Women In Wealth
Business Owners—You built something that matters. Now what?
You’ve spent years turning vision into payroll, patents, and proud customers. The next leap—from hands on operator to hands free owner—demands the same grit plus a fresh playbook. We knit together the personal and the professional so your exit isn’t a finish line; it’s a launchpad.
How We Can Help
Value Acceleration Roadmap
Using time-tested methodology, we benchmark today’s enterprise value, outline “quick wins,” and stage longer term transformation tasks that can help raise a future sale multiple without derailing day to day ops.
Exit Ready Tax Strategy Playbook
Multi year modeling shows the impact of Section 1202 QSBS exclusions, 1042 rollovers, or installment sales, so you can choose the structure that keeps more in your pocket when the wire hits.
Personal Net Worth Bridge
We help translate illiquid business equity into a post sale cash flow ladder, marrying proceeds with pre existing IRAs, 401(k)s, HSAs, and brokerage assets for durable, tax efficient income.
Enterprise Risk Shield
Review and (when needed) redesign buy sell agreements, key person life insurance coverage, and owner replacement funding to protect value while a deal is pending.
Legacy & Impact Integration
Tie a donor-advised fund (for upfront deductions) or a family foundation into the closing package so your generosity scales with your liquidity event rather than becoming an afterthought.
Brittany Gautreau, CEPA®
Founder & Lead Wealth Advisor
After 12 years guiding clients in a key leadership role at her previous firm, she built Tenacity’s process to give you the same edge: one dashboard designed to unite every account, a specialist network that speaks with one voice, and a plan that adapts as fast as your ambitions. From an internship at the Seattle Federal Reserve to ops leadership at American Express Financial Advisors, Brittany’s two decades (and counting!) in the industry prove the power of consistent action. She now channels her resolve into clear, actionable guidance for clients planning their next chapter. Outside the office, you’ll find her road-tripping with her husband, Zach, or supporting foster care, veterans, and anti-trafficking causes.
Women In Wealth — You deserve clarity and confidence through life’s financial turning points.
Life can change fast, and money gets more complicated when it does. Divorce. Losing a spouse. Caring for an aging parent. A serious illness. Or simply stepping into retirement after a successful career. Women In Wealth deserve a steady financial partner through every transition with clear planning, coordinated strategy, and a calm next step. We’re often a strong fit for women who:
- have $1,000,000+ in investable assets
- are widowed and navigating inherited wealth
- are divorced and rebuilding clarity & control
- are nearing retirement after a successful career and want a coordinated plan
How We Can Help
Equity Compensation Blueprint
Scenario analysis for ISOs, NSOs, and RSUs pinpoints optimum exercise dates, AMT exposure, and sale windows, designed to help you capture upside without potential surprise tax bills.
Deferred Comp & Bonus Optimization
Strategies designed to Layer 401(k), mega backdoor Roth, and non qualified plans so today’s income fills tomorrow’s lower tax brackets—while a cash reserve “sleep fund” keeps you liquid between vesting dates.
Investment Peak Portfolio
Low cost ETFs, direct indexing, and a vetted sleeve of private credit or real estate funds (when appropriate) align growth potential with your risk budget—no performance chasing required.
Tax Efficient Income Layering
Multi year bracket projections identify potential Roth conversion windows, charitable bunching years, and harvest loss targets to help shave avoidable taxes each April.
Career Protection Suite
Own occupation disability, umbrella liability, and cyber fraud protections to help defend the balance sheet you’ve worked so hard to build—because one lawsuit shouldn’t unwind decades of discipline.
Transition Cash-Flow Roadmap
Create a clear picture of income, expenses, accounts, insurance, and timing — so decisions feel steadier and less urgent.
Misty Stoddart
Managing Director & Wealth Manager
Rooted in Southern values and shaped by life across the West — from Southern California to Idaho and Montana — Misty brings warmth, perspective, and steady leadership to every relationship she builds.
