http://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/Homeen-ushttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/logo/1.jpghttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/Blogtronixmanaging_editorwebmasterThu, 09 Sep 2010 13:35:24 GMTThu, 09 Sep 2010 13:35:24 GMTBlogTronix RSS Generator v.1.020http://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13968

Marietta Hesdorffer joined EF Hutton in 1983, after several years working in broadcast journalism. At the urging of a family member, she joined an established team at Hutton. Jay Hesdorffer, her then-boyfriend and future husband, joined the practice not long after. Then, 13 years ago, they started their own team. She’s now First Vice President-Wealth Management and Financial Advisor for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Chicago. She talked to us about her switch to financial services, her practice-management philosophy and what it’s like to work closely with her husband.

How did you get started?
I studied broadcast journalism in college and I fell in love with it. I graduated on a Friday from the University of Michigan and literally went to work Monday morning for the ABC-TV affiliate in Southfield, MI. Then I moved to Chicago and worked for CBS and RKO Radio. At WFYR-FM, the RKO station, I produced all the non-news informational programming, which was six different public affairs shows each week plus the writing and researching of the station’s editorials. I was working hard and having a blast.

My father ran a team at EF Hutton and persuaded me to join. What he really wanted was someone to help with marketing and I love that. I figured I could always go back to radio and TV. That was 27 years ago.

It was a great way to learn the business. I wasn’t under pressure to start producing right away and I could learn the industry slowly, from the ground up. I had a big advantage in my communications skills. At that point, people didn’t have access to the breadth of financial information available today. You didn’t have CNBC. So, I was able to demystify a lot of the industry. I could explain to clients what was happening and make sure they were comfortable with whatever recommendations they were considering.

I’ve always had a rule, “If you don’t get it, then you don’t get it!” In other words, when I’m with a client and I look in their eyes and see they don’t understand, I stop. The best recommendation in the world is no good if the client isn’t comfortable.

How did it happen that you and your husband teamed up?
When my husband joined the team, we were dating. The truth is, I recruited him away from a very prestigious accounting firm in Chicago. I couldn’t stand the excessively long hours during tax season. With his background, he just soaked up every aspect of the business. About two-and-a-half years after, we married.

Then we decided to go out on our own. It just made sense. His accounting, banking and computer background is a perfect mix with my journalistic and marketing background. While I still enjoy the marketing and he excels at the nuts and bolts, we both love the birth-to-grave financial analysis.

We sit about five feet from each other. We can finish each other’s sentences. But we don’t always agree. Sometimes when we are meeting with clients we’ll ask if they mind if we take a minute to discuss something in front of them. Often they love the debate and hearing the thought process.

Can you tell us about your approach?
We provide a high level of service. We provide depth of service. We take a lot of time in the beginning getting to know our clients, asking questions about their values, their relationships, their personal goals and interests. We are clear with them: They don’t need to give us all their assets, but they have to tell us about them so we can be really comprehensive in helping them manage their wealth. We spend an awful lot of time looking at what they have and making sure it matches what they tell us they want. People will tell us they’re risk adverse and then we’ll see they have investments that are very aggressive. They’ll tell us, Oh, I had no idea. In other cases, clients will spend a lifetime accumulating wealth and then have no idea how to protect it, transfer it or give it away. We are with them each step of the way.

What advice would you give women entering the profession?
If I were a young woman starting out today I would consider teaming up with an individual or team who shares a similar philosophy. Also, if you’re coming from another field and you’ve acquired special knowledge that another person may not have, you have an opportunity to put it to use. This is a profession where all the skills you’ve acquired throughout your career will come into play.

You’ve stayed with the same firm all these years. That doesn’t often happen.
In our industry, you can be like a baseball player who keeps moving. And that is just fine for some. For us, we decided it’s in the best interest of our clients to sit still.

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Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC and its Financial Advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. Clients should consult their personal tax advisor for tax-related matters and their attorney for legal matters.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney offers a wide array of brokerage and advisory services to its clients, each of which may create a different type of relationship with different obligations to you. Please visit us at http://www.morganstanleyindividual.com or consult with your Financial Advisor to understand these differences.

© 2010 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC.

]]>The EditorsClient Relationship SkillsTeamworkCentralhttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13968#0Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:14:48 GMThttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13968http://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13967

Susan Klar, a Wealth Advisor, has worked since 1985 in the Palo Alto, Calif., office of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. She has devoted her career to building longstanding relationships with clients, who include Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, corporate executives, non-profit organizations and small businesses. Susan is a member of the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Equity Select and the President's Club. She was a member of the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Women's Business Exchange and spent two years on the Financial Advisory Council. Since 2006, Barron's has consistently included her on its "Top 100 Women Financial Advisors" list.

How did you get into the business?

I've just always been intrigued with the stock market. Before I was at Dean Witter, I worked at E.F. Hutton as an assistant, handling the commodities side for a Financial Advisor. Then I decided to go into business for myself. I came here at the end of 1985, when it was Dean Witter, and was hired as a Financial Advisor. I went through the training and then I just started from scratch.

What was it like early on?

I went to training in New York--that's what they did back then. Then they sent me back to Palo Alto and I started cold calling. I would cold call every night from about 7 to 9 from the reverse directory. I did direct mail marketing campaigns as well with the objective to get an appointment with a prospective client.

My objective was always to get in front of the client. I always felt that if I could get in front of someone, I could talk to them about investments and develop a relationship.

How long did it take until you started to feel like you had established a business?

At least five years. I think that you have to be very patient, you have to develop a pipeline. Eventually you get clients and then referrals. By staying in the business for years with the same firm, I have been able to build credibility in the business.

I've always prided myself on hard work. I come in early, and I leave late. I’m always on the telephone contacting my clients regularly to keep them up to date. I also meet with clients and prospects every day. I usually work mornings handling my business, and then I have appointments in the afternoon. My strongest assets are the relationships I’ve established with my clients.

How did you get started networking?

When I started out, my daughter was a young child at school, so I met a lot of people through the PTA and different activities that eventually developed into relationships--sometimes business relationships. I was also a member of the Chamber of Commerce and several other organizations. I always tried to be out there meeting people and attending events. Many of my top clients today are people I initially met socially who have developed into business relationships. Then they referred me to others.

Obviously, the easiest meetings are referrals--and you have to not be afraid to ask for them in a very understated way. But when you’ve been in the business as long as I have, you build up good relationships with people. I think it is more difficult to be starting out now. Today it’s more competitive. There are a lot more people in the business.

How has it changed?

