About
Elisabeth has been a financial adviser for over 24 years.
She is a money coach, author, educator, financial coach, wife, mother, grandmother, and best friend to many. She is the founder of COPIA Wealth Management & Insurance Services and COPIA Wealth Management Advisors Inc., organizations that provide comprehensive financial advising with education to help her clients achieve their desired wealth goals.
Elisabeth has been named the Financial Adviser of the Year twice in the Finance Monthly Global Awards, and three years running for the “Face of Finance, Wealth Management” by San Diego magazine.
She has also been featured on the cover of Discover magazine, and in U.S. News and World Report, and San Diego magazine. She is the author of the Wealth By Design book series. The latest in the series, released in 2023, is Retirement by Design.
Elisabeth's Story:
Finance Is In my Blood
Helping people with money is in my blood. My story begins with the longest most stressful month of my life in 1998, when my second child, Trevor, was born with severe complications and confined to the NICU. My whole life was about to change.
Suddenly I was facing the need for a new career to have the time flexibility I needed to care for my son. I thought I’d be in retail my entire life, but I needed to transition away from the very demanding and successful career I had as a fashion buyer for Nordstrom.
So in 1998, I ventured out looking
for what felt like a whole new life.
I had no idea what I wanted to do next.
A friend watched my son so I could interview with the GM of a local branch of Metlife.
I almost didn’t take the interview because, growing up, two things were off-limits:
Any talk about death or dying. And my mother’s purse!
My mother was from the “old country,” an immigrant from Vienna (hence why my name, Elisabeth, uses the German spelling with an “s” instead of Elizabeth Dawson). She lived through WWII and for her, conversations about death and money were secretive and fearful.
If you spoke about money, you’d be accused of wanting something when she died. And under NO circumstance… would you ever go into Mother’s purse! Never. You might get your hand cut off.
Financial planning was in direct conflict with the two things that were taboo in my family!
A job where you talk about money and death?
Not in my family!
But I took the interview,
and I loved it.
I felt I was born to help people with life’s most difficult subject: money!
I decided to go back to school at night to become licensed. I was 28 years old.
When I told my parents, they were my toughest critics.
But then, something wonderful happened.
At the same time, my father desired to retire early from the government at 55.
As a test of the value of a financial planner, I made an appointment for my parents with my newfound mentor in the industry.
So taboo were the subjects of money and death that my parents disallowed me from attending with them. So I waited nervously outside the closed office.
“Dear God,” I prayed, “If I am meant to be a financial advisor, please show me a sign. Show me even my parents can approve of it.”
When my parents emerged,
they were visibly happy.
My mom was ecstatic, and my Dad was thrilled that he could retire. Mom had always been my toughest critic, and her endorsement was the sign from God I needed to move into the best industry in the world, financial services, with my full commitment.
Since then, I’ve been blessed to have great mentors who helped me fast-track my career in many ways. But more deeply, I knew I was a woman in a profession full of men, and to succeed, I’d have to be the best. So I’ve always worked extra hard, and because of my children, failure was never an option.
Author, Entrepreneur & Financial Coach
Today I am grateful to be in the Top 1%
of successful advisors in our country.
I couldn’t have accomplished this without our team – they are incredible.
I found my My Mission, My Passion, and My Purpose when I found my place in the financial services industry. I’m in my dream job.
There is one moment I’ll never forget. It took place just 7 months before my mother passed away. At a client appreciation dinner, my Mother surprised me with an unexpected toast.
“Elisabeth, your grandfather would be very proud of you.”
My grandfather was a minister. I didn’t know why she was
bringing him up.
“I would hope my grandfather would be proud of me, but why?” I asked.
“Your grandfather was the Minister of Finance for Vienna, Austria before WWII.”
I was stunned! Growing up,
I thought he was a church minister.
That unexpected toast privately confirmed something,
I’ve felt since my first interview at MetLife.
I was born to be a financial advisor -
it’s in my blood!
P.S. My son Trevor is doing amazing today!
He is thriving. We raised him to be incredibly adaptive to his health, and he lives his life like he never had any health concerns. Trevor is an amazing young man.
He graduated from college in 3 short years and started his career in real estate as a loan officer. His sister Nicolette is equally amazing.
She’s definitely the smartest one in the family!
Mama is very proud of them both.
