{"id":255533,"date":"2026-01-28T07:53:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T07:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/255533\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T07:53:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T07:53:16","slug":"deborah-owens-columbia-financial-adviser-taught-women-how-to-build-wealth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/255533\/","title":{"rendered":"Deborah Owens, Columbia financial adviser, taught women how to build wealth"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was an August 2012 \u201cEssence\u201d article that first introduced Charity Davis-Lowe to Deborah Owens.<\/p>\n

Owens, a Baltimore-area financial adviser, was pictured in a hot pink blazer, her hands set on her hips, her eyes staring straight ahead \u2014 right at a young Davis-Lowe. The magazine-dubbed \u201cmoney coach\u201d talked of investing early in 401(k) accounts and picking up side hustles, but her biggest point was that wealth is a mindset.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinancial independence is an outcome of your attitude and behaviors,\u201d she told the magazine.<\/p>\n

The interview resonated with Davis-Lowe, then a fresh face in the financial industry. She put stars around Owens\u2019 name and looked up her contact information, nervous but excited to connect with a Black woman who had found such success in the business.<\/p>\n

One phone call became two, then three and then four. Owens sent her a copy of one of her books, and Davis-Lowe watched hours of her content on YouTube. Owens started calling her mentee \u201cGrasshopper\u201d \u2014 a reference to \u201cThe Karate Kid\u201d \u2014 and they built a relationship that lasted until the day she died.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s very generous with her time, talent and her treasure,\u201d Davis-Lowe said. \u201cShe needs to be remembered as someone who cared deeply about others and their financial health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Owens, a prolific author and public speaker who founded the financial education company WealthyU, died Jan. 4 of colon cancer. She was 66.<\/p>\n

She was born in Detroit on May 2, 1959, the youngest of Irma and Willis Thomas\u2019 five children. She was a bright student, skipping grades early in life, and her parents always made sure to tell her how special she was, said her husband, Terry Owens.<\/p>\n

Her father worked in the airline industry, which brought the family to Hawaii for a few years before her parents separated. She returned to Detroit, where she watched her mother struggle to make ends meet. She knew then that she would always want to be financially independent, to have a \u201cpurse of her own\u201d \u2014 eventually the name of one of her books.<\/p>\n

She briefly attended college at Oakland University in Michigan but decided to start working full time instead. She was the manager of a women\u2019s clothing store in Detroit when she met Terry, who saw her at a club and asked her to dance.<\/p>\n

They dated for five years before getting married, spending their days antiquing, traveling and eating good food with good friends. But for all of their shared interests, it was their friendship and shared ambition that was truly the foundation of their life together, Terry Owens said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were dreamers,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had a desire for something more than either of us had growing up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Deborah<\/p>\n

Deborah Owens and her husband, Terry Owens. (Courtesy of Walinda West)<\/p>\n

A few years into her retail career, Deborah landed a job as a receptionist at a Merrill Lynch office in Detroit. Managers saw her potential and asked if she\u2019d be interested in pursuing a license to become a broker, her husband said. She then moved to Fidelity Investments and worked her way up to management. The gig took the Owenses to San Francisco for a few years before Terry\u2019s job as a reporter brought them to Columbia, now with young children.<\/p>\n

They had started a family, first welcoming Brandon and, four years later, Olivia. Deborah approached motherhood the same way she approached her career, her husband said \u2014 by giving it her all.<\/p>\n

The couple worked hard to give their children opportunities they never had. Brandon played soccer, and Olivia danced. They both swam and played instruments. Deborah made sure her children practiced their reading and public speaking skills, curating experiences to help prepare them for the real world, Brandon Owens said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom really expected a lot and believed that I was capable of so much, and wanted to see me realize that potential,\u201d he said, describing her parenting style as \u201cpedagogic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Owens family on vacation. From left, Terry, Olivia, Deborah and Brandon. (Courtesy of Walinda West)<\/p>\n

She filled their childhood (and adulthood) with idioms and little sayings to carry them through life: Seek a mutual admiration society. Go where you\u2019re celebrated, not where you\u2019re tolerated. Whatever you accept you get more of. You are where you are because of how you are.<\/p>\n

It was in the family\u2019s early years on the East Coast that Deborah Owens started becoming more cognizant of gaps in the financial industry. She felt strongly about sharing her expertise and experience with African Americans, especially Black women, who weren\u2019t often represented in the field. She started doing radio shows at the D.C.-based WOL-AM, Morgan State University\u2019s WEAA and on the BlackStar Network. She wrote five books, delivered countless keynote speeches and filmed TV appearances.<\/p>\n

Her goal: to give 1 million women the gift of financial literacy.<\/p>\n

That wasn\u2019t just through her business, either. She was always sharing tips and tricks with friends and family, loved ones said, encouraging them to build generational wealth and escape what she called a \u201cpoverty mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walinda West can recall many such conversations. Their friendship started after she and Terry Owens met at work in the early 1990s, and West remembers thinking just how fun Deborah was. She radiated confidence and joy, and they swapped stories of their young children. <\/p>\n

Deborah Owens was the kind of friend who would give you a shoulder to cry on and a wake-up call when you needed it, West said. Those attributes made her a good financial coach, too, she said: \u201cThe topic itself could be somewhat dry and somewhat haughty and unapproachable, but that was Deb\u2019s style \u2014 to make it approachable. I think the key to her success was because she could make finances real for people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Deborah<\/p>\n

Deborah Owens in her office in Laurel coaching a client. (Courtesy of Walinda West)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A cut-out photo of Walinda West and Deborah Owens. (Courtesy of Walinda West)<\/p>\n

The world is emptier without Deborah, her friend said, but her legacy lives on through the media she created and the advice she gave generously. Toward the end of her life, as she dealt with cancer, she found comfort in the phrase \u201cfaith over fear\u201d \u2014 faith that she raised her children well, that she made an impact where she could.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many people whose lives have changed because of Deborah Owens,\u201d West said.<\/p>\n

The Banner publishes news stories about people who have recently died in Maryland. If your loved one has passed and you would like to inquire about an obituary, please contact obituary@thebanner.com<\/a>. If you are interested in placing a paid death notice, please contact groupsales@thebanner.com<\/a> or visit this website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was an August 2012 \u201cEssence\u201d article that first introduced Charity Davis-Lowe to Deborah Owens. Owens, a Baltimore-area…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255534,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[138,26315,246,111,139,69,244,245],"class_list":{"0":"post-255533","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-featured-imagepair","10":"tag-finance","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-personal-finance","15":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}