When I started, the only way that we got business was through cold calling. If you called enough people, you eventually got some interest. Now I think that would be incredibly difficult. These days I do seminars--that's actually how many people are getting new business. We did one last night on retirement income planning. I’ll invite my clients and ask my clients to bring a friend.

I've also done marketing campaigns on retirement planning, municipal bonds and home equity loans, etc. We always try to follow up with a telephone call--I think that's very important--and try to get a meeting with the individual. It has been a key to my success.

What happens when you get someone into a meeting? How do you seal the deal?

The key to that is listening. When someone comes to meet me, the initial meeting is just them telling me what their concerns are, what their objectives are, what their goals are--and we try to find a solution. Usually it’s a series of meetings before we actually do business.

Did you always have a financial planning focus?

Yes and I always believed in diversification. I didn’t want to get into a situation where you're completely in trouble when the market turns. I want my clients to be comfortable with their investments. It is very important to judge their aversion to risk.

How did you develop that focus so early on?

Basically, I'm not a big risk-taker. I really believe you have to be that way if you want to have a long-term business. If you have a very high risk approach, it just won't last. You might make a lot of money one year, but you won't have longevity and may not be able to sleep at night.

So the first thing I talked to clients about was municipal bonds. I still have a pretty significant bond business. Then in 1987, I did have some clients that got hurt in the market.

Since then, I've always had a diversified business, because generally you don’t get hurt as badly in a big downturn. And I’ve experienced a lot of them--'87, 2001-02, '08.

You've also had a lot of booms in Silicon Valley, haven't you?

Those were the good days. We used to come in every day and it was just like a party. Everybody was making money. And then all of a sudden everything changed. It's been difficult, but I think by being here for my clients and talking them through it and making sure that we have a long--term approach and that we are diversified, I’ve been able to weather the storm.

The 2008 downturn was by far the worst I've experienced, because everything was bad, not just the stock market. There was no place to hide. We weren't sure what was going on, so you had to remain calm--that was the key. Even if you’re feeling really uncomfortable and uneasy, you have to remain a calm voice for your clients.

But I also have a nice group of clients who are pretty sophisticated and who don't really panic. I think if you sit back and wait and don't act irrationally, you come out okay.

How frequently are you in touch with your long-term clients?

I let them lead the way, but they know they can call me. I also try to have quarterly meetings. I’m always accessible, and I answer my own phone whenever I can. I think that’s really important.

Do you ever foresee a day when you can just sit back and stop marketing yourself?

No. I think you always have to be marketing yourself in some way, to guard against attrition. Clients may have a relative that gets in the business. Or someone else approaches them with a new idea. And there are also different types of investments, like hedge funds and alternative investments, so you have to always be learning.

But that's also the kind of person I am--you know, always wanting to be doing something. I think you’re marketing yourself every day no matter where you go and what you do.

So, what else does it take to be one of the country’s top financial advisors?

(laughing) When people ask me that, I always say that I just believe in hard work. I think you have to come in every day, you have to be focused on what your job is, and you have to be there for your clients. And if you do that, it will come to you.

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Source: Barron’s “Top 100 Women Financial Advisors,” June 5, 2010. Barron’s is a registered trademark of Dow Jones & Company, L.P. All rights reserved. Barron’s “Top 100 Women Financial Advisors” bases its rankings on qualitative criteria: professionals with a minimum of 7 years financial services experience, acceptable compliance records, client retention reports, customer satisfaction, and more. Advisors are quantitatively ranked based on varying types of revenues and assets advised by the financial professional, with weightings associated for each. Because individual client portfolio performance varies and is typically unaudited, this ranking focuses on customer satisfaction and quality of advice. For more information on ranking methodology, go to http://online.barrons.com/report/top-financial-advisors or contact Barron’s Associate Editor, Matt Barthel, at matthew.barthel@barrons.com. The rating may not be representative of any one client’s experience because it reflects a sample of all of the experiences of the advisor’s clients. The rating is not indicative of the advisor’s future performance. Neither Morgan Stanley Smith Barney nor any of their financial advisors pay a fee to Barron’s in exchange for the rating.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC and its Financial Advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. Clients should consult their personal tax advisor for tax-related matters and their attorney for legal matters.

Diversification does not guarantee a profit or protect against loss.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney offers a wide array of brokerage and advisory services to its clients, each of which may create a different type of relationship with different obligations to you. Please visit us at http://www.morganstanleyindividual.com or consult with your Financial Advisor to understand these differences.

© 2010 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC.



]]>The Editorshttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13967#0Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:53:50 GMThttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13967http://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13966Women's Leadership Reception

Featuring Barbara Corcoran; Real Estate Mogul, Business Expert and Real Estate contributor for NBC's TODAY Show

Thursday, September 23, 2010 6:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Headquarters
2000 Westchester Avenue, Purchase, NY 10577

RSVP by September 16th to MSSB.NBD.Events@mssb.com or by phone to 914-225-8305

(see details here)]]>The EditorsSpecial Eventshttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13966#0Wed, 18 Aug 2010 10:01:52 GMThttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13966http://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13965

Carol Passalaqua has nearly 30 years experience in the financial industry and has received acclaim by peers, clients and press alike. Chicago Magazine’s November issue will name her to the Five Star Wealth Manager’s Listing for 2010, an honor based on client satisfaction.

You’ve been with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney for over 15 years. What was your financial career path before then?
My first job out of college was working in a trust department, handling trust clients and their accounts. At age 23, I was promoted to Operations Manager overseeing people older than me. When I started out there was definitely a glass ceiling. So throughout my career, in every area I worked in, I went as far as I could go. If I wasn’t appreciated and couldn’t move up in one place, I’d leave and move up somewhere else.

What did you find compelling about Morgan Stanley Smith Barney?
I picked Smith Barney because it’s more collegiate. People seemed nicer than at other firms, and very willing to help you out. If you didn’t know something, they were there to help expand your business and give you ideas.

What was it like leaving the security of a salary at a banking institution to making straight commission?
Mentally it took me five years to adjust. I decided that if I was going to be successful, I would keep doing it. And if I was not, I had a fallback to banking.

I’m sort of a triple type-A personality and I figured out how many calls, how many leads, how many closings I needed to do a month. In sales training, they say 300 phone calls get you ten appointments and that gets you two closings.

I’m a visualization person and I knew that in deciding on my goals I’d hit them. I also made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t work on the weekends, but I’d work until 9 or 10 at night during the week.

That first year on commission, I wound up doubling my salary.

Most people are so afraid of trying new things that they don’t take a chance. But know that you can always go back.

