Episode 046
Christy Aleckson
How do you build a thriving financial practice that prioritizes people over products? In this episode of Women’s Million Dollar Conversations, Alice Tang sits down with Christy Aleckson, the founder of Single Point Financial Advisors. Christy shares her journey of building a million-dollar firm rooted in the belief that financial planning should be accessible, transparent, and aligned with a client’s total life goals.
Christy discusses the “Single Point” philosophy and reveals how her commitment to being a true advocate for her clients allowed her to reach and maintain the million-dollar milestone. If you are a professional in a service-based industry looking to scale your impact while staying true to your values, Christy’s insights on empathy and expertise are essential.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
-The strategic steps Christy took to launch Single Point Financial.
-How she reached the $1M revenue mark by building deep, multi-generational client trust.
-Why Christy views money as a tool for creating security, options, and peace of mind.
-Tactical advice for building a team that shares your mission and values.
"The glass ceiling can’t be broken by us hitting up… allies have to be kicking down and pulling us up."
[00:00:00]
Welcome to Women’s Million Dollar Conversations with Alice Tang, where we share stories from successful business women who have saved, earn or sold over a million dollars and discuss how they build their success and insights to help you achieve your goals. Now let’s join the conversation.
[00:00:08]
Alice Tang: Welcome to Women’s Million Dollar Conversation. I’m Alice Tang, your host here. Um, today I have the utmost privilege to sit down with my colleague, my friend in the community. Actually, it’s in the community, not only in Portland, but in the financial business. We got, our fate knitted together as the broker dealer consolidate. Now we are under the same umbrella. So Christy Allison is the founder and president of Single Point Financial. She has two to three decades—I’m going to not share her age of experience. She will share with you. She had done a lot in helping her clients to maneuver through the maze of retirement. She also got a lot of passion to build a community, especially for women and for Portland. So here I am welcoming my good friend, Christy Aleckson.
[00:00:50]
Alice Tang: Christy, would you share a few words with us about what you do?
[00:00:56]
Christy Aleckson: Thank you, Alice. It’s so awesome to be here with you. So I’ve been in this business—I like to say I started when I was 12. I did not. But this is year 29. It’ll be 29. That is a little jarring when you say it out loud. So I own Single Point Financial Advisors and we’re in Beaverton, Oregon—exciting, thriving metropolis that we are out here. And I do both investment management and financial planning as well as behavioral financial advice. So helping people to align their values with their money. And behavior, as you know, is a bigger impact on people’s finances than stock market returns. So we really want to help people to get out of their own way and align what they’re doing to where they want to be in their future.
[00:02:20]
Alice Tang: Beautiful, beautiful. I love it because it’s really your mind. If you think you can, you can. That’s exactly the practice of Women’s Million Dollar Conversation. When I did some research, only 10 percent of household crossed a million dollars a few years back. Maybe the market has helped us a little bit. There are a few more. My heart goes to our women. Whether we both know them or not, if only 10 percent of the American household cross a million dollars, what happened to a woman who sacrificed sometimes to make sure they take care of the younger ones or their elderly and they always have like maybe 70 to 80 cents of a dollar of earning when they work. And of course it doesn’t include Alice and Christy. That’s why we’re here to share the message.
[00:02:54]
Alice Tang: Um, so what is important about money?
[00:02:58]
Christy Aleckson: For me, it’s freedom and legacy impact. The freedom part is when you have money available to you, you have choices. So if you aren’t happy in a job or have always wanted to go to Tahiti—I haven’t done it yet—or want to help a friend or a family member, you have that option. You have the opportunity to do things when you have money in your universe. And then the impact piece and legacy—those go hand in hand to me. I love to give back to my community. I love to support things that matter to me. And when I can go to like a local organization I’ve been supporting since before I really should have been financially—Raphael House of Portland, which helps domestic violence victims to find a new path for themselves—and to be able to see a need that they have and have them reach out and be like, we’re trying to accomplish this and be able to support them without thinking like, Oh yeah, let me write a check. And the checks may not be, you know, the foundation size, but the ability to do that, that impact is really important to me. So that then feeds into the legacy of being able to leave the world a little bit better than, you know, for me being on the planet.
[00:04:15]
Alice Tang: I just so love Christy’s answer, you know, give us the freedom of choices, including extending our legacy beyond our lifetime. What matters most may not happen in this lifetime, but it’s really the lives that is being changed and how they pass that mindset to the future generations. Wow. So, I guess actually, who come on board should be interviewed either saved a million dollars or have a million dollar of net worth, net asset.
