Ashley Ott, CFP®, AIF®, with Commonwealth since 2013
Ashley Ott, CFP®, AIF®, companion at Vantage Level Monetary, joined her agency in 2012 in a brief function as a consumer companies supervisor. Being on the time a current graduate with a psychology diploma from Harvard College, she shortly realized she beloved 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 right match for Ashley’s objectives and fervour for serving to individuals. With the help 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 partaking with individuals nonetheless runs sturdy, each professionally and personally. Beneath, she shares her experiences as a lady and next-gen adviser and the way her agency has managed by the continuing pandemic.
Q: What strengths do you convey to the desk as a lady 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 consumer base, which might be about 15 % millennials. Lots of my next-gen shoppers are girls who’ve so much in widespread with me. They’re shopping for houses, having kids, and beginning to concentrate on the monetary safety of their households.
Being a lady advisor who shares these experiences is a big bonus in onboarding shoppers and creating long-term relationships. Many ladies, whether or not youthful or older, are extra comfy talking with a lady advisor. Total, in my expertise, our girls shoppers discover it empowering to work with one other girl.
Q: What’s an important recommendation you’ll 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 satisfy individuals. After I entered the workforce 10 years in the past, I used to be frightened of failing and hesitant to leap at alternatives. I used to be particularly afraid of public talking. A method I obtained by 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 instructed 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 my fears.
Q: How does what you are promoting mannequin enable you to steadiness work and household life?
A: I really love what we do as advisors—serving to shoppers obtain their objectives. However I additionally love the pliability this enterprise gives. A number of years in the past, I opened a department workplace in Seattle, Washington, to enrich our essential workplace in Boston, Massachusetts. My aim was to spend extra time with my husband, who performs soccer for the Seattle Seahawks. Now, I do business from 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 had been excited and cheered me on. Since then, I’ve turn out to be much more captivated with my work and the chance to assist younger households make sensible, assured, and educated monetary choices.
Q: How did the pandemic have an effect on what you are promoting?
A: Surprisingly, our enterprise thrived—2020 was the agency’s strongest progress 12 months thus far. From the beginning of the pandemic, we noticed elevated demand for monetary planning. For a lot of shoppers, the lockdowns had been a possibility to take a superb 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 prospect to trace how they had been doing financially towards their objectives and actually dive into total planning.
Q: Did your agency’s use of expertise change in 2020?
A: As a consequence of our enterprise mannequin, my colleagues and I had been already comfy utilizing Zoom nicely earlier than the pandemic hit. We’ve got places of work on each coasts—I’m primarily positioned in Seattle, and my companion relies in Boston. We’ve got a license to function in 26 states, so Zoom expertise was excellent 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 would possibly say our agency was as prepared as attainable for the large 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 house. We’d have wine and cheese and get to know one another. I’d share ideas and fundamental information about monetary planning, with no questions thought of too easy. Due to the pandemic, I’ve began holding conferences like this on Zoom. It’s a superb choice for now and would possibly generate shoppers identical to the in-person conferences did.
Q: How did your shoppers reply to the adjustments final 12 months?
A: Earlier than the pandemic, the vast majority of shoppers most popular to satisfy in individual. With the lockdowns in place, convincing shoppers to make use of Zoom obtained so much simpler, in fact. However as soon as they obtained began, Zoom’s comfort and ease made a number of converts. I’m positive some shoppers will need to proceed assembly just about.
Q: How do you keep linked together with your neighborhood?
A: I used to be a hockey participant when rising up and all through faculty. Earlier than the pandemic, I loved supporting younger individuals within the sport by teaching youth hockey at two native faculties. And, additionally pre-pandemic, I stored my aggressive fireplace 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 issues. It’s a standard misperception to suppose solely girls are concerned about exploring their emotional sides.
Q: Why do you stick with Commonwealth?
A: I can sum that up in just a few phrases: the Commonwealth neighborhood. Commonwealth does an ideal job of fostering relationships. Our neighborhood is exclusive as a result of it’s not aggressive—individuals need to collaborate and share finest practices. As an advisor, you might be wherever 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 enable you to?” I like with the ability to go on that neighborhood dedication.
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