Can you talk more about your “visualization” technique?
Years ago when I was in banking, I was on the board for the Private Industry Council of Lake County. It’s an organization that helps retrain people and get them off of welfare and into the private sectors. One of the programs they had was where you visualize and write down on a 3x5 card what you wanted to accomplish personally and business-wise. What are your goals daily? Monthly? Yearly? It’s like doing a financial plan but for your life and career.

Read the goals on this list once a day for 6 months or a year. At the end of the year, you’d accomplish all of them because they became part of your mindset. Your subconscious is always remembering.

I still keep a list of goals that I review every day and update as I accomplish them.

Do you have other advice to give to women starting out as Financial Advisors?
Three things to keep in mind:

First, don’t be afraid to take risks! Women are more risk adverse by nature. They just need to try. You have to have a mindset of “I can.” Men are more performance driven than women. But women are generally more sympathetic than men. It might be harder for us to get clients, but once we get them, we have them for a long time.

Second, get your feet wet in a trust department at a bank. How do they build their client base? How do they develop a sales strategy? There’s usually an opportunity to train with someone. I had people who trained me who weren’t competitive or jealous. They wanted me to move up so they could.

Third, wherever you work, make sure you have a mentor so someone’s got your back. Sometimes people think that others in the firm will realize the great job they’re doing. But if you don’t have a mentor, it’s much harder to make that happen.

What are some challenges that women financial advisors face that their male counterparts don’t?
It can still be a bit difficult to break into the good ole boy network. Some men primarily talk about sports and business and may feel more comfortable with getting business from each other. Whereas, women tend to not try to get business from their friends because we don’t want to hurt our personal relationships, so we go outside of that to get new clients.

You work with a very successful team of eight people. What are qualities to keep in mind when building a team?
I think it’s important to recruit people with different backgrounds and areas of professional proficiency. Too many of the same skill sets means that you’ll be replicating efforts and services. We’re a more cohesive and efficient group because we have different skills and responsibilities. Contrary to popular belief, you just can’t be all things to all people.

I’m always trying to expand my knowledge and it’s good to know a little bit about everything. But it’s very important to delineate what you really want to provide to your clients. Figure out what you’re naturally good at. Then you’ll actually enjoy what you do.

I develop an overall financial strategy through advanced planning and tie in asset allocation.

DON’T think of yourself as a broker. You are an ADVISOR. Our in-depth planning leads to a deep level of trust and our clients tell us things that they don’t tell their children.

Who had the greatest impact on how you approach business?
I’m the youngest of five in an Italian family, so that made an impact! But my parents raised us to be independent. They always said that if you put your mind to it, you can do anything. We were also told, “don’t let anyone pigeon hole you.”

You’re very successful, and obviously very busy, yet you manage to put aside time for community service. Why is that important to you?
Growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money, but my parents always jumped in and helped other people. We were raised to give to those who have less.

I volunteer to help those who struggle because they have barriers: language, economic, education, physical handicaps, such as the blind. I also get involved with organizations that help people get scholarships to further their education.

What drives you to participate in adventure sports?
One of my visualization goals that I put down on my 3 x 5 card is to learn a new sport every year. I’ve been skydiving, luging, SCUBA diving, white water rafting, I ran the Marine Corps marathon, triathlons and have done open water swims.

It’s the drive to be independent. I do things that allow me to be competitive with myself. “Can I finish this?” I always think that finishing a race is 80% mental. If you’ve got it in your head that you can do it, you can do it.

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Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC and its Financial Advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. Clients should consult their personal tax advisor for tax-related matters and their attorney for legal matters.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney offers a wide array of brokerage and advisory services to its clients, each of which may create a different type of relationship with different obligations to you. Please visit us at http://www.morganstanleyindividual.com or consult with your Financial Advisor to understand these differences.

© 2010 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC.


]]>The EditorsWork-Life BalanceClient DevelopmentCareer DevelopmentTeamworkCentralhttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13965#0Mon, 16 Aug 2010 09:29:31 GMThttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13965http://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13963Women's Leadership Reception

Featuring Barbara Corcoran; Real Estate Mogul, Business Expert and Real Estate contributor for NBC's TODAY Show

Thursday, September 16, 2010 5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

The Palmer House Hilton
17 East Monroe Street, Chicago, Illinois 60603

RSVP by September 8th to Liz.Navarro@mssb.com or by phone to (312) 648-3063

(see details here)
]]>The EditorsSpecial Eventshttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13963#0Tue, 10 Aug 2010 11:01:00 GMThttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13963http://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13962

Deborah Montaperto spent more than 20 years in a variety of investment banking roles at Dean Witter and Citigroup and its predecessor firms — and she loved it. Then, two years ago, she took a big leap, becoming a senior partner of the Polk Group, a wealth-management practice with Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management. The risky move meant switching from a more-corporate culture to an entrepreneurial one. But, for Montaperto, it’s been a highly successful choice. “I’m now running my own business, in effect, and it’s very gratifying,” she says.

First Years in Financial Services

Montaperto didn’t start out bound for Wall Street. She graduated from college with a dual-degree in social sciences and art history and went on to get her M.A. in Art History from the Villa Schifanoia in Florence, Italy. Then she moved to New York, managed an art gallery briefly, and got an administrative job at what was then Dean Witter. She was quickly promoted and moved into an investment banking role.

When she gave birth to her second child in 1991 she took a couple of years off. Then, she got an offer from Dean Witter to work in a group that screened potential transactions for the investment bank. She took the job and went back to Wall Street. After that, she joined what was then Smith Barney to build out the business development group. It was an investment banking role in which she looked for transactions from non-traditional sources. In 2006, she was promoted to Managing Director in Citigroup’s Investment Bank. Her role was to build a platform aimed at cross-marketing different services for investment banking clients.

Moving to Wealth Management

But after that effort was disbanded, Montaperto had to decide what direction to take next. The platform had been a joint venture between Citigroup’s investment bank and private wealth management arm. Through that work, she had met many of the most successful wealth managers at the Firm. Why not sign on with one of those practices? She had offers to join four teams and chose the Polk Group.

It was a great opportunity—and a big change. For one thing, Montaperto had to build her book from scratch. Her role at the team was to be a rainmaker and then hand the servicing of those people to her team members. Her skill-set was in business generation. To that end, she made a plan, with a list of the many people she’d worked with throughout her career, what kind of business to go after and how to make it happen. Her timing was good. After the market upheaval of 2008, many disillusioned clients of wealth managers at other firms were looking to make a change.

In her first year, she opened 45 accounts, bringing in close to $300 million in assets. More recently, she won a $1 billion account from a contact she’d made in her investment banking days.

