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November 02, 2015 at 07:00 PM
Our cover story this month focuses on advisors working with younger family members. When these advisors retire, their children or other relations are poised to take over their practices.
My parents never directly encouraged me to get into their profession. They both focused on education — my father was a biochemistry researcher and university professor, while my mother taught languages in the public schools.
They did give me a good lesson about money: spend less than you make and save, save, save. This education certainly has proven helpful to me, given my career choice as a journalist.
I happened to meet some other professionals in business together at the Retirement Income Industry Association conference, held in mid-September in Indianapolis: Ron Mastrogiovanni Sr. and Jr. They run HealthView Services, which crunches useful information on health care costs in retirement for advisors. In early October at the Raymond James Women’s Symposium, I was privileged to meet lots of female advisors who are in business with family members.
While attending these recent events, as well as the AIG Advisor Group national conference in my hometown of San Antonio, I heard many uplifting talks on the positive impact advisors can have on their clients’ lives. (I write about this in the Research Reporter section.) Plus, I heard stories about how advisors and their broker-dealer employees work together to move ahead, and watched a moving tribute to the late AIG President and CEO Bob Benmosche.
One of the most inspiring talks at the Raymond James event was given by Cindy David, an advisor in Canada who spoke about what it was like to be in a bike ride in support of cancer research that took place during very bad weather, as in 80-miles-per-hour winds. As she mulled dropping out of the ride, she “was overwhelmed by my supporters and family. I felt I had so much to be grateful for and realized that I had so much to give — there were no limits.”
The significance of support and encouragement in our professional lives is highlighted in our feature “Training for Volatility.” The piece describes how experienced advisors — who have been in the trenches of nasty markets — support their peers and advise them on what to do when times are tough (or, at least, interesting). The secret, of course, is teamwork.
