It has been 55 years since I helped my Finnish grandmother take blueberry pies from the white enamel oven of the parsonage in rural Maine where she and my grandfather lived. As a 9-year-old reveling in a sibling-free week with my grandparents, I hovered by her side as she gardened, cooked, baked and sewed, securing the final stitches in the red velvet purse she was making for my upcoming birthday.
“Always use the best materials, the best ingredients,” she repeated all that July week. “Your time is a big investment. Your time is worth a lot. Don’t waste precious time on cheap materials.”
And that is why I salute her every time I shop for dinner at Whole Foods or sashay out of a (woman-owned, local) quilt store with a bag of Japanese indigo or English floral print fabric for my next project.
My parents taught me the value of work. My grammy taught me the value of my work.
As women slowly gain traction in the financial advisory profession, wisdom passed from women founders to ascending daughters is starting to guide clients. It seems that the advice I received from my thrifty and creative grandmother is nearly identical to that shared by two leading-edge baby boomer women who have just handed off their practices to daughters-in-law.
“We are constantly quoting her,” Elisabeth Dewailly said of Sybil Sternlieb, who founded what is now the Novick Dewailly Group of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management over 40 years ago. Sternlieb channels the same perspective as my grandmother: Check the goods and buy carefully.
“The biggest mistake you can make is investing in something that’s low quality or the fad of the week,” Dewailly said, citing Sternlieb’s mantra. ”Sometimes, boring is better. Boring is transparency. It’s knowing what you’re holding onto. Sometimes, boring allows you to have a series of clients who 40 years later all say that you’re the best thing that happened to them.”
Dewailly is marrying into the practice — eventually. She has been engaged for eight years to Sternlieb’s grandson by way of daughter Susan Novick. The ownership transition pivoted on Novick’s ability to ease the practice into new modes without disrupting the culture that clients cherish. “Susan modernized the business while keeping Sybil’s core values,” Dewailly said. “That’s tricky to do. And it was done successfully because Susan took the time to understand what Sybil was teaching, so we could bring the fundamentals that Sybil taught into this new era.”
Matriarchal money wisdom has the potential to disrupt one of the most vexing aspects of financial ignorance: that children overwhelmingly look to parents for financial guidance but as teenagers, bolt to social media, according to the latest T. Rowe Price Parents, Kids & Money survey. That research found that 62% of parents have at least some reluctances to talk about financial matters with their children.
Can more women in advisory and investment roles shift the family money dynamic?
Probably, if Magdalena Johndrow has anything to say about it.
She is in her seventh year at Johndrow Wealth Management and well into her second year as managing partner, having taken over from mother-in-law and firm founder Lori Johndrow.
Lori Johndrow’s intuitive risk management style — “just try it, you can always pivot” — has been a touchstone as Magdalena Johndrow has adopted new technology and client service platforms.
But it’s the advice from Magdalena Johndrow’s own mom that serves as her North Star. “She was always a proponent of making your own money,” she said. “Even if it’s a part-time job, make your own money because it gives you freedom.”
It was a hard-learned lesson, as Johndrow’s grandmother had to step up to keep her family solvent when her husband wasn’t able to. My own grandmother’s emphasis on quality probably stemmed from homemaking disappointments: She and my grandfather married in 1927 and by the time the Depression was Great, had three small boys to rear. Likely she reaped sorry results from frugal failures.
Homespun advice too easily falls into cliché. That’s especially true when complicated financial concepts are reduced to bromides that are smoothly dismissed. But there’s a reason why timeless wisdom is what we best recall: It resonates regardless of family circumstances or economic tides. More women’s voices will carry guidance and reassurance to clients who tune best to their timbre.
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