Financial Planning for Adobe Employees

Writing a review for my financial planner was not on my Bingo card for my life. But when Jenni, Lisa, and Cathy at Modern Family Finance are as fantastic as they are, it has to be done. To set the scene: I don’t know anything about money, or the market, or really budgeting, if we’re being honest. My working class family didn’t know anything to teach me, and I was resistant to learning because I was sure it would mean discomfort at best and shame at worst. Luckily, opposites attract, and my spouse is a Responsible Adult who wanted to manage some inheritance in addition to our weirdly/ unnecessarily complicated financial situation. Enter: Modern Family Finance, referred to us by a friend. In my mind, they are fantastic for three main reasons. 1.) Based on what I just described, you will not be surprised to learn that I truly have no clue as to the wizardry they do with investing, but I love this. As far as I’m concerned, my accounts are like little Tamagotchis that I get to occasionally login to check and see how they’re thriving. Our money is doing great, our finances are tidy, and our goals are being met! My Responsible Adult spouse DOES want to know, and Modern Family is an open book and wants to teach. Everyone wins! 2) The whole process of working together centers around YOUR particular and specific needs, goals, and personal priorities. They keep in mind both short term needs and long term visions to help you get and stay on track. I really appreciated the emotional intelligence and care Jenni brings, especially to our early meetings, and I still think about the questions she asked to help us understand our own relationships to money, and what needs to heal to move forward. They truly work with you where you are. Their approach is clearly not just about managing money, but building quality of life and empowerment. 3) They are truly the kindest people you could hope to work with. Getting me to respond to an email about life insurance or the 401K from ten years ago is like trying to put a cat in a bathtub, but somehow, miraculously, they don’t judge. The team is thoroughly patient, kind, ridiculously detail oriented, and in general the most delightful people you’d hope to meet. As a queer couple navigating major life transitions, they give us clarity, patience, and structure without overwhelm. We’ll be clients for life.

Working with the team at Modern Family Finance has completely transformed how I approach and think about my finances. They helped me get organized, understand the big picture around taxes and estate planning, and even build a deeper understanding of how I relate to money. They’re patient, thorough, and genuinely invested in their clients. I'm so grateful to work with them! Highly recommend.

I have never really had a financial education, and having ADHD has made it difficult for me to learn how to manage my money. I had a consultation with Jennifer this week and in 30 minutes, I literally understood more about my finances than in my entire life. She was so knowledgeable and yet down to earth and easy to understand. I hung up so motivated and empowered and already made significant and impactful changes! I cant recommend Modern Family Finance enough.

My partner and I have enjoyed with working with Jenni this year. She's helped us grow our financial literacy and get our financial house together, and it's been tremendously valuable, both strategically and tactically. She developed a clear financial plan for us, and during our time together we took many steps to bring our financial world into alignment with how we live and what we want. I really appreciate the energy and enthusiasm she brings to her work.

Transitioning from the tech world to follow my passion for teaching felt like a leap of faith, one I never imagined taking. Through years of contemplating life after Tech, teaching always lingered in the back of my mind. Working alongside Jenni, we delved into my financial plan and life aspirations, and her persistent encouragement propelled me closer to my own passions until they became attainable. Jenni's inspirational journey from the tech industry to pursuing her passions served as a guiding light, and I'm grateful for her inspiration.

I enjoy working with Jenni because she's in a similar phase of life and can relate to my family's financial goals. My husband and I have three young kids, so we have very limited free time or interest in learning about stocks. Jenni has helped us to clarify our financial goals, set up systems that make our money work for us without thinking about it, and made us feel overall less anxious about money. She's someone you can trust, and we highly recommend her.

Jenni helped me craft a vision and execute a plan to leave my secure tech job, take a six month sabbatical and pursue working as a freelancer. Working with Jenni gave me the peace of mind and the confidence to take time off and forge a new path. She knows what it's like to go through this journey of shifting careers and living abroad. I appreciate that she's a woman, a person of color, and queer. I trust her and I absolutely recommend her services to others!

I reached out to Jenni after I unexpectedly lost my spouse and had to take care of my young kids on my own. Jenni became the Personal CFO of my finances, helping me to navigate complex paperwork in a time of overwhelming grief. I feel like Jenni is a peer, a real human being who has my back. She understands my phase of life because she is also a mom, and in addition she knows all the numbers and brings lots of tools. She takes a very holistic approach to our work together and talks to me about finances in a way that I can understand. It comes across that she is doing this work as an intentional practice and not just a job.

