“Financial planning is more than just talking about money, it’s talking about where you want to be and how you want to live your life.” Expert Financial Advisor, Joanna Burish, is bringing a much-needed shift to the financial planning conversation that prioritizes a value-based, goals approached, highly engaged, client-advisor relationship. Holistic planning involves not just aiming for one big goal, such as retirement planning, but also integrates tax mindfulness, and making sure you don’t run out of money when you need it most. This new, innovative approach requires managing each client as an individual, with both their long and short-term goals in mind.

Joanna Burish, a financial advisor at Northwestern Mutual, runs a multi-generational practice that takes a holistic financial planning approach. As a trusted advisor, she provides her clients with significant ways to exercise more power and control over their finances. Her services include retirement and estate planning, protecting your current and future lifestyle, investment management, business planning, employee benefits, succession planning, and more. Joanna has a diverse background that effectively equips her to help families, entrepreneurs, and business owners structure and meet their financial goals.

At the age of seven, Joanna immigrated to the United States from Nazareth, Israel. She grew up admiring her parents’ work ethic and determination as they reached for the American Dream. This instilled a drive within her to always want to do better, work smarter, and help people. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin Madison with a Bachelor’s in Accounting and an MBA in Executive Business Management. Aside from her educational background, Joanna has applied her strategic planning expertise in a variety of industries. She spent ten years managing an entertainment industry company that focused on TV, film, and music production. After that, she worked in real estate and helped families scale their businesses to success. Over the next few years, Joanna excelled in business consulting, helping families grow their businesses and teams, and setting up succession plans.

When Joanna was approached by Northwestern Mutual to integrate her experience to help families achieve financial security, she knew that her focus on holistic planning was a perfect match. As an advisor for Northwestern Mutual, she helps clients with everything from protecting their lifestyle, building diverse and tax mindful investment portfolios, helping ensure they don’t run out of money, developing strategies to match their investor profile, goals, lifestyle, and more. Her experience in coaching and consulting adds value to her services and sets her apart from other advisors.

“I’m a lifelong learner and a high-fact finder, which adds value to understanding the holistic picture so I can best serve my clients.” Joanna is constantly investing in herself and her team so she can add more value to her services and provide the best results. Along with her real estate broker’s license, MBA and securities licenses, she is currently in the process of obtaining her Wealth Management Certified Professional (WMPC) designation, with others to follow. With all her experience, she continues to emphasize the importance of a holistic approach to advising and consulting.

Joanna shares the process behind her advising philosophy:

  1. Understanding the client as a whole. “You can’t put people in cookie-cutter categories based on their age. Personality, goals, core values, family situation and lifestyle all influence the bigger picture.” Joanna focuses on really getting to achieving a well-rounded understanding of her clients. This holistic understanding enables her to better meet the client’s needs and goals today and into the future.

  2. Reverse-engineer the outcome. Joanna often asks, “How do you want to live your life?” “What are your core values?” “Where do you want to be in 3-5 years and in 10-15 years, and what will retirement look like for you?” By starting with the end result in mind, Joanna is better prepared to set her clients up on a trajectory towards long-term success. Historically, 70% of those who have a financial plan provided by a traditional advisor don’t follow it because it doesn’t match their money profile and core values. To set her clients up for long term success, Joanna makes sure the holistic plan meets her client’s money profile and core values. “We tie those deeper goals of where you are today to where you want to be. I love being part of my client’s success stories!”

  3. Protect their lifestyle. If the last year has taught us anything, it is the simple reminder that no-one knows what the future holds. We don’t get to decide how we may be injured or taken from this life. An important part of smart financial planning is preparing for unforeseen circumstances. Joanna works with clients to set up plans for the loss of a loved one, a business partner, or even important assets. “Be prepared to protect yourself, your family and your business, regardless of what life serves you.”

  4. Tax Mindfulness. “Making sure that tax mindfulness is integrated is one the biggest benefits of holistic planning.” Joanna approaches retirement and estate planning, investment planning and management, business classification structures, employee benefits, and succession planning, all with the individual or businesses’ tax situation in mind.

  5. Helping Ensure the client doesn’t run out of money. Combining smart strategies and structures in the stages of accrual, growth and distribution phases of retirement planning Joanna can provide clients with confidence that they won’t run out of money. “There is no need to contemplate your financial future with fear and  ”

Joanna Burish is a powerhouse in the financial services industry, which still remains a mostly male-dominant industry. To help empower more women in their careers, she created The Brauds Network™, a women's network of strong female leaders in a variety of industries working to empower and mobilize each other. In all she does, Joanna’s goal in life is to help and empower others. “As women it is our duty and right to lead the path for the generations of women to come, this is especially important to me when it comes to my daughter,” says Joanna.

“I can help you create a personalized holistic financial plan that has a firm foundation in your beliefs and empowers your dreams for the future.” With Joanna, you won’t just get a financial plan, you’ll receive a plan, corresponding action steps, a clear timeline to follow, and an advisor that cares about you and your family.