Advisor Spotlight: Clara Parris, SignatureFD

October 20, 2026

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

For Clara Parris, CFP®, Partner and Wealth Advisor at SignatureFD, great financial advice starts with understanding the person behind the portfolio. From beginning her career working with ultra-high-net-worth families to serving clients through some of life’s biggest transitions, Clara has seen firsthand that money is deeply personal and that the “right” financial decision is not always simply the one that looks best on paper.

In this Advisor Spotlight, Clara shares how those experiences have shaped her approach to wealth management, why she believes the advisor relationship will become even more important as clients gain access to more information, and how she uses Flourish Cash^† to create simple systems that help clients put their cash to work without adding more decisions to their already busy lives.

Flourish: To start, tell us about your career path and what led you to wealth management.

Clara Parris: This is a career I never thought I would have. My mom is a schoolteacher, my dad is a watchmaker, and I grew up in South Carolina. I didn’t know this world existed.

I went to Clemson as a business major and eventually chose finance because I like people and I like numbers. I interned at a multi-family office in the Washington, D.C. area and ended up starting my career there, working with ultra-high-net-worth families.

Then I spent a year overseas doing service work in 11 countries. That experience had a huge impact on how I think about money. I met people who had very little financially but were incredibly generous and didn’t tie their value to what they owned. At the same time, through my work, I had seen people with significant wealth hold on to it very tightly.

I realized that it could be really meaningful work to help people find a sense of freedom with what they have, whether that means giving more, helping their family, or simply feeling less restricted by money.

I joined Wells Fargo in Atlanta as a planner and later came to SignatureFD. I love both the relational and technical sides of this business. I get to exercise two very different parts of my brain.

Flourish: You’ve worked with high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth families in both private banking and advisory settings. What have those experiences taught you about what clients really value from an advisor?
Clara: People are people. Money can uncomplicate things, but it can also complicate them.

Everyone interacts with their wealth differently and what they care about is different. My job is to understand what drives someone and then figure out how we can help them accomplish what matters to them.

That’s why this business is so personal. I’ve had clients tell me they’re having a baby before they’ve told many other people. I hear about diagnoses, illnesses, and major changes within families. You’re really in the thick of life with people.

Most of the time, people want to know that they’re on the right track and that they’re doing okay. I don’t think the amount of money someone has necessarily changes that.

Flourish: How does your role change when clients are navigating major personal or financial decisions?
Clara: It involves a lot of listening. I need to understand what makes a client tick, what motivates them, and what kind of system is actually going to work in their life.

A financial decision isn’t always just about what the numbers say. Paying off a mortgage is a good example. On paper, keeping a low-rate mortgage and investing the money might make the most financial sense. But money is personal and behavior is embedded in these decisions. Sometimes a choice may not “win” on paper, but it works better for that person. My role is to explain what each choice means, point out the red flags when they exist, and help clients understand their options. Then we can find the path that makes sense for their goals and for the way they actually want to live.

Flourish: Clients with significant wealth are often accustomed to a private-bank level of service. What does that mean to you and how can Flourish help you deliver more of it?
Clara: SignatureFD is set up really well to serve people through a lot of different seasons of life. Beyond investments, we have specialists across areas like life, disability, long-term care, and property and casualty insurance, and strong relationships with estate planning attorneys, accountants, and other professionals. We can come alongside the client and help quarterback much of their financial life.

Flourish fits well into creating a private-bank-like experience because we can create systems for clients without requiring another decision every time something needs to happen. For example, we can decide how much they want to keep in their checking account, use SmartBalance to help maintain that amount, and then have excess cash moved to Flourish. From there, my team has visibility into the account and can help move appropriate funds into investments over time.^∆

You make the decision about the system once and then it works in the background. I’ve found that especially useful for clients who are in a busy stage of life and want a clean, easy process for putting more of their money to work.

Flourish: How does cash fit into the broader financial planning work you do with clients?
Clara: At SignatureFD, we talk about four pillars: Live, Give, Grow, and Protect. Cash plays different roles depending on the client and the season of life they’re in.

For someone in retirement, cash might be part of creating a buffer so they can continue covering their needs through inevitable periods of market volatility. We might think about very short-term needs in cash, then fixed income, then equities as part of a broader waterfall.

For someone who is still growing their wealth, cash might be an emergency fund or money they’re saving toward a particular goal. But we also don’t want excess cash sitting in a checking account doing nothing.

Cash is an important part of almost every plan. Its purpose just changes at different points in a client’s life.

Flourish: What has made Flourish particularly useful for your clients?
Clara: For me, it really comes down to processes and systems. If we can make something work in the background so the client doesn’t have to continually make the same decision, we can help them make progress more consistently. Flourish Cash is easy to set up, SmartBalance is easy to use, and it gives us a clean process for helping clients put their cash to work.

One common example is a client who periodically realizes they have an extra $50,000 sitting in their checking account and calls to ask us to invest it. That’s an obvious opportunity to talk about Flourish because instead of requiring the client to notice and take action every few months, we can create a process for that cash.

I also like Flourish for people with lumpy cash flow, such as clients who earn commissions. Creating a more stable amount in checking while excess funds are automatically moved elsewhere can help create consistency.

Those are probably my two biggest use cases: people who tend to accumulate cash in checking and people with irregular cash flows.

Flourish is another tool in the toolbox. I want to make it as easy as possible for clients to take action, and I think Flourish helps make that easier.

Flourish: As clients increasingly expect advisors to help with more of their financial lives, where do you see the advisor relationship going next?
Clara: My clients already ask me about everything under the sun! As AI, technology, and social media give people access to more information, I actually think wealth management is going to become even more relational.

People are inundated with information that makes them think, “Should I be doing this?” or “Should I be doing that?” There’s so much knowledge available that it can start to feel like everything applies to everyone.

That can make having an expert who knows you even more important. Someone who can say, “Yes, this fits for you,” or “No, this doesn’t and here’s why.”

I don’t think the future is advisors simply dictating what clients should do. I think clients will become more involved and bring more ideas to us. Our role will increasingly be to help them navigate all of that information, bring the conversation back to the fundamentals, and help them determine what actually makes sense for their lives.

Flourish: Thank you Clara!

SignatureFD and Flourish are separate and unaffiliated firms. Quotes have been edited for length and clarity, and published with the explicit review and approval of the interviewees. This material is provided for informational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the individual being interviewed and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Firm or any clients of the firm. The inclusion of any external party in this interview does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by the Firm. The information provided is not intended as financial, investment, or legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. This feedback may not be representative of the experience of other customers and is not a guarantee of future performance or success.

About Flourish

Flourish builds technology that empowers financial advisors, improves financial lives and retirement outcomes, and delivers new and innovative investment options to advisors. Today, the Flourish platform is used by more than 1,300 wealth management firms representing more than $2.6 trillion in assets under management. Flourish is wholly-owned by MassMutual. For more information, visit www.flourish.com.