With more than 20 years of experience in the financial industry, Misty serves as Managing Director & Wealth Manager at Tenacity Wealth Management. She specializes in working with women navigating major transitions — widowhood, divorce, retirement planning after a successful career, and other life changes that can make financial decisions feel heavier than they should.
Misty is known for her thoughtful, personal approach: listening first, anticipating what’s coming, and building clear, coordinated strategies designed to help women protect what they’ve earned, regain clarity, and make confident next-step decisions.
Outside of work, Misty is often found exploring the outdoors, traveling, cheering on her kids, and gathering with the people she proudly calls family. She is also an official Wish Grantor with Make-A-Wish North Idaho.
Women in Wealth: Financial Planning & Advisory Services
Build a plan for your wealth, your life, and what’s next.
Build & Protect:
Help your money support the life you’re building.
If you’ve spent years taking care of everyone else, it makes sense that your own financial life hasn’t always come first. Misty helps you organize income, savings, tax strategy, and protection so more of what you earn supports you, your family, and the future you’re working toward.
That can look like:
- More in retirement. Maximize workplace savings, design cash-balance strategies for your business, and consolidate old accounts into a single coordinated plan.
- Less lost to taxes. Find missed deductions, plan around equity compensation, and keep more of what you earn.
- Protection that doesn’t rest on your shoulders alone. Put disability, life, and liability coverage in place so the people and priorities that depend on you are protected if life changes fast.
Exit & Transition:
Big changes deserve clarity.
Selling a business, going through a divorce, receiving an inheritance, retiring, or exercising equity can change everything at once. Misty helps you understand what you have, what matters most, and how to move forward without leaving money or options on the table.
That may include:
- A full picture before you act. Review business value, marital assets, inherited wealth, or concentrated equity so decisions are grounded in facts.
- A more efficient tax path. Evaluate strategies like Section 1202, 1042 rollovers, step-up in basis planning, and other ways to keep more of the proceeds.
- A transition plan you can live with. Spread income across tax years and align the move with your family, estate, and long-term goals.
Invest & Sustain: Turn wealth into steady income and real confidence.
Once the money is there, the question changes. It’s no longer just how to grow it. Now it’s how to make it last, use it well, and feel confident living on it. We help build investment and withdrawal strategies around your goals, timeline, and tax picture so your money keeps supporting the life you want.
Your strategy may include:
- Investing that fits your life. Use low-cost ETFs or direct indexing based on your risk tolerance, tax situation, and time horizon.
- Ongoing tax discipline. Harvest losses, rebalance intentionally, and keep avoidable taxes from quietly eating into returns.
- Income planning for your next chapter. Build a drawdown plan around future RMDs, lifestyle needs, and the retirement you’ve earned.
.
Start with a conversation about what your money needs to do for you.
A first conversation can help you spot the biggest opportunities, shore up what’s exposed, and move forward with more confidence.
- See where your current approach may be costing you money, protection, or flexibility.
- Prioritize tax efficiency, retirement, protection, or transition decisions that matter most right now.
- Leave with clear next steps built around your life, not a generic checklist.
Faq
Questions from Women
Practical starting points for navigating widowhood, divorce, and other major financial transitions.
My spouse handled most of our finances. What should I do first after losing them?
Start by taking inventory.
Before making major financial decisions, gather as much information as you can about what you own and what you owe. That may include:
- Real estate
- Checking and savings accounts
- Brokerage accounts
- Retirement accounts
- Life insurance
- Annuities
- Business interests
- Loans or other debts
This is a time to get organized, not to feel pressured into making immediate decisions.
We often believe that during the first year after losing a spouse, doing less can sometimes be the wisest financial move while emotions are still very raw.
Next step: Create a simple financial inventory and connect with an advisor you trust who can help you understand what you have before deciding what to do with it.
Should I make major financial decisions right after becoming widowed?
If you can avoid it, we generally encourage slowing down.