Then, there was the cultural change. For Montaperto, it was significant—going from a highly structured environment in which, she says “All things are taken care of for you,” to, in effect, running her own business. “I could have chosen a more traditional corporate lifestyle, what I had done for many years,” she says. “But I decided to take a risk and make a switch.”

The biggest surprise for Montaperto, was what it meant for her relationships with colleagues. “Your livelihood depends on your partners,” she says. As a result, because team members rely on each other for their success, according to Montaperto, the result is a particularly deep bond.

According to Montaperto, her profession is also well suited to women. “This is a relationship business,” she says. “And women are great at building and maintaining client relationships.”

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Investments and Services Offered through Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management, a division of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC.

]]>The EditorsClient DevelopmentCareer DevelopmentTeamworkNortheasternhttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13962#0Mon, 09 Aug 2010 10:31:33 GMThttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13962http://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13961

Falisha Mamdani maintains that change is the one constant in life in the current global investment climate. But riding out the storm is dependent upon how successful you are at earning the trust and confidence of your clients and your team mates. She is a Senior Vice President in Morgan Stanley Smith Barney’s Private Wealth Management division and a partner in the CML Group.

How did you get interested in managing money?
You could say that I just went into the “family business.” After studying at U.C. Berkeley and Harvard Business School, my maternal grandfather joined Wells Fargo as a private banker in San Francisco and Hawaii. After becoming head of the Middle East for American Express in the late 1970’s, my father founded a boutique investment bank in Bahrain. My cousin is also an investment banker. A Morgan Stanley “lifer,” he is currently Vice Chairman of MENA (Morgan Stanley’s business in the Middle East and North Africa).

Before pursuing a financial career, a lot of people major or minor in accounting or finance, or get an MBA. But you have a BA in French. How has that helped you become a stronger financial advisor?
You make an interesting point. Certainly I have made some unorthodox choices in my life. I ended up studying Francophone literature of the Maghreb (North Africa) and the Caribbean at Brown - not a traditional foundation for a career in the investment world.

From a very young age I have been and continue to be a prolific reader and a lover of stories. I think an important aspect behind our commitment to delivering bespoke solutions for our clients is driven by a view that each client’s story is unique.

You were born in Tanzania, raised in Bahrain, went to boarding school in the UK and on to college and ultimately settling in the US. How has your international background informed your career?
I learned to always keep a suitcase packed! My parents are from quite different backgrounds (India via East Africa and Northern California) and religious and ethnic traditions. Certainly, global geopolitical events (the expulsion of the Indian diaspora from Uganda in the early 1970’s; the outbreak of Civil War in Lebanon in 1975 that shifted the Gulf’s financial capital from Beirut to Bahrain) have profoundly affected the course of my own life. Ultimately, I have come to appreciate my international background and believe that it has added a valuable dimension in the advice we provide to our clients.

Talk a little bit about your time at AmericanExpress and what prompted you to move on.
Full disclosure: my father worked at AmEx before starting his own firm, so I did have a leg up and interned there the summer before my senior year. After vowing never to return, I ended up with a job offer and started working there three weeks after graduation. It was the early ‘90s, during a recession and AmEx was “re-engineering.” They’d reduce a team of seven to five, and you had to reapply for your job. I decided I would apply for the next higher job, not my own for the challenge of it. I figured the only downside was that I’d get severance and a chance to find what would be my ultimate career choice. As luck would have it, my strategy proved highly effective and I stayed 7 years and gained a husband in the process.

Maybe I wanted a change, maybe I just couldn’t see the next step for me at Amex, but in any case, a close family friend who was a veteran in the business serendipitously was looking for a junior partner. I went through the training program hoping we would end up working together. And we have ever since.

What has made the CML Group so successful?
In this business, there are single practitioners and there are teams. Obviously, I am a strong advocate for the team model. Sometimes two minds can add up to four. Together you can look to leverage strategic partnerships with people, whether they’re formalized or not. Now I have two partners and two senior client associates, and they bring even more experience.

On a personal level, working with a highly functional team leads to greater job satisfaction—and is a lot more fun!

Speaking of job satisfaction, what’s one part of your work that you find especially rewarding?
Our clients are not coming to us because they’re trying to create wealth. Typically, our clients have already done this and are coming to us to manage their wealth and the issues that come with that wealth over the long term. Our core client base are families, and they’re often intergenerational -- grandparents, children and grandchildren. We help them answer questions like how do they incentivize a young adult raised in an environment of affluence? What kind of legacy (human and financial capital) do they want to leave to their heirs? What do they want to accomplish as far as philanthropic endeavors? These are ongoing conversations.

This ongoing complexity of the everyday life of an UHNW (Ultra-High Net Worth) individual or family is what makes our relationships with our clients more rewarding for us certainly, but obviously primarily we hope for them.

What are some of your best practices in dealing with clients?
Get to know your client and help them understand what their real objectives are.

When you start a relationship with a financial advisor, its as personal as going to a new doctor. You change out of your clothes into a hospital gown and it may not be comfortable. But from a financial perspective, it’s a good analogy to how we focus on starting each relationship by talking inventory of your life: Insurance, wealth, advance estate planning, health care proxies, and liability management. We take it apart piece by piece.

We don’t have three or five investment solutions that we offer clients. Instead, we embrace open architecture and product agnosticism, because that’s what’s best for the client, period. We don’t believe that “one size fits all”, and so our approach is intensely customized.

What advice do you have for those starting their careers?
Seek out a mentor or mentors. When I started out there weren’t a lot of women in the business. I was lucky enough to find Nancy [Cooley] who became not only my mentor, but ultimately my partner and friend.

There’s a huge learning curve once the training program ends and the art and science of wealth management begin. This is a business where experience is always going to trump youth. This can also be a trying business because rejection is simply part of the job. Ultimately, while we have no control over global capital markets, we do have control over how we navigate through them. .

How have you been working through the current economic climate?
In this type of economic period, even on days when the market volatility literally makes me feel green I feel very grateful for the team of individuals I work with. Clients know that we have their best interests in mind. While they might have worries, they know that their worries are ours. We have discussed and dissected them and put plans in place to Address them.

Perhaps most importantly, our clients feel that we have extremely high standards for ourselves and we are truly committed to giving them the best possible advice and the highest levels of service. We take this very personally and I think it shows.

]]>The Editorshttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13961#0Mon, 02 Aug 2010 09:40:13 GMThttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13961http://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13960

Maureen Novak, Portfolio Manager and Financial Advisor, works out of her hometown in Syracuse, New York. Her boundless energy allows her to service both institutional and individual clients, in addition to training for marathons and being a mother of two very young boys. How does she do it all? Setting her eyes on the finish-line and knowing that the long-term pay-off will be amply rewarding.

