After tragedy, a planner finds a niche advising women in grief

Like so many who find a niche in wealth management, Amy Drinkard has a personal connection.

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In her case, however, the death of her father-in-law didn’t determine the types of clients she’d serve. It served as the catalyst to make her a financial planner in the first place.

Drinkard watched her mother-in-law struggle through the loss of her husband, but also saw the steady hand of a financial advisor who walked her through the process. 

“My husband and I are high school sweethearts, so we’ve been together for a very long time. And shortly after we got married, my father-in-law passed away, and he was 52. My mother-in-law had never had to handle any of the finances,” Drinkard said. “Seeing her walk through that process really lit a fire in me, and honestly, it’s the reason why I do what I do.”

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After a time at Merrill Lynch, her firm went independent in Birmingham, Alabama, in 2024. As a partner and client advisor at Steadmont Advisors, she works mostly with women who are dealing with major life transitions — often divorce or the death of a partner.

Today, she manages 150 clients, and since the move to independence, Drinkard estimates that about 90% of her new clients fit into her niche. 

Below, Drinkard details how she built her niche, the challenges she and her clients face, and the advice she’d give to anyone starting a new niche.

This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Financial Planning: You have a personal story, but what helps you connect with this niche, especially since so many of the clients are going through difficult times?

Amy Drinkard: I always knew I had a really great gift with people. I really am a huge empath. I feel what clients feel, and I take more of an emotional approach to financial planning. Obviously the numbers are important, but numbers and finances are an emotional topic, so I sort of meet them at that intersection, and I validate their feelings while also helping them not make an irreversible decision. I would say that that happened over time with experience.

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FP: How did you connect with some of your first clients in this niche? 

AD: I inherited a lot of my book. My partner and I managed the book, split it client-wise down the middle, and we inherited a great book that has been with us for over 30 years. I naturally gravitated to the women going through these types of situations. And so once I realized that’s where I’ve sort of started to gravitate, I hit the ground running.

FP: How do you grow that part of the business? How do you find new clients specifically in this niche?

AD: I have done some speaking engagements around this exact topic, on how to educate women so that they can shift from confusion to confidence. Women, unfortunately, go into financial conversations feeling like they do not deserve a seat at the table. And I have done a lot of proactive outreach. 

I would say the bulk of where I get my clients, though, is through client referrals. Because if you’re doing right by your client, it’s going to naturally happen that way.

FP: What challenges do you have serving these clients? What is it like for you?

AD: The No. 1 thing to navigate that can be the trickiest is the emotional side of it. Anyone can learn the financial side of it — mostly anyone. Managing the emotions of someone that has gone through a huge life transition, you have to be very delicate. You have to understand and validate their feelings. 

I have found that the biggest challenge for me personally has been to get them to get out of their own way. They need to sit in the grief for a little bit, but they need to shift that into action. And by that, I don’t mean to make huge decisions, which is why I created this method called the “one move method.” It is one act at a time. If we can just do one small act at a time, over a couple of months, we’re making real progress, right?

Where I’ve seen the biggest problem is, all these statements and complicated jargon are getting thrown at these women, and they overwhelm and shut down. I personally am one of those that if I get overwhelmed, I kind of retreat back, and then I shut off, right? And so getting them to open up to you about a topic that they feel like they’re not smart enough to discuss, and helping them figure out what is that one move that’s going to get us to the next stage — it doesn’t have to be this large leap of faith. 

Then one thing that I preach about constantly: understanding your cash flow, making sure that we’re linking all of our accounts under one umbrella so you have awareness, and bringing awareness around the plan, and then also helping them realize that I am a partner. I’m not there to fix everything all at one time. I’m there to walk through every step of the process.

One of the main things that I like to emphasize with them is — and I don’t really tell them this, I just help them realize this — is that a lot of our job is to tell them what not to do during those time frames. They’ve got a lot of people telling them what to do. We need to be a sounding board of what not to do. It comes up daily in my world, and it sort of is a simple way of explaining exactly what we do.

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FP: Can you give me an example?

AD: So we get the life insurance policy money, and we have a 2.5% interest rate on a house, and they want to use the life insurance to pay off the $400,000 mortgage. They say, “This is what I have to do.” You need to stop. You don’t have to do that right now. We need to let the dust settle, take a breath, pause. Why would we recommend paying off $400,000 at a 2.5% rate if you can make more than that in a money market? At the moment, they don’t know that. That’s what we’re here to tell them.

I recommend, with most people, not to make a very important life-changing decision within six months of going through a loss, whether it be a divorce or a death. 

FP: What about the planning challenges? Are there specific financial or planning challenges that are particular to this group of people?

AD: You work with a lot of centers of influence — attorneys, accountants. I’m currently in the process with a new client, and she’s not in communication with the ex-spouse, and we’re working through their attorneys and just making sure that everyone’s coordinating correctly in a seamless process, because it’s painful for the client a lot of times to have to be on calls like that. 

There are a lot of moving parts, and whether it’s a widow or a divorcee, no matter what it is, there’s time involved and just helping them weed out all the noise that’s coming at them. So I try to take all of that off the client and put it on our team, which is a lot of work. But in my mind, that’s what we’re here for. If you’re not doing that for clients, what are you doing? So the money management is one part.

But where I think we particularly bring the value in, is to weed out all the noise, stick to the facts, and help walk them through that process. They just need help offloading some of the burden. Navigating those relationships with the attorneys and the ex-spouse, or whether it’s life insurance policies, or when someone comes into that amount of money at one time, making sure they understand that we have to come up with goals and a purpose for every dollar that they have coming in, because without a purpose, it’s just drifting, and that’s the last thing you want to happen.

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FP: Do you ever do the other side of the coin — men who have lost a spouse or are going through a divorce?

AD: It’s definitely not a normal thing. I’ve been going through that with one couple that I work with, and they’re no longer together. She’s a breadwinner, and we walked through that with him. Men and women are vastly different, obviously, and more times than not, it’s the women that are the ones that are not the financial go-to in their relationship. But that’s not always the case. And I go through the same process that I do with men or with women. 

FP: If someone were to go out to build a niche, whether it’s in this area or any other area, what is your best advice for them? How can they succeed?

AD: Follow your passion. It can’t be forced. I know that. The easy route would be to just go out and try to get whoever I can to come in the door. Revenue, revenue, revenue. But luckily, I’m in a position where I don’t have to think that way. 

I was 22 when I started in this industry. I had no idea what I was passionate about. You’re still trying to figure out who you are. At that point, your brain is definitely not fully developed. So, experience. Don’t rush it. Take your time to figure out what you’re passionate about. I think a lot of that comes with working with different types of people and different types of relationships, and then following where you feel like you bring the most value.