Lindsay Swanson isn’t your typical "let's get rich" financial planner. The clientele she serves are laborers that aren't often acknowledged -- sex workers and adult performers. When she sat down with TheStreet to talk about her firm Stripper Financial Planning, she wanted to clarify one thing first. “I [don't] hold myself out as an authority on sex work," she says.
Swanson didn't start out serving such a niche market, either. Her journey to become a certified financial planner (CFP) started when she took a front desk job at a finance firm. “I thought that women were inherently bad with numbers,” she recalls. Swanson says she hoped that her front desk job at a finance firm would help her “absorb” the skills to manage her own finances.
Financial Planning for the Other People
Inspired to go out for her CFP license, Swanson continued working at financial firms while she got her degree online. And as she did, she noticed these firms were only working with the ultra-wealthy. Eventually, she realized that she “would like to be helping the other people."
“I kept wanting to do things differently and at the same time seeing a lot of discrimination,” she tells TheStreet. “One of the things that kept coming up[...] is just how the financial services [industry] treats women. A lot of wealthy men in [these] circles have […] a trophy wife, a mistress, or a sugar baby. [I saw] those conversations from the backside and [they were] really disrespectful,” she recalls. “[The] jokes [...] about the significant others were really gross and inappropriate--and I couldn’t do anything about it.”
“So I was like, ‘how do I change these dynamics?’” The first step? Starting her own firm -- which she did at the start of 2020. But she knew right away that her services would look a little different.
“I knew that [what] I had to do would be charged differently and I knew I wanted to work with people who are being overlooked," she told TheStreet. "I didn't want to just pick a stigmatized group out of a hat. So I [thought I'd] try a few things out and let the market decide.”
At the time, Swanson was working out of California and saw an opportunity to cater to the cannabis farms in the area. But even in a new setting, "I ran into a lot of the same issues that I did with typical financial clients," she says. She was working with "guys in their 50s who also had these women around them.”
“I was talking to a lot of sex workers and they were so much cooler than the clients that I was trying to work with!” Swanson exclaims. And as she and her new crowd started talking about money, she started to realize that she’d found a place where she could really be of service.
A Day in the Life of a Sex Worker's Financial Planner
Her work includes some of the usual features of a CFP's day. Her clients come to her for tax planning or saving up to buy a home. But Swanson says that her clients often have different priorities when it comes to financial independence.
"In most firms, usually the conversation is [about] funding retirement goals," she tells TheStreet. "For my clients, they skew quite a bit younger. So it's not to say that we don't talk about retirement, but it's almost like working with a pro basketball player."
"[Is my client] going to work another three years as a stripper and then be done? Or [...] switch into real estate investing?" Swanson continues firing off questions she'd ask a new client. "[Are they] using sex work to fund something [or looking] to switch to a different career [in sex education]? Do [they] want to stay in this industry? There are just so many directions."
To start with, she says, “I try not to assume people's goals until they tell me, [instead I like] letting people really talk about their situation. There is a vast array of sex worker clients."
How Much Money Does a Stripper Make?
"I think people have this idea that like there's an average client for me," Swanson laughs. "People are always asking me like, oh, how much money do your clients make a month? It depends on who we're talking to, what year it is, and like, how the wind is blowing."
"I will get [...] a 19-year-old and no one in their life knows they do sex work. [Say they're] making $40,000 a month," she says. "[They're] just relieved someone is working in the space because [they've] never done taxes before." But Swanson confesses that some potential clients are so financially literate that she's been taught a thing or two.
"I also get people [...] who have been doing sex work for a long time and know way more than me. [They] know the ins and outs of things. A lot of people assume that [...] sex workers [...] don't have experience with traditional finance and that's not always the case."
Corporate Pride Leaves Sex Workers Behind
Still, if every sex worker was financially literate, there are a lot of institutional hurdles Swanson and her clients come up against. "Sex workers [...] aren't just stigmatized by their work but [tend to be] stigmatized by other factors as well," she tells TheStreet. She says they can be stigmatized because they are "disabled," "people of color," or they "present differently in terms of gender."
For sex workers, even finding a place to process payments and store their money can be challenging. Just last September, Wells Fargo (WFC) came under fire for closing out the accounts of clients who had worked in the adult entertainment industry. Some performers had held accounts with the bank for 25 years or more.
"There are so many banks [that have] rainbow colors on their main page," she points out. "Surely these queer-friendly banks also care about sex workers."
A lot of Swanson's work involves "just having realistic conversations with my clients" about the institutional hoops that come with the financial life of a sex worker. For instance, "[a client may have] initially started [sex work] to pay off school debt. But the place [they] work [may] fire [them] if they find out."
Swanson says her firm isn't aimed at building wealth, instead, it's about achieving financial independence. “I have a lot of [clients] who are anti-capitalist. Their goal is separate from building wealth. Maybe they want to build a commune. Maybe they want to have enough money that they can just live freely."
Stripper Financial Planning
In December 2021, Swanson decided it was time for a rebrand. It's catchy and on-the-nose, but it also serves a valuable function. "I realized that I was forcing people to out themselves when they called me," she explains. "They would [say], 'I think you already work with sex workers, but I just wanted to clarify.' [They] shouldn't have to do that for every [professional] conversation."
Swanson repeated more than once that she's not an expert on sex work. But her expertise could be radically invaluable to one. "I'm a confidential, educated person in terms of finances, and I will help you figure it out."
"But I probably can't tell you what payment processor you can rely on for the next six years because [unfortunately] I don't know the answer to that."