[00:04:41]
Alice Tang: So Christy, share with us which route we want to focus on and also help us to understand your journey to that first million.
[00:04:50]
Christy Aleckson: Yeah, it’s funny when I was thinking about this. So last year I bought another advisor’s practice as she was having to transition to retirement and I said having it was both a choice and not a choice for her. As you know, our broker dealer sister family merged into one firm last year, and that meant a lot of change. And I felt like this advisor was planning on retiring at the end of this year, and so I bought her practice and about, I’m going to say about four months after that, I was on a call with business coach and we were just talking and my revenue tracking hadn’t been as consistent since that because we had a broker dealer merger and merging on book of clients. So I was just nonstop working and he said something. I said, Well, my rolling 12 month looks like it’s 1.2 million. Oh cool—and just kept going. That was all the celebrating that I did on that moment. It was just kind of like, oh, oh yeah. Yeah, cool. Because there’s always more work to do and I don’t say that like a negative. We always get the opportunity to help people. So it’s just kind of like cool. I’ll think about that. So it was kind of a, all right moment. But as far as the net worth numbers, there are days when I calculate up and say, Ooh, do I have enough that I can retire yet? And I’m not trying to retire. I actually love my work, but there are moments when you’re just like, Hmm, if I sell the business today—and it is a very solid number I can sell my business for—I intentionally have shifted from where I started in the industry to a path where when I do decide I want to sell or have partners buy in and start reducing my ownership of the company, I’ve been intentionally building that. So it will have the best return on my investment of my life. I mean, I’ve literally given this company my life. So I’ve been very intentional on making that the highest possible return for me, which means solid client relationships. And then, of course, the way we get paid.
[00:06:57]
Alice Tang: That’s so good. And a lot of times it’s really the choices we made every day, which is not noticeable, but over time. Christy, because I’ve known you for—I don’t want to expose our age again. Since we got the WIFS, I met you there, so it could have been 18 years ago. And I still remember you were buying your first practice at the time. And I could not help but really admire the journey that you have taken what you bought at the time to now buying another practice last year and get to that million dollar number.
[00:09:12]
Alice Tang: What’s the biggest bias you have faced and how do you overcome that?
[00:09:20]
Christy Aleckson: Yeah. It’s interesting. As you know, with starting women insurance and financial services in Portland—so when I got licensed, the vice president of the broker dealer I was at at that time happened to have a daughter who lived—and he was up visiting her and he said, I want to meet with you, now that you’re licensed. And this is the vice president of the broker dealer. Like I’m just in somebody’s office and he came and met with me and he said—he was such a nice man. I should see if he’s still around. He said to me, you have three obstacles to overcome. You are young—and I’m like, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. You’re a female. And you’re blonde. And I looked at him like obstacles. And he said, you have to think about it from the person on the other side of the conversation. They’re going to be like, this young kid is going to handle my money, a girl in this industry, and she’s blonde. It hit me in a way where at first I was a little bit like whatever, and then it kind of sunk in and I said, well, I can’t overcome being young, female or blonde. I guess I can dye my hair, but I don’t want to. And he said, well, you need to know how to overcome those objections that aren’t going to even be asked to you. And so when you talk about biases, that’s part of the reason that WIFS exists. We’re still depending on which study you look at, 15 to 20 percent of advisors are women in this industry. 50 plus percent of the U.S. population is women. It’s important that we are here and it’s important that we keep adding. And I’m not going to stereotype men in this industry. When I was young in my career, there were a lot of men who told me it’s about tick marks. How many calls did you make? How many people did you connect with? How many appointments? What’s your sales closing ratio? And how long to get to that close? And I thought, that’s not how I do this. What about the person? What about developing the relationship? What about making sure I’m the right skill set for them? What if they actually need someone who is really into tax and has tax designations and can help them with that piece where I can only give them advice related to—And it always hit me like, you guys are doing this wrong. Like this isn’t how it should be. And so that was a big disconnect. And so when we go back to what that advice from that vice president was, I actually created—I’m going to call it a resume for lack of any better thing—showing all the education I had had, all the people who I had access to, to give me assistance for complicated cases. So when someone came to me and said, Hey, I’ve inherited this money, there’s 18 different things. Can you even handle this? It’s like, well, that’s my first one with this complexity, but look, I have a whole team of people that I can contact to help me work through this. And they have more experience in my life. Like, I haven’t even been alive as many years as the experience is on this. And these are people I just get to call and say, Hey, help. So that’s been the main bias—being the only woman in a room for the first, I don’t even know how many years of my career. That was intimidating. It was hard to walk in and be like, Oh, I am the youngest and only female here. Okay. But the beautiful part of that is that now when I go to a room, I am not the only woman. I’m not the youngest anymore either. But I am not the only woman in the room. We are doing a better job at getting women into this firm and keeping them there by supporting so many activities and having conferences designed and all the good things—and more of that needs to happen.