Why did you decide to pursue a career in finance?
After graduating from Ithaca College with a degree in Accounting, I interviewed with both accounting firms and investment firms in New York City. I realized that a career in finance would marry the solid accounting foundation that I had acquired, with my desire to develop relationships with individuals. That is a great fit for me.

What drew you to Morgan Stanley Smith Barney?
Before my husband and I moved back to Upstate New York, I did an in-depth analysis of all of the major investment firms in the area. I felt that Smith Barney offered the best opportunity overall; a strong company name and an entrepreneurial spirit. Today, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney continues to invest in me as a Financial Advisor, and in return my clients benefit from that.

You have a strong institutional background having worked at First Albany Corporation and Zurich Scudder Investments. How has working at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney been different?
My experience and analytical approach is a natural fit for Institutional clients and high-net-worth individuals, and I continue to work with a number of those clients. The process that I undergo with them, of setting an Investment and Spending Policy, creating a customized investment plan, and establishing the procedures for ongoing evaluation, is the same process that I have applied to the individual investors that I have focused a part of my practice on at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. It is this process that has given me the ability to positively impact people’s financial lives.

It sounds like working with institutional clients and individuals are both rewarding, but in different ways.
My practice certainly allows me to accommodate both types of clientele. It is a natural strength to proficiently present to the Board of Director’s of endowment and not-for-profit clients, but I also enjoy working closely with a couple who is planning their retirement. You really get to know and understand people on a personal level, while educating them about the process and financial plan they are committing to. I come from a long line of teacher’s and education is in my blood. I take each one of my client’s through a long and deep education process before we start investing.

Talk more about why you love the teaching/educational aspect of your job.
Today’s mass media provides an enormous and often contradictory amount of information about investing, and I like to transform that information into knowledge. A client that I’ve spent time building a solid understanding of what they want to accomplish, and the best way to do so, becomes more comfortable in the overall process. That, in turn, improves our communication level and ultimately makes for a better overall relationship. Some people mistakenly think that investments are the primary role of a Financial Advisor and relationships are secondary. I find that the opposite is true. Relationships are where the goal setting lies and where you uncover the true purpose of someone’s money.

Educating clients about retirement sounds like a serious time investment, and a lot of delayed gratification. Why do it?
I’m a long distance runner and I train for marathons. A marathon is 26.2 miles in distance. Being able to complete a marathon requires a tremendous amount of preparation, diligence and time. My clients are in their own proverbial marathon with me.

Each mile that goes by in a marathon, is like a year in a client’s life. Some years are more difficult than others, but before you know it, you are further along than you thought. Gratification doesn’t just come at the end of the race, but rather in our ability to adequately balance what is happening in each individual year. That is true retirement planning. It’s about long-term planning and long-term gratification. It’s also about consistency and keeping our eye on the finish line.

I‘ve been working in the financial industry since 1996 and I plan on helping people for many years to come. Clients can be reassured that for the remainder of their investing marathon that I’ll still be running with them and helping them navigate where they need to go.

How do you help clients navigate through the storm of the current economic climate?
While it is true that there has been a tremendous amount of volatility over the past few years, there has always been volatility in the financial markets, and I imagine it will continue on that way forever. This fluctuation however, is only temporary as is its impact on a client’s long-term investment plan. The key is to have adequately prepared the financial plan for the client, so they can use this volatility to their advantage, and to have appropriately prepared the client by successfully matching their risk profile with their investment profile. If those fundamental steps are taken, in conjunction with adequate and continuous communication, clients become more comfortable in confronting whatever economic climate greets them.

With such a strong emphasis on communication, it sounds like you need to constantly be available to clients. You must take a lot of phone calls!
Quite the contrary, actually. The communication that I have with my clients is consistent and predictable; therefore, clients know when and how they will hear from me. It is all part of my ongoing client commitment. I typically do an annual review, coupled with scheduled investment update phone calls. My partner and I also have a website, we send monthly email updates and financial planning letters, and make available other relevant and timely publications.

The true investment of time comes at the beginning of any client relationship, and is nurtured and energized from there. Again, the financial plan that we decide upon as the best course of action for a client’s particular needs and goals, is established early on. I maintain a strong commitment to outwardly communicating any changes or alterations that may be required going forward. That said, I am always happy to hear from my clients.

Tell us more about working with a partner.
Bringing on a partner was one of the best business decisions I have ever made. With the proliferation of financial information and ever changing tax law, there is a tremendous amount of data to stay current on. With the financial markets continually presenting new areas of opportunity, it’s a great comfort to my clients to know there is another Portfolio Manager and Certified Financial Planner available to them. Together, we bring greater efficiency and accessibility to our clients.

You have a special emphasis on addressing the needs of woman investors. Why is that important to you?
I enjoy working with all different types of clients, and my practice is representative of that. However, there are so many levels that I can relate to women on, I feel that brings an added level of substance and comfort to my female clients. Being a professional woman, a wife and mother, I understand the complexities and challenges that lie in those roles, and by marrying that experience with a professional approach to investing, I feel a certain synergy is available to those female investors.

Is there a particular group of women investors that you tend to gravitate to?
There are actually two groups of women investors that I predominately work with.

As a professional woman, my practice tends to attract a number of professional women in various careers. The drive and influence that we administer in our respective fields often magnetizes us to one another.

I also focus a large part of my energy and practice to the needs of women entangled in the divorce process. While divorce in and of itself is a legal matter, I also believe it encompasses some of the biggest financial decisions a woman may ever have to make. I’ve made it my personal mission to assist them in whatever way possible, by providing financial information and investment direction where I can.

What’s special about being a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)?
The CFP designation is awarded by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards to planners who are committed to competent and ethical behavior when providing financial planning. CFP’s submit to the four standards of education, examination, experience and ethical requirements. This broad-based approach demonstrates my commitment to following a comprehensive financial planning process.

The CFA designation is given to investment professionals who have successfully completed the requirements set by the globally recognized CFA Institute {formerly AIMR}. It is regarded by most to be a key certification for investment professionals, especially in the areas of research, investment selection and portfolio management.

The combination of these two professional designations makes me uniquely qualified as a Financial Advisor to not only create the financial plan that clients will follow, but also to execute on the investment management component of the plan.

What are some of your best practices for attracting new clients?
I learned long ago that if I pursued my passions then success would follow. I love what I do and am eager to help people become financially secure to pursue their own aspirations. By aligning myself with their best interest, I work hard every day to make sure clients are getting my best. Not every day is easy, but they are all rewarding.

This focus and solidarity allows me to do exceptional work, and maintain a high level of professionalism and investment focus. These same qualities that my clients look to for their financial well-being are the attributes that bring new clients to me.

