Jennifer Ellison, CFA

I love engaging with people in all aspects of my life. Reading people and their emotions, desires and fears is fascinating to me. This is really critical in advising people on such an intimate issue as their financial lives. Couples disagree, circumstances change and happy and sad events affect us all. The ability to really understand people and the desire to really know them makes me a better advisor every day.

From the time I was young I had an interest in the stock market. When I was in college I thought I wanted to go into advertising until I took my first finance class. I was inspired by that Professor and again by my first economics Professor. When a stock broker visited class one day to discuss a career on Wall Street I was hooked. From that day forward I knew exactly what direction I wanted to go. But several years into my career I realized that I didn’t want to sell financial products or have discussions that were solely focused on a particular stock. I wanted to help people and build relationships based on guiding their financial lives. Shifting from sales to advice has been the most rewarding change I’ve ever made.

I work best with two types of clients. Those who are quite sophisticated financially but recognize that they are busy doing what they do and want a trusted advisor to whom they can delegate, and people in transition who want to pivot in their lives and need help managing that transition and knowing they can comfortably do so.

Selflessness. For almost every problem that needs resolving, a willingness to find solutions that might require a person or group to compromise and think beyond the short-term impact on themselves would make a big impact.

My best days are spent meeting with or talking to clients. Period. Interacting with clients on both a personal and professional level feeds my soul every day.