[00:14:15]
Alice Tang: Awesome. Awesome. When you talk about a glass ceiling, I have goosebumps. But it’s not about my feelings. We’re interviewing Christy. So let’s continue. The last 29 years that you’ve been building your practice, fighting for your journey that, you know, that you own, your destiny—have you ever faced challenges?
[00:14:33]
Alice Tang: A time when you say, gee, I can’t do this. I want to quit. And what kept you going?
[00:14:41]
Christy Aleckson: Yeah, I’m a little stubborn. So I do tend to make sure I’ve exhausted all avenues before I give up on something. However, that being said, there have been a few times in my first office that I got exposed to this industry in a meaningful way. It was challenging. It was a toxic environment. I actually just spoke to a colleague that worked with me there when I started there—she had been there. She was very young when she started. And we were kind of reminiscing on some of the toxicity of that office and how we both stayed a little too long. But it was kind of one of those feeling like I was there to help the clients. And I wanted to be there to make sure someone was there helping them and it’s a silly thing, but at some point you realize that’s not healthy and you need to move forward. And I think I pondered at that point in time, do I want to stay in this industry or find something else to do, but I really love the work. It was so rewarding getting to help people define their dreams. What is it that you’re trying to do? And, oh, you want to retire at 55? Well, let’s see if we can even make that happen—and walking them through that journey and talking about, well, how are you going to pay for healthcare for 10 years? That’s usually the thing that everybody’s like, oh, nevermind. I’ll work till I’m 60. But having those conversations and really helping people get to the goal that they’re going for, or that they feel is important to them—that’s what made me stay in this industry. And there are times where it’s like being an owner, a CEO, I don’t get to just do client work. I also have to deal with HR. I have to deal with CEO stuff. I have to deal with accounting. I have to deal with so many different things and choices and decisions. And sometimes you just want to like step away and just be like, I just want to see clients today. I don’t want to have to deal with all the other stuff, but the other stuff doesn’t go away. So there are times when it’s like, well, what would happen—and I won’t say this has been recently—but what would happen if I merged into a larger firm? But I also have a vision and get excited about what this company will be before I retire and how far I’ve come. And so I tend to keep persevering. I had a coach once say that I was like, perseverance was the word for me. In sports, I was never the best player, but I was always there fighting—and I say fighting in a positive way—to make our first string players better. I wanted their spot. So practices were like games because I was there like, you have to earn your spot every week. I’m not letting you have it. And me doing that is making you a better player when we play opponents. So hope is always there. I always have hope. No one’s taken that away from me yet. And that perseverance.
[00:17:45]
Alice Tang: We’re running down to the fun questions here.
[00:17:55]
Alice Tang: What is one piece of advice that you would give to any woman who’s looking at you and say, I want to be the Christy Aleckson 2.0?
[00:18:02]
Christy Aleckson: Yeah—show up. And you have the word believe behind you and that’s a word that is so ingrained in me. Just believe that you can and then take the action. You can’t just manifest out of nothing. You have to take action and then do the things and don’t make it big. Make it one thing at a time. So if it’s a phone call, if it’s going to an event to meet people, if it’s asking for the referral—whatever that thing is—just do it and then do it again. Also I would add on the showing up—show up for others.
[00:20:19]
Alice Tang: Well, we touched upon a little bit about your legacy.
[00:20:28]
Alice Tang: So your money legacy is—would you just tell us again?
[00:20:35]
Christy Aleckson: Yeah. And I’ll summarize it as impact. I don’t have children, so I don’t have anyone that I’m like worrying about passing on to future generations. And because of that, you think about it differently. And I have nieces and nephews that will benefit from having me as an auntie, but just what can I do to leave the world a better place? When I was young, there was a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote on success about leaving the world a better place. And whether that’s by a redeemed social condition, a garden patch or a healthy child, that always hit with me. Like, a garden patch—wow. You can leave the world better in so many ways. It’s not about being MLK and giving that huge sacrifice so publicly, it is every little thing that we do. And so for me, that’s that legacy. And if I have the ability financially to leave a legacy, that’s even more impactful. Awesome. That’s the goal.
