Financial Literacy’s Connection to Growing the Adviser Industry

Interesting young people in a career as a financial adviser starts with making them aware of the importance of financial planning, including using their own life experiences, according to experts from Lenox Advisors Inc., a subsidiary of NFP, which is an Aon company.

Lenox leadership believes exposing young people to financial planning and tools early in life will better lead them to careers in finance. To further that end, they educate young people on financial planning and how to make a career in the field through partnerships and programs with the higher education community, says Frank Anzalone, Lenox’s managing director and national head of sales and distribution.

“We took the firm from 97 advisers pre-COVID to 117 now, plus another 14 in training,” says Anzalone. “So that’s a pretty good growth trajectory, and we want to do it the right way.”

Lenox Advisers also participates in careers fairs, mentorship opportunities and encourages recent graduates to find new opportunities through alumni working at Lenox.

Bringing in younger advisers has been a focus of companies in both financial advising and retirement planning in recent years, due in part to an aging industry. But there has also been some focus on boosting financial literacy, generally, among young people; as one example, the Retirement Advisor Council launched a program late last year called FinLitFuture$ to provide volunteer opportunities and resources for plan advisers to work with students in their local communities.

Life Experience

Matt Sendach, a managing director at Lenox Advisors, says he was inspired to become a financial adviser while he was in college and his father became ill. He learned the importance of financial planning when it came to dealing with the unexpected life event.

“My dad had something called Guillain-Barré syndrome,” he says. “It was a one in a million disease that completely paralyzed him from his waist down.”

For two years, Sendach’s father could not work. Moreover, he owned his own business and did not have any of the proper protection in place. The illness created a “financial disaster scenario,” says Sendach, in which his father had to dip into equity in his house and prematurely tap his retirement accounts.

“I became interested in how things could have been different and figuring out different ways to put protection in place for families,” Sendach says. “That’s what motivated me early on and continues to motivate me. That way people are in a better position when things don’t go as planned.”

Sendach’s father is now doing well, but he still must work longer than his peers due to the two years he was sick. The lack of protection for his father points to inadequate financial literacy education, Sendach states.

“There still is not a lot of great education anywhere regarding different plans that you need to put in place,” he says. “Now, unfortunately, I know too many people like that.”

Getting Ahead of the Curve

Anzalone says he is shocked by the lack of important financial literacy education offered to young people. He states that vital education comes too late in people’s lives.

“I see, nationally, kids very talented, graduating high school and going on to higher education and not understanding just the basics,” he says. “What is the financial plan? What is an investment account? What is protection? Why is it needed?”

When Lenox Advisors brings in new advisers, Sendach says more seasoned colleagues can then help their young counterparts find clients. Similar to how he identified that his father was not serviced properly, Sendach now helps new advisers find clients who need better financial guidance.

“I’ve been at Lenox for 15 years,” he says. “Many of the [people] who have been here longer than me gave me opportunities, saying ‘Hey, I have old clients that aren’t in service because I’m busy meeting with my clients. Can you call them and just see what’s going on and help them?’”

Sendach says now he gets to pay it forward, helping young advisers find new opportunities.