My partner and I were feeling stuck in the grind of Bay Area life, and wanted help figuring out a plan to get to a point where we can stop worrying about income and start enjoying life. We really appreciate how Jenni gets the bigger picture of it all. She's helped us put money into the context of our lives. We've had two other prior advisors, and she's been the only one that has talked to us about money in this way. We appreciate how down to earth and real Jenni is. She's also very focused, responsive, and efficient, while at the same time warm and funny. Instead of dreading getting into the details of our finances with someone else, we enjoy our meetings and always leave feeling better and more relaxed. She's helped us feel like we're doing ok and put a plan in place. With her help, we can let go of a lot of the nebulous worry we used to have about our finances. Thank you Jenni!

I reached out to Jenni to help me plan for starting a family and taking some time off. What I found most valuable about our work together was how it helped me get more disciplined about managing my company stock and money. I tell friends it's like having a fitness coach - you could try figuring it out yourself, but if you have someone to help, you are much more strategic and diligent. In the past when big decisions came up, like buying a house or exercising stock, perhaps I could have done things a bit better if I had someone to help. It's helpful to have regular conversations with Jenni and have someone who understands your full picture. I just feel a lot more prepared now.

Jenni has been working with my partner and me for over a year as we plan for major career changes and a new adventure living outside of the USA. Jenni's support has been integral in this transition and we wouldn't have felt comfortable moving forward with our plans if it weren't for her. Before working with Jenni we would daydream about making a change but the conversations would never progress far past the question "How much money do we need to make this feasible?" Living in a culture built on scarcity and fear around having enough to retire, we had serious doubts about whether we could and should make this move. The financial projections, the budget reviews, and the emotional support Jenni provided us helped us realize our dream is feasible. We’ve appreciated how balanced Jenni's sessions are - presenting a clear view without sugar coating, allowing us to feel confident that we have the key information we need to make informed choices. We are moving forward into this new adventure with a clear view of risks, knowing that if things don't work out we can make adjustments. We highly recommend Modern Family Finance to others in our LGBT community, especially those wanting to pursue a non-conventional path like early retirement or moving abroad.

I reached out to Jenni when I was making the transition to becoming self-employed. I was feeling overwhelmed managing my finances and felt like I was not doing a good job budgeting or saving. Jenni has been so easy to work with. She helps me simplify the process and really takes the time to talk through things so I’ve been learning a lot. The regular 1:1 meetings are so helpful for me. I feel much more confident working with her than my previous bank and trust that she's helping me to invest my money in a way that aligns with my values.

My partner and I have been working with Jenni for the past year and a half and have had a great experience. Neither of us had ever worked with a financial planner before and didn't really know where to start. In our time working with Jenni, she really helped us to figure out our goals and then start taking action. It's also great to have her for all of the one-off questions we had around company stock and tax questions. Jenni is unique because she comes from the tech industry, so she understands our careers and the work culture. I appreciate that she's a fiduciary, so she works in our best interest and is not trying to sell us anything. My partner and I highly recommend working with her, especially for anyone coming from tech or new to financial planning.

My partner and I have been working with Jenni for over two years now and have loved working with her. We first met when we were wanting to carve out a new plan for our financial future and didn’t know where or how to start this process. We wanted more freedom in our lives to potentially live abroad or have one of us not work, but we didn’t know if this was financially feasible and didn’t have any confidence in making decisions in this area. We also wanted our money to be more aligned with our values and invested more in organizations we cared about. Jenni had us come up with our own values statement about what we are hoping money could support doing in our lives, to live our best lives. She refers to that often, making sure our financial work is aligned with our social and spiritual priorities. This is something quite unique and we feel sets her apart. Our work with her has been life changing. She is highly engaged, thorough, a clear communicator and 100% committed to your success, as you define it for yourself. We highly recommend her services!

Our ERG hosted Jenni and Lisa for a virtual presentation on financial wellness and tips for reaching financial goals. Their presentation was really excellent: they shared personal stories and anecdotes and also many practical tips and useful guidance, especially for the LGBTQIA+ community! Would highly recommend their workshops to any other ERGs or companies looking to provide quality programming for their communities.