You have two boys, a two-year old and an infant. How do you manage a successful business and a successful household?
Passion. I have a tremendous amount of passion for life, and I’ve focused that energy on my family and career. I am also a very organized and detail-oriented person, so it is not uncommon for me to prepare a schedule in advance that breaks down what I need to accomplish for a particular week and breakdown the steps I will follow to get there. This applies to both home and work.

You’re also involved with the YMCA as a health and wellness instructor and volunteer. How do you make time to do that?
There is always time for the things that are important to me and volunteering and giving back to my community qualifies as such. I live in a close knit community that has a tremendous amount of attributes that my family and I take advantage of. Volunteering at the YMCA and teaching a course there allows me to give back to the community and I love that aspect of my life.

I take a holistic approach to my health, and exercise is one important element. Exercise keeps me sharp and pliable physically and with all other aspects of my life. It’s about balance. Balance between career, health and family. They’re very intertwined.

You’re life is so full! How do you make time for yourself?
Regardless how full my life is, I always find some time for myself. Very often my days start well before sunrise so I can go running and return home before my family wakes to start their day. Or I may take a lunchtime yoga class or a quick workout before I get home in the evening.

I make time for myself when and where I can. It’s this time away that recharges me and refreshes my perspective. It makes me a better Financial Advisor, a better mom and a better person all around.

How do you train for your marathons, mentally and physically?
Depending on my schedule, I try to run at least 3-5 times a week.

When I began running in 2002, I could barely run a single mile without stopping to rest and catch my breath. In 2006, I ran my first marathon, despite a number of setbacks along the way. It is an indescribable feeling to cross the finish line of your very first race, knowing how much time and energy had been expended for that single moment. Since then, I have run two more marathons and many other shorter distance races. While the race and distance may change from time to time, the strategy I’ve learned to employ is the same; train diligently, focus, take a break when I need one, and above all, enjoy myself along the way.

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Morgan Stanley Smith Barney offers a wide array of brokerage and advisory services to its clients, each of which may create a different type of relationship with different obligations to you. Please visit us at http://www.morganstanleyindividual.com or consult with your Financial Advisor to understand these differences.

]]>The EditorsCommunity OutreachClient Relationship SkillsWork-Life BalanceClient DevelopmentCareer DevelopmentTeamworkNortheasternhttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13960#0Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:09:57 GMThttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13960http://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13959

Ruth Porat is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; just before that she was Vice Chairman of Investment Banking and Global Head of the Financial Institutions Group, among other positions. During the worst of the financial crisis, she led a team advising both the U.S. Treasury with respect to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York regarding AIG.

Porat credits her success to a few key factors. First has been her ability to throw herself passionately into whatever she does. As important, however, has been the culture of Morgan Stanley which, she says, encourages people to try new roles and move in different directions. “If you’re passionate about what you’re doing, you’re going to be more effective and more productive,” she says.

An Exciting Trajectory

Porat’s first job after graduating from Stanford was at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington where she worked on fraud investigations. She then went on to receive a Masters degree at the London School of Economics where she was awarded a grant to work on a consulting project which took her coincidentally back to the small town in Northern England where she was born. After the LSE, she worked for PriceWaterhouse before entering the Wharton School. She joined Morgan Stanley upon graduating in 1987.

She started at Morgan Stanley in mergers and acquisitions. It was an exciting time to be involved in mergers and acquisitions work, especially at Morgan Stanley, where, says Porat, she was involved in exciting deals -- “the ones every firm wanted but they came to us.”

Two years later, she was asked to help create a new group covering Financial Sponsors. At the time, Morgan Stanley was the first on the Street to have such a group, which may be difficult to imagine given how important this business has become for Wall Street. Before technology stocks boomed in the 1990s, she headed the Firm’s Equity Capital Market technology business, just in time for the height of the Internet market, working with such companies as eBay, Amazon, and Netscape, and then moved to Investment Banking to run the Technology banking business. In 2000 she moved to London, where she spent a year using the lessons she’d learned from Silicon Valley to work with large cap clients. When she returned to New York, her roles included Vice Chairman of Investment Banking and Chairman of Financial Sponsors. Walid Chammah then asked her to assume responsibility for the Financial Institutions Group in 2006 -- where she had one peaceful year before announcing to her group in August 2007 that a financial crisis was at hand and called bankers back from holidays to stay close to their clients. At the end of 2009, CEO James Gorman asked her to take on the CFO role.

A Cool Head During the Crisis

For Porat, perhaps the most rewarding work she’s done happened during the recent financial crisis. That’s when she was asked by the U.S. Treasury Department to lead a 39-person Morgan Stanley team to evaluate the problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It was a six-week whirlwind of round-the-clock work. Then, she was asked by the New York Fed to help tackle the problems at AIG. “It was an opportunity to use skills developed over many years and for Morgan Stanley to do something important for the country,” she says.

Porat, who has three teenage children and is married to a lawyer, points to her own mother as a crucial role model. “Her view was a woman should have a career. It was a more exciting way to go through life,” she says. “It never occurred to me I would do otherwise.” In fact, for Porat, it’s not a matter of work-life balance, as much as finding an interesting mix of activities.

Although Porat has assumed a variety of roles at Morgan Stanley, she doesn’t think that’s necessarily the right path for everyone. “For me the right thing to do was to move into different areas of the Firm as opportunities arose. And the Firm’s culture allows people to move, but it also allows people to find a passion and stay in an area for their entire career. The choice is up to each of us.”

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Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC and its Financial Advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. Clients should consult their personal tax advisor for tax-related matters and their attorney for legal matters.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney offers a wide array of brokerage and advisory services to its clients, each of which may create a different type of relationship with different obligations to you. Please visit us at http://www.morganstanleyindividual.com or consult with your Financial Advisor to understand these differences.

© 2010 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC.

]]>The EditorsWork-Life BalanceCareer DevelopmentNortheasternhttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13959#0Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:00:34 GMThttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13959http://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13958

Rhonda Salins joined Morgan Stanley Smith Barney more than 30 years ago—and she’s as passionate about the profession as she was when she first started. For Salins, who is Senior Vice President Wealth Management, based in Chicago, the work is more than just a job. It’s a way to show women how to take control of their financial lives. We discussed her early years in the profession, the evolution of her work, and her role helping women become financially savvy and independent.

Tell us about how you got started?
When I graduated from the University of Illinois in 1976, I worked at The First National Bank of Chicago, in their First Scholar’s Program. It was a prestigious bank officer’s training program that allowed me to rotate through the bank. I went to business school at night, at Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. But I didn’t like banking. It was quite conservative. I didn’t like being told what to do, when to do it. If I was finished with my work at 3 pm, I couldn’t get up and leave.