Major decisions involving selling a home, making large purchases, giving money away, changing investments, or dramatically altering your lifestyle can often wait until you have had time to process what has happened and better understand your financial picture.
Grief can make even simple decisions feel overwhelming.
Sometimes protecting yourself financially means giving yourself permission to do nothing for a while.
Next step: Before making an irreversible decision, ask: “Does this truly need to happen now, or can it wait until I have more clarity?”
How should I think about keeping the house in a divorce?
The first question is not simply, “Do I want the house?”
It is: “Is keeping the house in my long-term financial best interest?”
A home can carry tremendous emotional value, especially when children and memories are involved. But it also comes with mortgage payments, taxes, insurance, maintenance, and repairs.
In some situations, keeping the house may leave a woman with very little income-producing wealth. In others, keeping the home may absolutely make sense.
There is no universal answer.
Next step: Before agreeing to keep the house, compare the cost of maintaining it with the income and assets you will have after the divorce.
What should I know before agreeing to a divorce settlement?
Make sure you understand all of the assets - not just the total value on paper.
Two assets worth $500,000 may be very different financially.
One may be a home you can live in or sell. Another may be a retirement account that could create taxes or restrictions when accessed.
Before negotiating, create a complete inventory of:
- Real estate
- Businesses
- Brokerage accounts
- Retirement accounts
- Stock options
- Cash
- Insurance
- Annuities
- Other valuable property
Then understand what each asset actually means for your future cash flow and lifestyle.
Next step: Work with a financial professional before the settlement is finalized so you understand not only what each asset is worth, but how usable it will be afterward.
How do I know whether I should manage my finances myself or hire someone?
We use a simple framework at Tenacity called the KIT Test.
- Knowledge: Do I understand what I own and how the pieces work together?
- Interest: Do I actually want to spend my time managing investments, taxes, retirement income, and financial decisions?
- Time: Do I realistically have the time to stay on top of all of it?
If you are missing one or more parts of the KIT, it may make sense to hire someone who has the Knowledge, Interest, and Time to help.
Next step: Give yourself an honest KIT score. If financial decisions are creating more stress than confidence, it may be time to get help.
Business Services
Scale & Grow:
Fuel today’s momentum. Build tomorrow’s value.
Early-stage and mid-career owners lean on us for cash flow optimization, retirement plan design, and Key Person life insurance coverage to help protect today’s momentum while adding enterprise value for tomorrow.
In practice, that often includes:
- 401(k) or Cash‑Balance plan design that tilts more dollars toward owner accounts.
- Tax‑credit mapping for Research & Development or energy incentives.
- Key‑Person Plus” life insurance coverage that funds a temporary talent gap if you’re sidelined.
Exit & Transition:
When it’s time to move on, don’t leave money—or opportunity—on the table.
When it’s time to move on, our exit strategies, tax-efficient structures, and lifestyle income mapping help convert years of sweat equity into liquidity (and a life you love).
Typical tools we deploy:
- Pre sale quality of earnings reviews.
- Section 1202 and 1042 rollover analysis.
- Coordinated deal structures that spread proceeds across tax years while protecting spouse and estate priorities.
Invest & Distribute:
Wealth that works long after the business card comes down.
Once you’ve transitioned out, the game changes. Your focus shifts from growing wealth to protecting it and living off of it. We craft disciplined, tax-efficient investment and withdrawal strategies designed to provide income without anxiety.
Your plan may include:
- Low-cost ETFs or direct indexing.
- Tax-loss harvesting and proactive rebalancing.
- Withdrawal sequencing based on future RMDs and lifestyle goals.
Legacy & Impact:
Make your money do more—for the people and causes you care about most.
From family governance frameworks to charitable giving and multigenerational wealth transfer, we help extend the good your wealth can do on your terms and timeline.
Your plan may include:
- Donor advised funds for high impact giving.
- Generation skipping or dynasty trust design (through our in-house counsel).
- Family governance playbook that turns tough money talks into productive annual summits.