As LGBT newlyweds about to become new parents in 2020, contemplating buying a new house, and starting a new job in a new city, my wife and I really needed some financial therapy to help us navigate the transition amidst the pandemic. Are we going to be able to afford the fertility process? Could we take time off while our future kids were young? Should we buy life insurance? What can we do to save on taxes? Will we ever afford a vacation home? These were all questions we felt buried by. Even though my company offered me a financial advisor through their relocation program, I was not happy with the cut-and-dry analysis I was offered. As a financially savvy person, I felt comfortable budgeting, tracking expenses, and projecting our savings using simple tools already. However, when we took Jenni’s financial management webinar, she really made me see what I had been missing, and so we established a consulting relationship over the past year. Working with Jenni and Lisa has been a dream! They started by asking my wife and I what our life goals were. It was like couples therapy, but more fun. Then they provided a holistic assessment of our current financial situation, and let us see what trade-offs we could make to live out our best life. We felt more confident in our investment strategies, our tax strategies, and the steps we would need to make to prepare for our new baby’s future as well. Money can be a controversial subject in our household. My wife and I haven’t historically shared the same values nor do we always have aligned interests. Having Jenni as our coach allowed us the space to see our differences and start to align on our shared values. Their approach to financial advising is both strategic and tactical, straightforward and directive yet empathetic to our needs. They always made us feel the psychological safety it takes to be vulnerable when talking about such a sensitive subject. I have 10/10 highly recommended Jenni and Lisa as financial coaches to all of my friends and family looking for help with their finances. I trust them completely and I know they will provide the education, support, and peace of mind to the people I love.

My partner and I have been working with Jenni now for about a year and half -- she has been excellent in all ways. We have been doing the basic things with our finances, but we didn't have any confidence that we could do things that we dreamed about -- maybe living or retiring internationally, buying a Spanish hacienda, or taking a sabbatical to explore remote work. Through her excellent coaching sessions, we have gained confidence financially that we can do all of these things. Jenni and Lisa live their values -- and they made this flexible international lifestyle come true for their own family. Janet and I knew they both walked their talk. Jenni has been a great listener, and made us feel comfortable in having open and honest conversations during our sessions together. They share our values about what money means and represents -- freedom. One thing Jenni did recently was to help us align our investments with our values -- to focus on those funds that promote various causes that are important to us. We had no idea we could do this! There are not many financial counselors (or any that I have met) that truly care about their clients as people and truly want to support others in achieving their goals. Jenni wants this for others, and this passion shows. Janet and I both highly recommend them.

As an international family, it can feel overwhelming to navigate your finances across different countries. Jenni and Lisa have lived abroad in Europe and Asia, so they're able to speak to the financial complexities faced by expat families. I highly recommend them.

I started coaching with Jenni and Lisa after attending one of their workshops. I wanted some help to financially plan as I was getting married this year. Jenni helped me understand my retirement benefits from my job and how to make the most of my money. Lisa then did some sessions with my wife and I together to talk about our spending plan. It was helpful to engage with another couple and learn about different models of managing money with a spouse. I also just felt really comfortable speaking to both of them - they're easy to talk to and both very non-judgmental. Highly recommend them!

"Jenni and Lisa have led two workshops at our community center on financial goal setting and budgeting. Their workshops were engaging and attracted a large turnout. Jenni and Lisa are skilled at breaking down the basics of financial management and setting achievable goals so people feel empowered and equipped. Most helpful was that they not only talked about the "how to" around financial planning, but also the behavioral hacks to make saving easier and even fun."

Here's a good idea--coordinate your couples counseling and your financial planning! Lisa and Jenni bring the best of both the financial literacy and emotional support worlds to their menu of valuable and educational services. My wife and I needed someone to guide us through the complex brambles of saving for retirement, managing our home loan, and planning for end-of-life, a lot of challenging topics neither of us likes to discuss. We love Jenni's top-notch financial advice, plus Lisa's gentle support, plus the inspiration of working with a queer couple who have successfully built their own financial freedom. We're invested in Modern Family Finance for the longterm.

I started working with Jenni because we have kids about the same age and I knew she would understand the needs of my rainbow family. It was a relief to go over my numbers with someone I trusted and she taught me core principles to make the most of my finances. I feel more confident about my family's future after our sessions together and feel that I have formed a solid working relationship for many years.