Finance Industry – Page 4 – The Healthy Advisor Podcast

The Healthy Advisor: Life As a Quadriplegic with Anthony Zhang

By healthy advisor | January 19, 2022

With several business ideas and capital secured from investors such as Mark Cuban and Mark Burnett, Anthony Zhang had an impressive path towards a bright future. That is, until a terrible accident left him paralyzed from the neck down, changing his life forever.

In this episode, Diana Britton, managing editor of WealthManagement.com, is joined by Anthony Zhang, co-founder and CEO of Vinovest, a platform aimed at democratizing access to investing in fine wine. Zhang shares his experience of being paralyzed from the neck down and how his accident impacted not only his business ventures, but also his daily life.

Anthony discusses:

The three businesses he has built
His experience pitching Mark Cuban and Mark Burnett
The events that led to his accident
What led him to continue to lead EnvoyNow, one of the companies he built, after his accident
How his experience shaped the work he’s doing now with Vinovest
What got him through the really hard times, and the support system he has at home and at work.

Connect With Anthony Zhang:

Connect With Wealth Management & NREI:

About Our Guest:

Anthony Zhang, CEO and co-founder of Vinovest, has founded/led growth and marketing teams at three venture-backed companies, including EnvoyNow and KnowYourVC. He built his first company at 18, eventually growing operations to 22 markets and employing over 1,500. Anthony oversaw $10 million plus in annual marketing spend into online media channels, SEO/ASO, offline marketing/branding campaigns, PR strategy, events, affiliate/influencer marketing, partnerships, and content development. He loves to build and grow teams and foster a rapid-testing, data-centric culture of execution.

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Transparency With Diana B.: The Glass Ceiling and Financial Independence With Julia Carlson

By healthy advisor | December 15, 2021

A Note to Transparency Listeners: In 2022, the podcast is going to be changing its name to “The Healthy Advisor,” to give a clearer idea of what the podcast is about. Transparency with Diana B. was not quite as transparent a title as we thought.

Julia Carlson got married at age 19, and right out of high school took a job at a local bank. She learned that the glass ceiling in the financial services industry comes quickly, so she left the bank after just four years and launched Financial Freedom Wealth Management Group, taking on an entrepreneurial challenge at a time in her life when most financial services professionals are just finishing up their secondary educations.

Now she’s one of LPL’s top advisors. But the journey to where she is today was not easy. She overcame problems in her marriage. And in 2012, her then 9-year-old daughter was in a bad car accident and ended up in the ICU.

In this episode, Diana Britton, managing editor of WealthManagement.com, speaks with Julia Carlson, founder and CEO of Financial Freedom Wealth Management Group in Newport, Ore. Julia shares her story, including the challenges she’s faced along the way and what has shaped her and the work she does today.

Julia discusses:

What led her into financial services, and her experience early in her career
The struggles she has faced as a female advisor in a male-dominated industry
The lessons she learned while trying to build her business
How her firm struggled in the early years to reach profitability
How her daughter’s accident changed her perspective on the business and led her to give up some control of her firm
Her advice for other entrepreneurs and female advisors

Connect With Julia Carlson:

Connect With WealthManagement.com:

About Our Guest:

Julia Carlson is the founder and CEO of Financial Freedom Wealth Management Group. She’s been practicing financial planning for more than 20 years and specializes in helping people who
are either retired or close to retirement. She’s been recognized as being especially knowledgeable
on topics relating to tax strategies for retirement, distribution and business exit planning.

Julia loves educating and empowering others to take control of their financial future. As a wealth advisor, she has helped individuals, families and business owners create financial strategies guiding them along the journey to financial freedom. In 2017, Julia wrote Fit Money, a guide to personal finance from a woman’s perspective.

As a successful entrepreneur, she enjoys working with other entrepreneurs who want to gain control of their financial future, build wealth inside and outside their company and create a powerful exit strategy whether they are ready to exit now or 20 years down the road.

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Transparency With Diana B.: Coming Back From Failure with Eric Arnold

By healthy advisor | November 17, 2021

Eric Arnold is no stranger to failure. In fact, he failed out of college, got fired from two companies, failed at nine different startup ventures and lost everything on a bad investment.

In this episode, Diana Britton speaks with Eric Arnold, CEO of Planswell, about how he has learned from those failures and has been given a second chance with Planswell.

Toronto-based Planswell, which was founded in 2015, was humming by late 2019 and was in the middle of another funding round. Then accusations of sexual harassment within the company ranks surfaced, and investors pulled out of that funding round. Arnold had to fold up shop, with some 60 employees losing their jobs.

But in 2020, he had the opportunity to buy the Planswell brand, and he retooled the software to work with retail financial advisors.

In this episode, Arnold opens up about the ordeal, which turned into a social media storm about how he and his firm reacted to the accusations.

Eric discusses:

How his early experiences in life shaped his entrepreneurial drive
How a car accident that occurred when he was 17 years old, killing his father, grandmother and family dog, impacted his life and family
The journey that led him to start Planswell
How the allegations of sexual harassment at Planswell impacted the company and its funding
How he would have approached the situation differently
How he is doing things differently at Planswell today
And more

Connect With Eric Arnold:

Connect With Wealth Management:

About Our Guest:

Eric Arnold dropped out of college, was fired from two companies and failed nine startups. Yet he is still an entrepreneur. He discovered how to make money from a young age and has been working hard ever since.

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Transparency with Diana B.: The Road to Recovery

By healthy advisor | October 20, 2021

Advisor Gary Schwartz was always able to make money; at the young age of 12, he started delivering newspapers in the Bronx. That’s also when he discovered drugs and alcohol, which became a way for him to self-medicate and cope with his self-esteem issues. From there, the addiction progressed; cocaine and speed were his drugs of choice.

