Finance
Let’s Make
Beautiful
Anne B. Johnston is the Founder & Managing Director of Created, a boutique wealth advisory. As a writer, speaker, and musical storyteller, she is on a mission to help people clarify their vision of freedom and fulfillment so they can focus their resources on what's really important to them.
Speaking engagements for:
Women’s Groups
Trusted Advisors
Founders & Leaders
Values-driven organizations
Overwhelming, confusing, boring.
That’s how many people feel when asked about their finances.
Which is a real problem, because The Great Wealth Transfer is upon us.
Trillions of dollars are changing hands in the U.S. as older generations pass on their assets to younger ones.
Basically, boomers are passing substantial amounts of money to millennials, Gen X, and Gen Z. Notably, a large portion of this is expected to shift into the hands of women.
However, traditional financial education has often failed to effectively engage people, in particular -- women and younger generations -- if they received any financial education at all!
Here’s what I’m hearing:
Millennials, Gen X, and Gen Z are not interested or excited about engaging with “traditional” approaches to financial education.
Boomers are concerned that the next generation is not prepared to manage the funds or businesses that will be passed down to them.
Even smart, well-educated individuals find themselves behaving like financial ostriches, with their heads in the sand.
The current approach to financial education is not working.
What if instead the world of finance was clear, approachable, and beautiful?
Speaking Engagements on Financial Empowerment
I offer interactive programs to groups as small as 5 and as large as 500, including:
How to Make Finance Beautiful
Planting Your Legacy
Rewriting Your Money Story
All of my programs incorporate creative tools like games, stories, and even live music!
TEDx: How to make finance beautiful
Presented at TEDxAlexanderPark 2024
Hi there, I’m Anne.
Growing up in Georgia, my father read me poetry and played me rock and roll. I loved philosophy, psychology, language. Finance wasn’t on my radar.
Then in college I signed up for a marketing internship, but when I started, my role shifted to finance, and suddenly I was immersed in the world of numbers.
I watched entrepreneurs walk in with ideas they were passionate about, and then the banker would walk them through the financial strategy to bring their dreams to life.
That was when I realized that finance can be part of something beautiful.
And so right out of school, I joined a wealth management firm.
I was there for 12 years, and in that time I noticed that many people do not, in fact, experience finance as beautiful. Mostly, they find it to be overwhelming, confusing, and boring. Even scary.
Early on in my career, I'm in a conference room. There’s a senior financial advisor, the client and me.
The meeting begins with the client being presented with a thick stack of financial reports, and then within moments the advisor launches into an investment soliloquy about the history of interest rates, emerging market valuations, the Fed - and within about 10 seconds I see the client check out.
I could see in their eyes - to them, it seemed like finance was overwhelming, confusing, and boring – and just like that, they had checked out of their own financial life.
And THAT is when I realized that if we want people to engage in their financial lives, then finance needs to be clear, approachable and beautiful.
Featured In:
LA BUSINESS JOURNAL THE MOST INFLUENTIAL WEALTH MANAGERS IN LOS ANGELES (2018)*
FORBES AMERICA’S TOP NEXT-GEN WEALTH ADVISORS (2018)**
FORBES NEXT GEN BEST-IN-STATE WEALTH ADVISORS (2019)***
THE COMMUNICATOR AWARDS, EXCELLENCE WINNER INNOVATION AND STRATEGIC ACHIEVEMENT (2026)****
Credentials:
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP® professional) CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional / CFP® professional
CERTIFIED INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT ANALYST® (CIMA®)
CHARTERED SPECIAL NEEDS CONSULTANT® (CHSNC®)
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL TRANSITIONIST ® (CEFT®)
REGISTERED LIFE PLANNER® (RLP®)
I’m delighted you’re here :)
Award and Certification Disclosures
*Recognition received in 2018. Awards are not indicative of future investment performance, investment success or client experience. Recipients are selected by the Los Angeles Business Journal using its own proprietary selection process. Recipients do not pay a fee to become eligible for the award. Inclusion on the Most Influential Wealth Managers in Los Angeles list should not be construed as an endorsement by the Los Angeles Business Journal. Working with a wealth manager who has made the list, or any wealth manager, is no guarantee of future investment success, nor is there any guarantee that selected wealth managers will be selected again in the future. The Los Angeles Business Journal is not an advisory firm, and the content of its article should not be considered financial advice. For more information, visit www.labusinessjournal.com.
**Recognition received in 2018. Awards are not indicative of future investment performance, investment success or client experience. The Forbes ranking of America’s Top Next-Generation Wealth Advisors, developed by SHOOK Research, was published in July 2018 and based on data from March 31, 2017 through March 31, 2018. The ranking considered qualitative and quantitative criteria, including industry experience, compliance records, assets under management, revenue, client retention, credentials, firm nominations, and telephone and in-person interviews. Portfolio performance was not a criterion. No fee was paid by Anne Johnston or Created Wealth, LLC to obtain this recognition. See http://bit.ly/2ktpEkW.
***Recognition received in 2019. Awards are not indicative of future investment performance, investment success or client experience. The Forbes 2019 Best-In-State Next-Gen Wealth Advisors ranking was developed by SHOOK Research LLC and awarded in September 2019 based on data from the period ending March 31, 2019. The ranking was based on qualitative and quantitative criteria, including age, quality of practice, industry experience, compliance record, revenue, interviews conducted by SHOOK Research, and full-team assets under management. Portfolio performance was not a criterion. No fee was paid by Anne Johnston or Created Wealth, LLC to obtain this recognition.
****Recognition received in 2026. Awards are not indicative of future investment performance, investment success or client experience. The Communicator Awards Excellence Winner in Innovation and Strategic Achievement was awarded by The Communicator Awards, a marketing and communications awards program evaluated by the Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts. Entries are reviewed on merit against a standard of excellence for the category entered and scored by jurors on a 10-point scale; Award of Excellence winners generally receive a score of 9 or above. Entry fees may apply. This recognition relates to communications work and does not reflect investment performance.
Professional designations indicate that the holder has completed the issuing organization’s education, examination, experience and/or ethics requirements, as applicable, and maintains any required continuing education. Designations do not guarantee future investment performance, investment success, or any individual client’s experience. Professional designations indicate that the holder has completed the issuing organization’s education, examination, experience and/or ethics requirements, as applicable, and maintains any required continuing education. Designations do not guarantee future investment performance, investment success, or any individual client’s experience. CFP® and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ are certification marks owned by CFP Board. CIMA® and CERTIFIED INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT ANALYST® are certification marks administered by Investments & Wealth Institute. ChSNC® and CHARTERED SPECIAL NEEDS CONSULTANT® are designations issued by The American College of Financial Services. CeFT® and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL TRANSITIONIST® are issued by The Financial Transitionist Institute. RLP® and REGISTERED LIFE PLANNER® are issued by Kinder Institute of Life Planning.