Metro Portland
Taking a Values-Based Approach
Photos by Jason Hill
In the field of wealth management, Modernist Financial stands apart.
“I believe the work of wealth management is really about defining what ‘enough’ is for you and your family, so we can be wholeheartedly generous with what remains,” says Georgia Lee Hussey, founder and CEO.
“When you do tax planning, is it really all about spending as little as you can on taxes, or is it about the collective benefit that your taxes provide? Estate planning — does it really all have to go to your kids? Those are conversations that most people are not having with their clients. I’m picky about who we work with so we can have those conversations.”
Modernist Financial guides clients to align their thinking about wealth with their values, helps them choose ESG (environmental, social and governance) investments, prompts conversations about giving from asset sales as a form of reparations, and refers them to community foundations like OCF to establish charitable funds.
“We’re not experts in how government, private enterprise and nonprofits are all coming together to solve systemic issues. Community foundations are the space where all those stakeholders come together.”
GEORGIA LEE HUSSEY
FOUNDER AND CEO, MODERNIST FINANCIAL
Georgia also serves on OCF’s Metropolitan Portland Leadership Council, where she learns about issues from local leaders and helps direct OCF’s discretionary grantmaking.
In October 2021, Modernist Financial collaborated with OCF to present an event exploring findings about place and opportunity from OCF’s 2020 TOP report, “Cornerstones: Economic Mobility and Belonging in Oregon.” Reflective activities encouraged participants to consider the impact of place in their own lives, and the inequities associated with place for so many.
It’s all part of the engaged community approach Georgia cultivates. “The structural issues are endemic, and we need to come at them as a collective,” she says.