But I liked finance, the numbers. I thought about what I could do that would involve those interests. So, I interviewed with a number of financial services firms and was hired by what is now formerly Smith Barney, in a training program. I went to New York, got my licenses, then returned to Chicago. At the same time, I got married and, two years later, had a baby.

How did having a baby affect your work?
I realized that, if I had a computer at home, I could still maintain my clientele and work. The company agreed. They had to put wires through the wall in my neighbor’s apartment. I worked from home for six weeks, then went back to the office. About 20 months later, my second child was born and I arranged to work from home part-time, and the office the rest of the time. Twenty-two months after that, I had my third baby and the firm allowed me to have a quote machine at home. I worked from home and the office for the next 10 years. Now my son jokes that some kids grow up learning about "Sesame Street" and he grew up learning about "Wall Street!"

How did you find clients?
When I started, I cold called. And I lived in a high rise. The doorman helped; he gave me names of likely people. I got one lead, who happened to be a CPA. He led me to other clients. Some I still have today.

I started out by focusing on fixed income. Now, I’m part of a team and my work is mostly fee-based. It’s important because the business has become very complex. We have a portfolio manager and a CFP who has experience with trusts and estates planning. It’s helped me to develop a wealth management practice more efficiently. It’s also allowed me to be able to go to networking events and try to develop new business.

Have you been able to balance the demands of home and work?
It’s the beauty of this career for women: the flexibility. You do what you want, when you want to. Nobody’s telling you what to do and how to do it. What a wonderful job for women who want to be mothers. My children are now 25, 23 and 21. My biggest fear was they would suffer as a result of my being out of the house. However, they’re very proud I have work that is satisfying and meaningful.

I work a lot with women. I feel very passionate about women being in charge of their financial destiny. I love the fact I’ve been able to make a difference.

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Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC and its Financial Advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. Clients should consult their personal tax advisor for tax-related matters and their attorney for legal matters.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney offers a wide array of brokerage and advisory services to its clients, each of which may create a different type of relationship with different obligations to you. Please visit us at http://www.morganstanleyindividual.com or consult with your Financial Advisor to understand these differences.

© 2010 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC.

]]>The Editorshttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13958#0Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:30:22 GMThttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13958http://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13957

Abigail Gage spent her first 16 years out of college in marketing and sales. First, she worked for a wholesale tour company as director of sales, then she was an account executive with a marketing firm specializing in point of sale merchandising. But, thanks to her husband’s job, the family had to move frequently, and Gage eventually decided to stay home with their two children, who are now 17 and 20 years old.

After the family moved from Bloomington, Indiana, to Rehobeth Beach, Delaware, and her youngest child was entering first grade, Gage figured it was a good time to return to the workforce.

But what to do? A neighbor who was an executive at Merrill Lynch suggested Gage consider financial services. The proposal sounded intriguing. So, Gage went for an interview and was hired as a trainee.

It was an exciting opportunity—but tough going, at first. “I had no financial experience,” she says. “This was totally new territory.” Thanks to her sales background, however, Gage was able to build a solid book of business, largely through seminars held twice a month aimed at retirees and women.

Assuming New Roles

Four years later, the family moved to Chicago. Gage gave up her practice, knowing she’d have to start building up a client base from scratch. In short order, she got a job with a team at Graystone Consulting which is a business of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. With approximately $2 billion in assets, the team works with hospitals, corporate pension funds, insurance companies, non profits, and other institutions.

The group had an immediate need for a Group Administrator, so Gage started out in that role, but then entered a Financial Advisor training program after about 2 years on the team. “We saw it as a good way for me to evolve into a partnership role with the group,” she says.

Gage is now an Associate Vice President and Financial Advisor with the team. But rather than handle client investments, she took over marketing and new business development. Now she works behind-the-scenes to arrange speaking engagements and other opportunities for her two partners, as well as organizing client events and heading a client-service team.  “We decided my skill set was much better suited to that side of the business than the selection of money managers and alternative investments and long term investment solutions,” she says. “And it’s perfect for me.”

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 © 2010 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC.  Member SIPC.  Graystone Consulting is a business of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. 

]]>The Editorshttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13957#0Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:18:16 GMThttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13957http://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13956Women's Leadership Reception

Featuring Barbara Corcoran; Real Estate Mogul, Business Expert and Real Estate contributor for NBC's TODAY Show

Special Presentation By
William P. Magee, Jr. DDS, MD; Co-Founder and CEO, Operation Smile

Thursday, July 29, 2010  5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Luxe Hotel Sunset Boulevard
11461 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90049

RSVP by July16th to MSSB.NBD.Events@mssb.com or call 914-225-8305]]>The EditorsSpecial Eventshttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13956#0Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:47:25 GMThttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13956http://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13955

Deepa Lahoti is a newly-minted Financial Advisor in the Alpharetta, Ga., office of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC.  She came to the job after spending twenty years making strategic marketing, financial and investing decisions for many different industries, including manufacturing, technology, and financial services.

When did you become a Financial Advisor?

I’m starting on my third week. I’m brand new!

How are you marketing yourself?

Basically, I’m doing an aggressive marketing campaign on a person-to-person basis.  This business is based on trust and relationships. All my business cards from 20 years of working experience are coming out! I have also identified several market segments and I am joining networking groups within them. 

What are your target market segments?

I am an Indian-American, so I am focusing on the Indian American community. They usually like to manage their own money but they're becoming more open to professional help as they're getting older. Within that community, I am focusing on professionals, including doctors, engineers and business owners. I also have an interest in working with professional women—particularly women entrepreneurs, which is a natural fit. 

Because I was a consultant for a number of years, I am also focusing on independent consultants. And I would also love to work with members of the New Age community. Over the past ten years, I have become more spiritual and attracted spiritual people who want to help others. I genuinely feel that what I’m doing is a service—I can really help people live better lives. 

Tell me about the career path that led you to become a Financial Advisor.

I got my B.S. from the University of Tennessee in Electrical and Computer Engineering.  I wanted to design Integrated Circuits. During my senior year, I interviewed for a position with Texas Instruments. Ten minutes in, I realized that they were looking for sales engineers. When I told my interviewer that I thought I was in the wrong place, he said, “Sit back down, young lady--you belong in sales!"  I joined TI’s semiconductor sales and sold customized integrated circuits to IBM, TI’s largest customer at that time.  And, as part of my initial training, I did design integrated circuits for a year!

Why did you get an MBA? 

