Ashley Ott, CFP®, AIF®, with Commonwealth since 2013
Ashley Ott, CFP®, AIF®, accomplice at Vantage Level Monetary, joined her agency in 2012 in a brief function as a consumer companies supervisor. Being on the time a latest graduate with a psychology diploma from Harvard College, she rapidly realized she beloved working with purchasers and was delighted to transition to a full-time worker. Vantage Level Monetary, a agency devoted to gender steadiness, purchasers’ schooling, and impartial monetary recommendation, was the right match for Ashley’s objectives 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 sturdy, 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 convey to the desk as a girl and next-gen advisor?
A: Millennial ladies 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 p.c millennials. Lots of my next-gen purchasers are ladies who’ve quite a bit in widespread with me. They’re shopping for properties, having youngsters, and beginning to give attention to 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 ladies purchasers 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 terrified of failing and hesitant to leap at alternatives. I used to be particularly afraid of public talking. A method I obtained 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 aid you steadiness work and household life?
A: I actually love what we do as advisors—serving to purchasers obtain their objectives. However I additionally love the pliability this enterprise offers. A couple of years in the past, I opened a department workplace in Seattle, Washington, to enhance our major 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 go away, our purchasers had been excited and cheered me on. Since then, I’ve turn into much more obsessed with my work and the chance to assist younger households make sensible, 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 thus far. 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 take a look at their funds. They lastly had the time to sit down down and make a monetary evaluation a precedence. Many purchasers 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 general planning.
Q: Did your agency’s use of know-how change in 2020?
A: Resulting from our enterprise mannequin, my colleagues and I had been already comfy utilizing Zoom effectively earlier than the pandemic hit. Now we have workplaces on each coasts—I’m primarily positioned in Seattle, and my accomplice relies in Boston. Now we have a license to function in 26 states, so Zoom know-how 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 potential 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 ladies at somebody’s dwelling. 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 choice for now and may generate purchasers identical to the in-person conferences did.
Q: How did your purchasers reply to the adjustments final yr?
A: Earlier than the pandemic, nearly all of purchasers most well-liked to fulfill in individual. With the lockdowns in place, convincing purchasers to make use of Zoom obtained quite a bit simpler, after all. However as soon as they obtained began, Zoom’s comfort and ease made quite a lot of converts. I’m positive some purchasers will need to proceed assembly nearly.
Q: How do you keep related together with your neighborhood?
A: I used to be a hockey participant when rising up and all through school. 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 stored my aggressive hearth up by taking part in an area 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 assume solely ladies are taken with exploring their emotional sides.
Q: Why do you stick with Commonwealth?
A: I can sum that up in a number of phrases: the Commonwealth neighborhood. Commonwealth does a fantastic job of fostering relationships. Our neighborhood is exclusive as a result of it’s not aggressive—folks need to collaborate and share greatest practices. As an advisor, you may 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 aid you?” I like having the ability to go on that neighborhood dedication.
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