Have a good one.

Amber Stitt [00:14:43]:
Thank you for joining us for this special edition of Pathways e3 recorded at the NAIFA e3 conference in Newport Beach, California. Join us for more insightful conversations with the experts and leaders of their industries. Until next time, keep taking action on your unique path!