Women in the Financial Sector: Hussey Financial Consulting Group on Transitioning to Stifel and the Importance of Women Supporting Women

In July of 2021, Hussey Financial Consulting Group, an all-women team, joined Stifel, and they haven’t looked back.

Based in Ferndale, California, Hussey Financial Consulting Group is a client-driven team specializing in helping individuals develop customized retirement strategies.?In addition to reviewing assets and investments, the group helps its clients prepare for additional future expenses and new financial goals.

Providing Clients With Excellent Service and Building Strong Relationships

With more than 80 years of combined financial services experience, Hussey Financial Consulting Group’s Laura Hussey (Senior Vice President/Investments, Branch Manager), Renae Alejandre (Financial Advisor Associate), Donna Mitnik Bowen (Client Relationship Manager), and Sonia McBride (Client Service Associate) have spent the last twelve years working together to craft personalized strategies to help clients pursue their retirement goals.

Hussey Financial Consulting Group strives to get women more involved and interested in their finances.?Even if a woman doesn’t actively participate in handling finances at home, the team still encourages their female clients to come into the office at least once a year to check in and make sure they don’t have any questions.

Being an all-women team has helped with that endeavor.?“We have very good personal relationships with our clients,” the team says.?“We’re very good at explaining, and we’re also active listeners.”

As an all-women team with generational diversity, Laura, Renae, Donna, and Sonia received plenty of referrals for female clients and were thriving.?So, if you’d asked any of them whether they would have thought to transition firms a year ago, all four would have said no.?However, when processes changed at their old firm, they revisited the idea.

Deciding to Move to Stifel

“We had three or four different managers,” the ladies recalls.?“One didn’t know who we were, but she was responsible for doing an employment evaluation on us, and we thought, ‘How can you evaluate us if you don’t even know who we are?’”

As a team, they were looking for a firm that would offer less bureaucracy, and more freedom when it comes to serving clients the way we felt was best. In Stifel, they found that and more.?

So, on July 1, 2021, Hussey Financial Consulting Group officially joined Stifel and began to transition their business.

The Transition Process

Laura, Renae, Donna, and Sonia opened a brand new Stifel branch in Ferndale.?They had 1,280 accounts to move (for reference, the average financial advisor joining Stifel moves 400-500 accounts), so they found themselves having to put in plenty of hours during this process.

Luckily, they weren’t alone.?Stifel’s St. Louis-based transition team helped them get through the bulk of the transition.

“Stifel did a great job helping us through the transition process,” the ladies say.?“They were very understanding of the struggles that we experienced and helped us overcome them.”

Between Laura, Renae, Donna, Sonia, and the transition team’s help, Hussey Financial Consulting Group achieved an impressive 92-95% client retention rate. ?

“Now, it’s just getting back on track with client meetings and retirement illustrations,” they say.?“We also want to bring our production to what it was before our departure.?We used to give clients estate planning binders and other gifts, and we would like to bring those back.”

Life at Stifel

Despite the usual challenges of moving firms – not to mention during a pandemic, as well – the Hussey Financial Consulting Group has found moving to Stifel worth it and rewarding, because they feel they can truly put clients first.

“With Stifel, we felt like we were coming into a smaller, more family-oriented firm.?It’s completely different here, and it fits our team because one of our biggest benefits is that we are like a family.?Our former manager would say, ‘There’s no office like your office.’?Everybody knows what their jobs are, and everybody does their jobs and everybody covers for everybody when needed.?It’s a pretty incredible work environment.”

Once Laura, Renae, Donna, and Sonia finished settling in, they were excited to participate in the Women’s Initiative Network (WIN) at Stifel.

“We’re really interested in getting involved with WIN and discovering what it can offer us as an all-women team.?We’re looking forward to networking with different women throughout Stifel because we haven’t had the chance to meet a lot of people yet,” the ladies say.

Women in the Finance Industry

“We’re very lucky in that we’re a unique team.?We’re all women, we all live in the same town of just 1,400 people, and we all live within four miles of our office.?We’re all part of the same community, and we're all very supportive of each other,” they share.

But that sense of community isn’t entirely unique to Hussey Financial Consulting Group.?“When life has challenges, it’s typically the women that step up and put everything on hold to take care of whatever needs doing,” they add.

Hussey Financial Consulting Group believes getting more women into the historically male-dominated financial sector is essential.?After all, they've seen firsthand how comfortable female clients become when they’re able to work with a female advisor.

“We need more women to mentor younger women,” Renae says.?“That’s how we have more female leaders in all different career paths.?So, if you’re new to the industry, try to find an older female advisor that’s willing to mentor you.?For me, Laura has been a fantastic mentor, personally and professionally.”