Today we’d like to introduce you to Tinja Anderson.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Tinja. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am a Co-Founder of the MassMutual Greater Houston SpecialCare Planning Team. I work alongside Special Care Planner, Bryan Smith, who is one of two individuals in the surrounding area who has earned the Charted Special Needs Consultant (ChSNC) designation. Together, we work with families that have a loved one with special needs or a disability by implementing strategies that focus on helping them leave a legacy for their child in a cost-effective, tax-efficient way. We also assist in developing estate plans with attorneys, educate on wavier programs, discuss trustee options, and help secure a financial future for the parents along with the child through building a Life Care Plan.
I was raised in a family of entrepreneurs whose entire mission is to create a legacy of excellence. Meaning you always leave anything you touch better than how you found it. That mindset applied to everything in how I was raised and continues to apply to all aspects of my life now. There is nothing more fulfilling to me than knowing that I can impact the lives of my clients by ensuring that they can live the life they want without the fear of not having enough, without the fear of not knowing how to answer the question “what happens to my child with special needs after I pass away?”.
Achieving excellence both personally and professionally takes a team. And our SpecialCare Planning Team essentially serves as the family’s financial macro manager by bringing in top professionals from around the industry to assist the family with any need that arises.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I spent the first decade of my career as a Strategic Sales and Communications Consultant working alongside my father implementing corporate training and executive level coaching for several Fortune 500 companies, specializing in developing value propositions and persuasive presentations. I have trained over 1500 professionals, globally, cross-divisionally, and cross-disciplines. And I have assisted in building over 500 value propositions that affected change for both the client and their customer.
After my parents retired, it was a very difficult transition. We had been traveling non-stop, working 70-80 hrs in 4 days, recovering on the plane home, and then turning around and doing it again the next week. We were relentless. So when I was presented with the opportunity to either take over the family business and fly solo or figure out how to pivot, it took me a minute to find my bearings. After all, I had been traveling non-stop for the same client for almost an entire decade, with very little downtime.
In addition, since my parents had been in business for over 30 years and 25 of which were fueled by referral-based business, I really hadn’t had to hunt for external business, it was purely about development and execution. In my head, I didn’t know the first thing about building a network from the ground up, or taking the intellectual property that my parents handed over to me and shaping it to make it mine. Or so I thought. What I did know is how to connect with people, I knew how to build a business case, and how to drive value. I had all the makings to build a successful business. I started out by taking on small consulting projects, but I found it to be extremely difficult to replicate to effectiveness of having three consultants working at full bore. What I was missing was a team. And I knew that was going to be extremely difficult to find and cultivate.
When I stumbled across an opportunity to run my “2 Minute Pitch and Body Language Bootcamp” for a boutique financial strategy firm, I had no idea that it would lead me into an official pivot of career into the world of finance. Long story short, I was recruited in, and from there, I recognized how versatile my foundational skill sets were. I was confident in my ability to absorb information quickly, and my ability to outwork the competition. I connected quickly with Special Care Planner, Bryan Smith, and assisted him in forming a SpecialCare Planning Team for MassMutual Greater Houston.
Bryan has a sibling with over 14 different disabilities, and I grew up with a brother who had a pronounced speech impediment (that’s actually how I received my name, Tinja. My brother named me when he couldn’t pronounce my Great Grandmother’s name “Gina” and it came out “Tinja.”) We recognized early that our skillsets were very complimentary, and then it was about me learning a new industry while cultivating community. I ended up rounding out my first year in the business being awarded “Rookie of the Year.” But the best win, in my mind, was finding a team that is committed to getting it right for the client; finding a team that is committed to building that legacy of excellence with me.
Please tell us about MassMutual Greater Houston.
As a company, we provide a very unique service. We are not just financial professionals to these families that have loved ones with special needs or disabilities, we are their SpecialCare team. We serve as macro managers to help ensure that not only are they secure financially, but that they also have the correct legal documents in place, that we get them access to the resources they need to assist them with SSI/SSDI/Medicaid/Medicare, that they have someone to coach them through the IEP and ARD meetings, that they know who to reach out to for therapies, career coaching, etc. It’s not just about getting it right for these families from a financial standpoint but from a holistic Life Care Plan standpoint. We are not satisfied unless our clients are satisfied.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I had a very eclectic upbringing. Choosing one favorite memory is difficult. I’d say my athletic accomplishments are pretty pronounced in my memory. I competed in my first Rough water swim when I was five years old. My soccer team won the State Championship when I was 12 years old. And my sailing team won both Fleet Racing and Team Racing nationals when I was a Freshman in High School.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3 Greenway Plaza, Suite 1500, Houston TX 77046
- Website: https://greaterhouston.massmutual.com/individuals-and-families/specialcaresm
- Phone: 619-252-5230
- Email: Tinja@financialguide.com
Local firms are sales offices of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), and are not subsidiaries of MassMutual or its affiliated companies. CRN202204-263620
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