Lynda Paul is the owner, founder, and chief investment advisor of Sound Money Management, Inc., RIA, an independent Registered Investment Advisory firm in San Antonio, Texas. With an undergraduate degree in corporate finance from Ball State University and a master’s degree in finance and marketing from Keller Graduate School of Management, Lynda is celebrating 28 years serving the needs of her clients in a spectacular way, operating her firm as a fiduciary. Lynda believes that when it comes to choosing a financial planner, independence, trust, and competence are foundational virtues valued by many of her clients. Lynda specializes in retirement planning, legacy/estate planning, and wealth accumulation and preservation. As a fee-based Certified Financial Planner™ professional and an inactive CPA, Lynda has helped more than 500 clients achieve their financial goals. She currently manages millions of dollars for her clients around the country.
Lynda was inspired to pursue a career in money management at a young age when at just nine years old, she saw her father count the money in his back office after he closed the family grocery store for the night. “I will never forget the contentment on his face as the dollars flowed from hand to hand. It was his happy place. Experiencing that look on my father’s face instilled in me a curiosity I had not known before. It changed my life.”
Before launching Sound Money Management, Inc., Lynda spent the first eight years of her career at Abbott Laboratories, a Fortune 100 Company. She was the lead corporate accountant responsible for closing the corporate accounting books, planning and designing the annual report, and maintaining relationships with the corporate auditors. She left Abbott in 1995 to join MetLife Financial Services to start her journey to become a personal financial advisor, dedicating her time to managing and protecting her clients’ personal financial assets. She also spent time encouraging the members of the community to improve their financial knowledge by writing a community blog called Ms. Money Matters and developing and presenting at financial workshops. At MetLife, Lynda also served as the Regional Director of Financial Planning serving Chicago’s north shore – training and mentoring aspiring financial planners.
Over the past decades, Lynda has served several organizations in the Chicagoland area with passion and honor, including being a fundraiser for Red Nose Day, to help spread awareness and to end the cycle of child poverty, Roots & Wings, a young men’s ministry she founded in 2001 – creating the Jabez Project, Chair of the Finance Committee for the YWCA Board of Directors, and from 2011 to 2017, as an elected member of the College of Lake County Board of Trustees. Lynda founded the Illinois Hoopstars AAU Boys Basketball Program in 2001 - and tallied a 97% win ratio.
As a former Division I collegiate basketball player, Lynda has combined her passions for financial planning and athletic endeavors to create an inspiring and informative book about the importance of financial literacy titled Making Sound Money Moves: Financial Playbook for All Jocks - 43 Reasons Professional Athletes Have Jacked-Up Financial Lives and What You Can Learn from Their Foul Plays. Her goal for this book is “to inspire young people to improve their financial IQ and relationship with money, and to help them understand that money decisions made today will impact their future. You must make it a practice to learn from the past money management blunders of others. Every decision you make either brings you closer to or takes you further away from having a great financial future. No exception. Yes, you can have it all. It will take self-discipline to do hard things, learning how money works, bucking the trend of slothfulness, calling your own shots, and making a commitment to make your future self proud.”
Lynda is married to Cliffton Paul, Sr., a retired police officer and Navy veteran, and they have three wonderful Millennial sons: Cliff Jr., Brandon, and Darius. Cliff Jr is a security professional, an AAU basketball coach, a trainer and runs the Hoopstars Basketball Program in Chicago. Darius played for the semi-pro basketball team Albany Patroons and won a TBL League Championship ring in 2019. Brandon, a University of Illinois basketball standout, spent his NBA rookie year with the San Antonio Spurs and is still playing professional basketball overseas. In her leisure time, Lynda enjoys hiking, whitewater rafting, teaching Zumba and cardio-kickboxing and reading up on financial planning strategies while hanging out at the beach.
Lynda speaks to audiences around the country on various topics including financial literacy, financial planning, and leaving a financial legacy. Her firm’s Form ADV is available upon request.
LyndaPaul.com
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