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Ashley Ott, CFP®, AIF®, with Commonwealth since 2013
Ashley Ott, CFP®, AIF®, associate at Vantage Level Monetary, joined her agency in 2012 in a brief function as a shopper companies supervisor. Being on the time a latest graduate with a psychology diploma from Harvard College, she shortly realized she liked working with shoppers and was delighted to transition to a full-time worker. Vantage Level Monetary, a agency devoted to gender steadiness, shoppers’ schooling, and unbiased monetary recommendation, was the proper match for Ashley’s targets and keenness for serving to folks. With the assist and mentorship of Vantage Level’s president and founder, David Griswold, she launched into an academic journey in economics, finance, and investments, finally incomes her trade designations and partnership function.
When talking with Ashley, I discovered that her ardour for participating with folks nonetheless runs robust, each professionally and personally. Under, she shares her experiences as a girl and next-gen adviser and the way her agency has managed by way of the continued pandemic.
Q: What strengths do you deliver to the desk as a girl and next-gen advisor?
A: Millennial girls are beginning to take management of their monetary futures and handle their very own cash and property. I see this mindset in my present shopper base, which might be about 15 p.c millennials. Lots of my next-gen shoppers are girls who’ve loads in frequent with me. They’re shopping for properties, having kids, and beginning to concentrate on the monetary safety of their households.
Being a girl advisor who shares these experiences is a large bonus in onboarding shoppers and growing long-term relationships. Many ladies, whether or not youthful or older, are extra snug talking with a girl advisor. Total, in my expertise, our girls shoppers discover it empowering to work with one other girl.
Q: What’s an important recommendation you’d give to a younger advisor?
A: To anybody beginning on this enterprise, I’d say don’t be afraid to fail and take each alternative to fulfill folks. After I entered the workforce 10 years in the past, I used to be afraid of failing and hesitant to leap at alternatives. I used to be particularly afraid of public talking. A method I bought by way of this was to show a category in fundamental finance as an adjunct professor at Boston College—one thing I did for a number of semesters. I informed my college students that standing up there and speaking was a nerve-wracking expertise. Telling my college students that with all honesty whereas standing in entrance of them helped me work by way of my fears.
Q: How does your corporation mannequin show you how to steadiness work and household life?
A: I really love what we do as advisors—serving to shoppers obtain their targets. However I additionally love the pliability this enterprise gives. A couple of years in the past, I opened a department workplace in Seattle, Washington, to enrich our foremost workplace in Boston, Massachusetts. My purpose was to spend extra time with my husband, who performs soccer for the Seattle Seahawks. Now, I work at home not solely due to COVID-19 but in addition so I can see my seven-month-old son all through the day. After I took time without work for maternity depart, our shoppers have been excited and cheered me on. Since then, I’ve grow to be much more enthusiastic about my work and the chance to assist younger households make good, assured, and educated monetary selections.
Q: How did the pandemic have an effect on your corporation?
A: Surprisingly, our enterprise thrived—2020 was the agency’s strongest progress yr so far. From the beginning of the pandemic, we noticed elevated demand for monetary planning. For a lot of shoppers, the lockdowns have been a possibility to take an excellent take a look at their funds. They lastly had the time to sit down down and make a monetary overview a precedence. Many consumers even loved it! Regardless of the uncertainty, they appreciated the possibility to trace how they have been doing financially in opposition to their targets and actually dive into total planning.
Q: Did your agency’s use of know-how change in 2020?
A: Because of our enterprise mannequin, my colleagues and I have been already snug utilizing Zoom effectively earlier than the pandemic hit. We have now places of work on each coasts—I’m primarily positioned in Seattle, and my associate relies in Boston. We have now a license to function in 26 states, so Zoom know-how was good for connecting with our associates and shoppers throughout the nation. We started to make use of Zoom greater than three years in the past. So that you may say our agency was as prepared as doable for the massive shift to digital.
One change, although, is that I’m beginning to do digital networking and prospecting. Earlier than the pandemic, I organized Finance 101 conferences for teams of 5 to 10 girls at somebody’s residence. We’d have wine and cheese and get to know one another. I’d share ideas and fundamental data about monetary planning, with no questions thought-about too easy. Due to the pandemic, I’ve began holding conferences like this on Zoom. It’s an excellent possibility for now and may generate shoppers identical to the in-person conferences did.
Q: How did your shoppers reply to the modifications final yr?
A: Earlier than the pandemic, nearly all of shoppers most well-liked to fulfill in particular person. With the lockdowns in place, convincing shoppers to make use of Zoom bought loads simpler, in fact. However as soon as they bought began, Zoom’s comfort and ease made lots of converts. I’m certain some shoppers will wish to proceed assembly just about.
Q: How do you keep related along with your group?
A: I used to be a hockey participant when rising up and all through faculty. Earlier than the pandemic, I loved supporting younger folks within the sport by teaching youth hockey at two native faculties. And, additionally pre-pandemic, I saved my aggressive hearth up by collaborating in a neighborhood males’s hockey league, which has just one different girl participant. The camaraderie I’ve skilled with my teammates has been an actual eye-opener, demonstrating how a lot males get pleasure from sharing tales about their households and private considerations. It’s a typical misperception to assume solely girls are focused on exploring their emotional sides.
Q: Why do you stick with Commonwealth?
A: I can sum that up in a couple of phrases: the Commonwealth group. Commonwealth does an amazing job of fostering relationships. Our group is exclusive as a result of it’s not aggressive—folks wish to collaborate and share greatest practices. As an advisor, you will be anyplace within the nation and work with different Commonwealth advisors to have a bigger presence. After I first got here to Seattle, I reached out to different Commonwealth advisors, and the response was, “How can I show you how to?” I like with the ability to move on that group dedication.
Subsequent: Valiant Ladies of Commonwealth: Character Counts for Amos and Archinal | Earlier: Valiant Ladies of Commonwealth: Marilyn Wooden on Rising a Enterprise
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