“I didn’t need one extraordinary investment. I needed to make consistently good decisions.”
Pamela, a finance professional in her 30s, came to me with a portfolio that wasn’t working. Four and a half years later, she’s built $528,000, and a completely different relationship with money. This is her story, in her words.
brokerage seed, Dec 2021
total net worth, 2026
of a simple, monthly system
Real figures, shared with permission. Outside cash and other investments add roughly $55,000 on top.
Before: a portfolio that wasn’t working
I started working with Neka in 2021, about ten years into my finance career. For the first eight years I invested in individual stocks with mixed success. For the next two I saved, and did some aimless angel investing into friends’ companies. By the time I reached out, I had a portfolio that wasn’t working, wasn’t strategic, and couldn’t get me to my long-term goals. I knew I needed a plan.
When Neka shared her own financial journey and what she’d learned coaching other clients, I was shocked. It challenged how I thought about investing. As someone who works in finance, that was a humbling experience. Seeing what she’d accomplished helped me understand what was actually possible.
“Our first conversations weren’t about products or chasing returns. They were about the life I wanted to build.”
The shift: investing to buy choices
We started with my goals, and I began to understand that by making smart, informed decisions I could buy myself choices, become work-optional, keep working in high-pressure roles, or anything in between. I could make monthly choices toward the future I wanted instead of leaving it up to chance or a windfall.
We worked out how much I could invest each month into a basket of ETFs, based on my risk appetite and the number I wanted at 65, including any career breaks. It was personalized for the life I actually wanted to live. We even discussed FOMO: we set an allocation for opportunistic buys and clear criteria for angel investing, so every decision was intentional rather than emotional.
The system: diversified ETFs, every month
Working with Neka made me realize I could comfortably invest $5,500 a month. I did exactly that every month in 2022. Then 2023 got hard, and I had to pause the system to prioritize life’s necessities. Neka had prepared me for those moments. Once the emergency passed, I returned to the system in 2024, and I’ve now invested every single month since January 2024, up to $10,000 a month.
I still did everything that mattered to me: traveling, buying the clothes and shoes I wanted. But I realized I was spending a lot on things that didn’t matter, and I channeled that money into investing instead. Every raise and every bonus, I invested most of it.
“Once the strategy was in place, the challenge wasn’t knowing what to do; it was simply having the discipline to keep doing it.”
The ah-ha moments
The biggest one: investing wasn’t just about growing wealth; it was about buying myself choices. The ability to decide how I work, when I work, and how I want to live, now and later. That perspective fundamentally changed how I approach my finances.
Looking back, my investment philosophy had been flawed even though I worked in finance. I was constantly chasing 20% or 30% returns because 6% or 7% felt too small to matter. Neka helped me see that consistently earning a reasonable return on a growing, diversified portfolio creates more wealth than chasing riskier, outsized returns that may never materialize.
Looking back, and what I’d tell you
My one regret? I wish I’d started investing in ETFs six years sooner. I’d wager I’d be at $1M by now. If you earn well but have never invested, ask yourself what kind of life you want now and at 65. Investing early, in diversified assets, and letting compounding work is the easiest way to a soft retirement. And if you’re on the fence about working with Neka: she’ll simplify the process, make it approachable, and break it into steps. Commit to it and you’ll be two years ahead in as little as six months. You owe that to your future self.
Your story could start with one conversation.
Bring your goals to a free 20-minute Clarity Call. No jargon, no pressure, just a clear next step.