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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 position 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 purchasers and was delighted to transition to a full-time worker. Vantage Level Monetary, a agency devoted to gender steadiness, purchasers’ training, and unbiased monetary recommendation, was the right match for Ashley’s targets and keenness 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 position.
When talking with Ashley, I discovered that her ardour for partaking with individuals nonetheless runs robust, each professionally and personally. Beneath, 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 carry 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 % millennials. A lot of my next-gen purchasers are girls who’ve lots 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 big bonus in onboarding purchasers and creating long-term relationships. Many ladies, whether or not youthful or older, are extra comfy talking with a girl advisor. General, in my expertise, our girls purchasers discover it empowering to work with one other lady.
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. Once I entered the workforce 10 years in the past, I used to be scared of failing and hesitant to leap at alternatives. I used to be particularly afraid of public talking. A method I acquired by way of this was to show a category in primary 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 enterprise mannequin provide help to steadiness work and household life?
A: I really love what we do as advisors—serving to purchasers obtain their targets. However I additionally love the flexibleness this enterprise supplies. A couple of years in the past, I opened a department workplace in Seattle, Washington, to enrich our most important 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 additionally so I can see my seven-month-old son all through the day. Once I took day off for maternity go away, our purchasers had been excited and cheered me on. Since then, I’ve change into much more obsessed 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 your enterprise?
A: Surprisingly, our enterprise thrived—2020 was the agency’s strongest progress 12 months up to now. From the beginning of the pandemic, we noticed elevated demand for monetary planning. For a lot of purchasers, the lockdowns had been a possibility to take a great have a look at their funds. They lastly had the time to take a seat down and make a monetary evaluation a precedence. Many consumers even loved it! Regardless of the uncertainty, they appreciated the possibility to trace how they had been doing financially towards their targets and actually dive into general planning.
Q: Did your agency’s use of expertise change in 2020?
A: Attributable to our enterprise mannequin, my colleagues and I had been already comfy utilizing Zoom properly earlier than the pandemic hit. We’ve got workplaces on each coasts—I’m primarily positioned in Seattle, and my companion is predicated in Boston. We’ve got a license to function in 26 states, so Zoom expertise was excellent for connecting with our associates and purchasers 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 house. We’d have wine and cheese and get to know one another. I’d share suggestions and primary information 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 a great possibility for now and may generate purchasers similar to the in-person conferences did.
Q: How did your purchasers reply to the modifications final 12 months?
A: Earlier than the pandemic, nearly all of purchasers most well-liked to satisfy in individual. With the lockdowns in place, convincing purchasers to make use of Zoom acquired lots simpler, in fact. However as soon as they acquired began, Zoom’s comfort and ease made numerous converts. I’m positive some purchasers will wish 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 hearth up by collaborating in a neighborhood males’s hockey league, which has just one different lady 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 assume solely girls are fascinated by 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 a terrific job of fostering relationships. Our neighborhood is exclusive as a result of it’s not aggressive—individuals wish to collaborate and share finest practices. As an advisor, you may be wherever within the nation and work with different Commonwealth advisors to have a bigger presence. Once I first got here to Seattle, I reached out to different Commonwealth advisors, and the response was, “How can I provide help to?” I like having the ability to cross on that neighborhood dedication.
Subsequent: Valiant Girls of Commonwealth: Character Counts for Amos and Archinal | Earlier: Valiant Girls of Commonwealth: Marilyn Wooden on Rising a Enterprise
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