Elizabeth Jetton, M.Ed., CFP®

Elizabeth has been a thought leader in the financial planning profession for the past 30 years.  She has been a CFP® Professional since 1991 and in the financial services industry since 1981.  She was a part of the Pioneers group, along with Dick Wagner and many of the Finology Fellows, formed in 2000 as an early think tank and practice community, that delved deeply into what it means to BE and Do financial life planning and practice FP 3.0 in the 21^st century.

Elizabeth is a frequent speaker, nationally and internationally, on topics focused on the Art and Science of Financial Planning; Planning for the Second Half of Life; Serving Women Clients; 21^st Century Planning; Leadership; Building a Thriving Practice; and Applying Adult Learning Theory to the Practice of Financial Planning.   She also trains women advisors in the art of using circle (group facilitated learning) as a tool for empowering and connecting women around their relationship with money.

Elizabeth was a 2018 recipient of the Heart of Financial Planning award for her work on behalf of the profession.  She served as President of the FPA in 2004.  She has facilitated multiple gatherings of FPA NexGen and chaired the FPA Annual Retreat conference in 2015 and 2016.  From 2017 – 2020 she was a consultant to FPA in the area of professional learning and professional development.

In 2012 Elizabeth retired from her financial planning practice at RTD Financial Advisors to focus on working ON the profession rather than IN it, through coaching and teaching financial planners.  Her passion is in helping new and experienced advisors make a difference in their client’s lives by building innovative client-centered holistic practices, processes, services and deliverables and through their own personal development.  She keeps her attention on the future and on developing innovative methods to enhance the value of financial planning.   Her work with her coaching clients is grounded in the theory of Finology and the practice of FP 3.0.

Elizabeth is on the faculty of Golden Gate University’s MS in Advanced Planning program.She teaches the course that she designed, Introduction to Financial Life Planning, assigning Wagner’s book, Financial Planning 3.0, as the textbook. In 2019 Elizabeth completed a M.Ed. with distinction from the University of Georgia, in Adult Learning, Leadership and Organizational Development.

Elizabeth and husband and fellow CFP®, Michael J. Smith, CFP®, are in the process of moving to the small mountain community of Tellico Plains, TN, in the Cherokee National Forest with their two senior rescue terriers.