I wanted to rise in corporate America. I was also getting tired of what I was doing.  Because of my GMAT scores, I was invited to apply to the Wharton Business School.  I majored in finance, and I really enjoyed it. So with my engineering background and my decision making and analytical skills, I became a consultant.  

I was recruited by Deloitte & Touche to work in their manufacturing strategy division in Atlanta, providing consulting services to different organizations. One of my favorite projects was re-engineering customer delivery and service processes for the Arkansas Public Employee Retirement System.   

How did you end up moving to Wall Street? 

I was traveling all the time, I had no work-life balance, and most of my friends from Wharton were in New York City. So I moved to the internal consulting group at Bankers Trust and worked there for a few years, providing management consulting services to senior level executives. I worked mostly on marketing and strategy assignments.

In 1999, I headed up a very interesting research project. Bankers Trust wasn't doing that well compared to other banks and they wanted to know what industries they needed to expand their presence in to do better. So we developed a process to help identify attractive companies, industries and trends. 

What happened next?

I went to CitiGroup as a product manager in electronic banking. I helped develop and implement their electronic banking delivery strategy for their transaction processing, custody and clearance services. 

In the meantime, I’d gotten married and had two children. Because of my husband's job, we also moved several times. So I scaled back my professional life and consulted part-time, while focusing most of my energy on my family. 

What kind of consulting did you do? 

Mostly strategy, market entry and business planning. I worked with two Indian-owned companies to help them penetrate the financial services industry as outsourcing outfits, and I developed a business plan for another start-up that wanted to create the first bed & breakfast company in India. 


So how did you make the decision to become a Financial Advisor?

I’d been thinking about doing it for many years. Then my husband decided he wanted to start a consulting company, so we moved back to Alpharetta, where our kids had been born. After we arrived here I said, "Okay, this is the time." 

I did a lot of introspection. What do I really want to do? What are my passions? What are my strengths? 

Following the markets has always been a passion of mine. And I firmly believe that we all owe it to ourselves and our families to take care of our accumulated wealth and make it work for us.  And I also enjoy helping people. 

I suddenly realized that this was the definition of a Financial Advisor. 

How did you find this job?

After I had my realization, I typed "Financial Advisor position in Alpharetta, Georgia," into Google and the first thing that came up was an opportunity at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.  I applied to the training program and it just happened.  It was like it was meant to be!

How does this compare to what you've done in the past?

It's like being an entrepreneur within a company.  It's a very good opportunity for people who want to build their own business from scratch, yet at the same time want the comfort of being in an organization and the benefits that go with it. 

It's an interesting time to go into the market, considering the recent turmoil.

Actually, I think it’s a great time, because I think there's tremendous opportunity and people are sitting on so much cash!  The markets change all the time, but the key is to have a plan, know your goals, stay the course, make the necessary adjustments, and remain calm during the ups and downs. 

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Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC and its Financial Advisors do not provide tax or legal advice.  Clients should consult their personal tax advisor for tax-related matters and their attorney for legal matters.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney offers a wide array of brokerage and advisory services to its clients, each of which may create a different type of relationship with different obligations to you. Please visit us at http://www.morganstanleyindividual.com or consult with your Financial Advisor to understand these differences.

© 2010 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC.  Member SIPC.


]]>The Editorshttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13955#0Mon, 21 Jun 2010 10:26:08 GMThttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13955http://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13954Women's Leadership Breakfast

Featuring Mellody Hobson
President, Ariel Investments and Financial Contributor on ABC's Good Morning America

Tuesday, July 13, 2010
8:00 a.m.–10:00 a.m.

Hilton Short Hills
41 JFK Parkway
Short Hills, NJ 07078

RSVP by July 2nd to MSSB.NBD.Events@mssb.com or call 914-225-8305

See details [here]]]>The Editorshttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13954#0Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:04:08 GMThttp://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13954http://www.womenfaforum.morganstanleysmithbarney.com/Home/13953

Seventeen years ago, Julia Karasik moved from Kiev to Chicago with her husband and three-year-old daughter to make a better life for themselves. Not long after, she began work as a Financial Advisor, joining Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in 1998. Today she has a thriving practice, working mostly with business owners.

Starting by Cold Calling

Karasik and her husband both held engineering degrees in the Ukraine. After graduating from university she realized she didn’t want to be an engineer. At the same time, 1993 was a difficult time for her family, “It was a really bad time,” she says, neither her nor her husband could find work. They decided the solution was to move to Chicago, where they had relatives.

Karasik enrolled in a school to learn English. Then, after a few months, a friend told her about a stockbroker looking for a Russian-speaking assistant for his small practice. Unsure of what to expect Julia decided to try. Turned out, what he wanted was someone to do cold calls. Karasik quickly realized she enjoyed this kind of work and as a result was able to quickly grow. In her spare time, she read as much as she could about financial planning and investments.

Mastering a System

When the firm closed down four years later, Karasik joined a training program at what was then Smith Barney. It was an invaluable experience. Going through the training program Julia was introduced to many new aspects of financial planning and many new products available to clients. Julia also “saw how important education is in this profession.” Striving to improve herself and to learn more Julia also got her CFP® and CIMA® designations.

Perhaps most important was the process she learned for helping clients with their financial planning needs. She now has a carefully thought-through system, which she explains to all new clients in their first meeting. There’s a preliminary get together, when Karasik finds out such important information as clients’ preferences, interests, and concerns; a second, during which she presents a plan; another when the individuals decide whether or not to hire her; and then another to collect paperwork. “It’s a very organized process,” she says. “It helps me do a better job.”

It also helps to set the stage for a relationship in which she’s always free to ask probing, open-ended questions. Karasik points to a recent interaction with long-time clients, a husband and wife. During their conversation, thanks to Karasik’s questioning, the couple realized they had never discussed with each other their long-term goals for their children. And it turned out they had opposite views on the subject. The husband wanted to spend their money while they were alive, while the wife was interested in leaving a legacy for their children. Karasik suggested they discuss the issue privately and scheduled another meeting to decide what to do, based on their conclusions.

Karasik, who now has two children, age 20 and 13, has also found the profession to be well-suited to being a mother. She can adjust her hours as needed in order to better balance work and family. And it’s been a good experience for her children, too. Her daughter, now a college junior, is studying finance--and already has had an internship with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

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Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC and its Financial Advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. Clients should consult their personal tax advisor for tax-related matters and their attorney for legal matters.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney offers a wide array of brokerage and advisory services to its clients, each of which may create a different type of relationship with different obligations to you. Please visit us at http://www.morganstanleyindividual.com or consult with your Financial Advisor to understand these differences.

© 2010 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC.

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