Michelle M. Smith

Michelle Smith is a managing partner and financial advisor in Savant’s New York, New York, office, where she focuses on guiding women through the most complex chapters of money, divorce, and financial rebuilding. Michelle draws on more than 35 years in financial services and has become a national voice in helping women gain the financial clarity and confidence many were never taught to build. She was the CEO of Source Financial Advisors until it joined Savant in 2024.

Michelle began her career in 1989 and quickly gravitated toward financial divorce work, a field that had few formal frameworks at the time. As a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst® (CDFA®) professional, she helps clients navigate the emotional and technical realities of divorce, including settlement analysis, lifestyle planning, and long-term financial structure. Her approach blends education, behavioral insights, and straight talk, all of which helped her create Wife2CFO, a platform teaching women how to take control of their financial lives from the inside out.

Wife2CFO grew from what Michelle calls a lifetime of “one woman, one blind spot, one aha moment at a time.” Inspired by four generations of women in her family who either lacked financial control or had it taken from them, she built a system designed to keep women from repeating those patterns. The platform challenges traditional industry norms by placing a woman’s stability fund, lifestyle needs, and decision-making patterns at the center of her plan, well before investment selection. She continues to scale the platform as demand grows from women seeking clarity before a crisis, not after one.

Michelle is a frequent contributor to national and financial media outlets, and co‑authored Divorce & Your Finances for Wachovia Securities financial advisors. Outside of her client work, she co‑founded The IDEAL School of Manhattan, the first and only inclusion K–12 independent school in New York City. She helped launch the school to support her son, who has Down syndrome, and to create an equal and transparent learning environment for students of all abilities.

Her career reflects one constant theme: giving women the knowledge, structure, and confidence to design lives rooted in financial control.