Wealth Manager In Sacramento Touts Education As Key To Success

Kimberly Foss earned her first degree in management from California State University, Chico. She went on to the College of Financial Planning at Wharton School of Business, earning her CP, CPA and MCA. Starting out at Merrill Lynch in San Ramon, she consciously embarked on a path to controlling her financial destiny, and in 1989 launched her own firm, Empyrion Wealth Management, in Roseville. It was clear to her early on that education was the key to maintaining a successful career in a very demanding field. Foss continues to rely on education as a foundation for her business.

Tell us about your education. What was your focus at university?

"My first major was architecture, then I switched to computer science. I ended up with a degree in Business Administration, concentrating in marketing and finance. I wanted to be fully in charge of my own financial destiny, something that I dreamed of since I was 11 years old. I also earned a minor in computer science. I enjoyed finance and marketing. My view of money was that it was a tool to build choices into my life, something that my parents and siblings never had available to them.

"For me, the most powerful word in wealth building is 'choice.' I saw many people limit their financial futures based on conventional wisdom. Instead, they could be taking control of their money and leveraging it to create the ideal future, not somebody else's version of security. I set out to create my future, through my education, which created a 'choice' for my future."

How did your education contribute to your very impressive career?

"It is the quintessential reason for the success I have had in my life, my practice and what I have been able to pass along to others to effect change in their lives as well. Education is the key. I continue to this day with education in my chosen field and corresponding fields of economics. I obtained my Certified Financial Planning license in 1991, which requires 30-plus hours of continuing education every two years. My Certified Private Wealth Advisors license, earned in 2007, requires 40 hours of continuing education every two years in order to maintain the license. I am always learning."

Could you have achieved this level of professional success without education?

"No. I believe that education and further knowledge, not only in your own fields of expertise but in associated fields as well, are directly tied to success. Success and education are inseparable. One doesn't happen without the other."

Charles Ferris is a freelance writer who has lived in the Sierra, halfway between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe, for the last 37 years. In 2010 he retired from teaching after 36 years . He and his wife hike, kayak, cross country ski, snow shoe, ride mountain bikes and road bikes, year round. His work can be found at Examiner.com.