[00:21:50]
Alice Tang: Yes. What are you grateful for today?
[00:21:54]
Christy Aleckson: Oh, so many things. First, getting to spend the morning with you. We had an event last week where I got to speak and then moderate a panel and your name was invoked so many times regarding mentorship. And it was like you were getting a group hug from far away in a room. You weren’t there. And that’s important. Like that tells about your legacy, right? But getting to spend time with you and having just an amazing circle of people that I love to interact with every single day—I’m just so grateful. I just came off a weekend with one of those nieces who plays basketball and getting to go watch her and running into friends and it was wonderful. So I’m very grateful for that. I’m also grateful for finding light right now—finding light and thinking about opportunities and growth, and whether that’s very internal or community oriented, I’m still full of that hope that I was talking about, and it takes a lot to distinguish that. In fact, no one has been able to yet. I’m very proud of that. So that’s something I’m grateful for. I guess I’m grateful that my attitude is good.
[00:22:52]
Alice Tang: Your attitude is always good.
[00:22:54]
Christy Aleckson: Yeah, I had a time in life where I was a little more negative and it didn’t serve me. And at some point it just kind of dawned on me like, oh, I hate it when people are the victim and always complaining. And someone had said, oh, things that bother us tend to be reflections of things that we do. And I thought about that and I was like, wait—I had coffee, whatever the thing was with a friend, and I complained the whole time. Ah, a person. And this was in my late twenties. And so I just started paying attention to what came out of my mouth. Am I perfect? Absolutely not. But being more optimistic and not, you know, over the top like everything’s roses, but really just being more focused on positivity and change in the little things that we can do. Just walk out the door today and smile at someone, tell them that their hair looks great, whatever—you can change. Someone’s—your hair always looks great. I told you this story before too. I used to go out the day after Thanksgiving shopping, right? I never was going out to shop. No, I got the socks at the sale, but I would go get like five Starbucks cards, like ten of them, and just go find people who were either being really nice to other people or who just look stressed—like the screaming kid in the cart, whatever. And I’d be like, Hey, it looks like you could use this—and then just carry on. Might help people find the right socks they were looking for. But just because that day was always so chaotic, I just thought, you know, why not be that person that just shows up and makes things a little less stressful. I haven’t done that since COVID hit, but maybe I’ll pick that up again this year.
[00:24:31]
Alice Tang: Random kindness on a spring day. Random kindness on a—
[00:24:35]
Christy Aleckson: Hard day. Yeah.
[00:24:37]
Alice Tang: Yes, yes. Christy, we are super grateful for you. Thank you for joining Women’s Million Dollar Conversation. You’re a role model. Many people look up to you. You are carrying a bag of huge wisdom to be ready to share to the world. Thank you for being you, Christy. Thank you so much.
Christina “Christy” Aleckson is the CEO/Founder and Wealth Manager at Single Point Financial Advisors. She is a graduate of Pacific University in Forest Grove, OR with a double major in Business Administration and Political Science, and an MBA earned from George Fox University.
Christy helps individuals, families, and small businesses with financial advice, education, investment management, insurance, and risk management. She has earned several designations including Behavioral Financial Advisor™, the Retirement Income Certified Professional® designation and the Wealth Management Certified Professional® designation.
Community involvement is a core value for Christy, and she has served on many boards in the Portland area, and nationally. Christy served ten years on the Board of Directors of Women in Insurance and Financial Services, Portland Metro Chapter ending November 2018. Christy served as the President of WIFS Portland Metro for two years from 2010-2012. She also served on the board of directors for WIFS national organization from 2012-2014, chairing the Marketing and Public Relations committee. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Pacific University Boxer Club and is a co-founder and board member of the non-profit Zimbabwe Rhino Project.
She also mentors several women in her industry, and beyond. Through this involvement and her successful business, she has been recognized for several awards, including: 2014 Portland Business Journal 40 Under 40, 2018 Women in Insurance and Financial Services Woman of the Year (national), 2019 Portland Business Journal Woman of Influence and an annual honoree of the Five Star Wealth Manager recognition since 2012 to now.
In her spare time, she enjoys spending quality time with friends and family, attending concerts, travel, interior decorating and home improvement, gardening, animals, basketball, reading, trying out all the local restaurants, and being involved in the community. Her life goal is to leave the world a little bit better for having been here.