Mary Ellen Garrett is no short-timer. She started working at financial services firm Merrill Lynch’s Atlanta office 29 years ago, and she’s still there.
As she rose through the ranks as a financial adviser, she also built a team that had staying power. She’s led the same group of financial advisers — all women — for the past 10 years.
She says this stability has helped her clients stay put, too. Garrett provides financial advice and wealth management services to affluent clients — those with investable assets greater than $250,000. She has been working with many of these clients for more than two decades, and now she’s beginning to advise their children.
Q: What is the financial mood of your clients these days?
A: I think people feel a lot better now than they did a year ago, and certainly than they did a year before that. We’ve cut through this recession. We’re starting to see that the economy is working, is growing again. ... That confidence is being restored. We’re seeing that in the generation that is just getting ready to retire — even more than we’re seeing it in the younger generation.
Q: Why are older investors more optimistic?
A: They have had the benefit of being invested in the market for a few decades, where they really saw their assets grow, and they saw what the power of being invested properly in the market does for them. In the younger generation, many people have only seen this past decade and what it has done to their overall assets. A lot of people refer to the years from 2000 to 2010 as the lost decade. In a 10-year period, we had four bad years, and that had never happened before.
Q: How does that shape investment strategy?
A: A lot of younger people are being a little bit more cautious, more conservative in the investing of their portfolio. They are less concerned with what they are going to miss making through [conservative] investments than they are concerned about making sure they don’t lose what they have invested.
Q: What are some of the differences between how men and women manage their money?
A: I have done this for a long time, and I have seen women’s involvement in the financial matters of their families really increase. They want to be involved now. ... They look for a more holistic approach because they are looking more at the entire family versus just themselves. I’m not saying that men don’t do that, but I think women take a more nurturing approach to their entire family’s assets.
Q: In general, women are more conservative investors than men. Why do you think that is the case?
A: Looking at the statistics on longevity, women are going to be around a bit longer than men are. So they are more conservative because they want to make sure those monies will be there for them.
Q: How do you structure an investment strategy for a husband and wife with different investment philosophies?
A: That’s really where education comes in — education of the history of the market and what the market can do. If the man wants to be a little bit more aggressive, and the woman wants to be a little bit more conservative, there usually will be a compromise. Those are the clients you really want to make sure you communicate with along the way, because market changes may change the way they want to invest.
Q: What are the key questions someone should ask when choosing a financial adviser?
A: The first question is: What kind of strategy will you employ to manage assets for me? The investor should look into that strategy and look into the risks that are associated with that strategy. ... Another thing to ask: Can you communicate with me? If you don’t have good, open communication with your adviser, you are going to be headed for some real heartache in the future if you do have an issue that you have to bring up with them. You should interview a few advisers and see who you communicate with the best. ... Also, find out what it is going to cost. Ask: How am I going to pay for this? Make sure you have an adviser who is very upfront in talking about the fees associated with doing business in the market and doing business with an adviser.
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