'Altruistic relationship' with clients key to advisor's success

As a senior vice-president and financial advisor at Cincinnati, Ohio-based The NKY Group at Morgan Stanley, MaryAnn Pietromonaco considers her biggest achievement to be recruiting a team of successful, dedicated women who have become a tight-knit family.

“I've been able to put together a team of just phenomenal women who go to work every day with the sole purpose of helping our client base achieve their goals,” she reaffirms. “I know that sounds so cliche, but that really gets us up every day.”

It’s an achievement that's been recognized after Pietromonaco was named an InvestmentNews Awards 2024 Excellence Awardee, with the winners announced on June 20 at 583 Park Avenue, New York City in a glitzy, red carpet ceremony. Click here to register to attend.

Since starting in the industry in 1990, Pietromonaco is quick to note that one of the main lessons she’s learned over the course of her career – and one of the most rewarding aspects of her role - is to have an altruistic relationship with the client.

“They say that a good financial advisor is probably third or fourth in someone's priority list of individuals,” she said. “You become that first or second line of contact for them whenever there's any critical change in their life, and to help them through that is just so rewarding.”

As part of being in a big firm like Morgan Stanley, if there’s one thing that differentiates herself from her colleagues, she says it’s her focus on ensuring that all members of clients’ families are engaged in the financial planning process. For instance, for a couple, it’s often only one of them who take on the details of the overall investments and be the main contact, she explains.

“They don't need to drill down to the details, but we empower that person to make sure they understand the big picture, the big overview of what we're trying to accomplish and what the goals are,” she says. “We do that through the planning process because a sound plan consolidates all their objectives, investments and income into one document. We make sure that person understands the plan and that becomes our working template going forward.”

For more details about the InvestmentNews Awards, including a list of all finalists and details of how to attend, follow this link.