Brittney Cooper, BFA, FIC
Brittney Cooper is a financial advisor and legacy planning specialist based in Orlando, Florida, who helps families, business owners, and donors build long-term financial security through faith-based guidance. After earning a degree in religion from the University of Florida, Brittney originally planned to pursue a career in counseling or ministry. Her early professional experiences in sales and faith-based organizations, however, showed her how deeply finances affect every area of life, from retirement and family relationships to generosity and legacy.
Today, Brittney works with Thrivent, where she has spent the last three years helping clients create thoughtful financial plans rooted in both practical strategy and personal values. She specializes in working with pre-retirees, individuals facing employment transitions, business owners, and families who want to prepare for the future. Her work focuses on guaranteed retirement income, tax efficiency, charitable giving, estate planning, succession planning, and building generational wealth. Brittney views her role as an opportunity to counsel people, improve their lives, and honor God through meaningful financial stewardship.
In addition to her client work, Brittney is active in her community through speaking engagements, volunteer service, and nonprofit support. She is passionate about helping people understand strategies such as charitable trusts, qualified charitable distributions, and estate planning so they can make wise decisions for their families and the causes they care about. Known for her approachable style and heart for service, Brittney strives to be a trusted resource for people navigating major life and financial decisions.
• Certified Professional Life Coach
• Fraternal Insurance Counselor
• Licensed in AR, CA, DC, FL, GA, MA, NC, NJ, NY, SC, TN, TX
• Series 66
• Series 7
• Board Certified Credit Consultant
• Insurance Agent, Accident, Health, Life, Variable Life & Variable Annuities
• Certified Ho'oponopono Practitioner
• Licensed Real Estate Broker
• University of Florida- B.A.
• Selected as workshop presenter at AKA South Atlantic Regional Conference 2024
• Reformed University Fellowship
• Club Creole
• Greater Orlando Builders Associaton
• Early Learning Connections
• United Against Poverty
• Jobs Partnership
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success 100% to faith. Faith was really important to me from the beginning - I graduated from UF with a degree in religion and was planning to go into that field. Even though I kept ending up in sales, I was always working for some type of faith-based company. As I would read the Bible, I realized that God had a lot to say about money, and wealth, and work, and inheritance, and generational wealth. So I found that now I am in a place where I can counsel people and help make their lives better and their finances, and doing it all for the glory of God. Faith is number one - I just can't do anything without faith. You just have to believe it. You have to believe in it, you have to have faith in it, in yourself, in higher power, in love, in goodness, all that.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I’ve ever received is to show up as my authentic self instead of trying to fit into someone else’s idea of what success should look like. Mentors throughout my life—including my uncle, who gave me my first leadership opportunity, my mother through her nonprofit work, my father through his creativity, and my colleague Sarah through her support during difficult seasons—have all taught me that staying true to who I am is one of the most important parts of building a meaningful career.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't be afraid to show up as you, uniquely you. When I first started, I'm in financial services and most people in this industry are old, white men. I am a young Black woman with locks, dreadlocks and everything, so initially I was very insecure. I was like, oh my gosh, what are they gonna think of me? Maybe I should try to make my hair a certain way, or look a certain way, so I can look the part. And that was holding me back. I needed to just show up as me, because my experience is who I am, I'm meant to be here, and they've shaped me, and I'm only here because of who I am, so I shouldn't try to hide that. I would tell women to show up as uniquely you. Don't try to be a man or like a man. Don't try to be like someone else. Just be you. Literally, what are your strengths and weaknesses? What do you like? Tap into that. That's important. That's gonna help you be the most successful, because that's what's gonna separate you from others. That's what's gonna make you shine.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest opportunities in financial planning right now is helping people navigate retirement, tax efficiency, estate planning, and charitable giving in a more intentional way, especially as many families feel unprepared for the future. At the same time, one of the biggest challenges is that many people delay financial planning until they are facing a major life event like retirement, a job loss, or the death of a loved one.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Faith is number one. I just can't do anything without faith. You just have to believe it. You have to believe in it, you have to have faith in it, in yourself, in higher power, in love, in goodness, all that. So faith is number one, and then family. Family is next, and that can be family, that can be community, whatever family means to you. The people who you care about, your loved ones, the people who care about you. And then I would say growth. Never stop growing. Always aim to be growing in every situation, even when things don't go your way, or you make a mistake, or you do something that wasn't a mistake, you just did it and you knew it was wrong. Like, what can you get out of it? How can you grow from it? How can you be better because of it?