In this episode, Diana Britton, managing editor of WealthManagement.com, is joined by Schwartz, president and CEO of Madison Planning Group in White Plains, N.Y., who’s been clean for 32 years. Gary shares about how he eventually got on the road to recovery. But once he got clean, he felt the need to overcompensate for his addiction and his past by buying things for his family and sending his kids to the best schools. But that eventually caught up to him as well, and he nearly had to file for bankruptcy.

He discusses his journey of overcoming those struggles to build his own advisory business, which is now thriving.

Gary discusses:

The experiences that shaped him early on in life;
What led him to become addicted to drugs and alcohol;
What his career looked like while he was struggling with addiction and how it has changed throughout recovery;
How family and friends played a role in getting help;
How his desire to overcompensate eventually led him to near-bankruptcy; and
How Gary’s experiences shaped his career in financial services.

Connect With Gary Schwartz:

Connect With Wealth Management & NREI:

About Our Guest:

Gary Schwartz opened the doors to Madison Planning Group in White Plains, N.Y. in 1997, followed by the Syracuse office in 2007, Long Island office in 2013 and Lake Worth, Fla. office in 2017. He attributes the firm’s success to the fact they are focused on one thing: managing the success of every single client. As part of his personal commitment to financial education, Madison Planning Group provides worksite educational seminars for employees of state agencies, unions, as well as financial workshops for employees of private and public corporations.

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Transparency with Diana B.: Empowering Women to Take Control of Their Finances

By healthy advisor | September 15, 2021

Advisor Robert Schein’s father worked hard his adult life to provide for his family, and just four months into retirement, at the age of 70, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 stomach cancer. After about three years battling the disease, his father ultimately passed, thrusting his mother into having to take over the family finances.

Luckily, Schein and his brother stepped in to help and set her on a positive financial path. But many women aren’t as lucky. The experience inspired Schein to launch The Society of Financially Empowered Women, a non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating a community and forum where independent women may acquire the confidence to take control of their financial lives, in 2011.

In this episode, Diana Britton, managing editor of WealthManagement.com, speaks to Schein, managing director and partner of Blanke Schein Wealth Management, a Hightower firm, in Palm Desert, Calif. about why he decided to dedicate his life to helping women better understand their personal finances.

In this episode, you will learn:

About his father’s journey to America and the values his father taught him growing up;
How his father’s stage four cancer diagnosis changed his life;
How Robert helped his mother navigate her finances after his father’s death;
Robert’s impression on how Wall Street treats women;
What inspired him to create the Society of Financially Empowered Women (Society of the FEW) and the Confidence Summit;
About the mission of the Society of the FEW, and how its efforts are expanding

Connect with Robert:

Connect with Diana:

About Our Guest

Robert L. Schein, is Managing Director, Partner, and Chief Investment Officer of Hightower/Blanke Schein Wealth Management. With more than 25 years of experience as a financial professional, Robert demonstrates a strong commitment to both his clients and community.

Robert leads the asset allocation, design, and implementation of the investment portfolio review process for Hightower/Blanke Schein Wealth Management. He specializes in developing and supporting investment strategies for high-net-worth individuals and families with complex estates, as well as philanthropic and retirement planning needs.

Robert also specializes in the leadership of a community and forum where independent women can acquire the confidence to be leaders in their financial lives. As Founder of The Society of Financially Empowered Women Inc. (www.thesofew.com), he has vowed to empower women with education, support, and community. Recognized for his leadership in this area, Robert has been featured in various publications, such as The Wall Street Journal, CNBC.com, Forbes, Yahoo! Finance, On Wall Street, Investment News, The Desert Sun, and Palm Springs Life. Robert is a national speaker on the topic of financial education for women and was recently asked to speak at the Desert Woman’s Show and P.E.O. International.

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Transparency With Diana B.: Bad Timing and Bearing the Loss of Loved Ones

By healthy advisor | August 18, 2021

Advisor Anne Marie Stonich was just 28 years old when she and her two partners started building their own wealth management firm from scratch. For anyone in the business, that first year can be brutal. But she did it while also caring for her newborn baby, and shuttling to and from the hospital to see her mother, who’s health was deteriorating. Later that year, her mother passed away. And just six years later, her older brother died suddenly of a heart attack.

In this episode, Diana Britton, managing editor of WealthManagement.com, sits down with Anne Marie Stonich, chief wealth strategist and relationship manager at Coldstream Wealth Management, as they talk about her life journey and the struggles she faced along the way. She shares how her past has allowed her to grow and change who she is as a mother, wife and financial advisor.

Anne Marie discusses:

The events that unfolded during her first year building the business;
How she was able to balance her work, a newborn baby and a sick mother;
The challenges she faced in raising three young kids while running and growing a business;
The events leading up to her brother’s death;
How the loss of loved ones impacted her outlook on life; and
How her experiences have shaped her career as a financial advisor.

Connect With Anne Marie Stonich:

Connect With Wealth Management:

About Our Guest:

Anne Marie co-founded Paracle Advisors LLC in 2004 in order to provide financial advice that is truly objective and highly personalized in its nature. Paracle recently merged with Coldstream Wealth Management, and she now serves as chief wealth strategist and relationship manager at Coldstream. She has over 20 years of industry experience, including two years at Deloitte and Touche and four years at Brighton Jones Wealth Management as a lead advisor.

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Transparency with Diana B.: Life as a Female Latina in Financial Services

By healthy advisor | July 21, 2021

Silvia Tergas has been fortunate to pursue her passions and use her differences to her advantage within the financial services industry. Silvia’s father, who escaped from Cuba during the Cuban Revolution, paved the way for her to get educated in the U.S. The values he taught her and the rest of the family led to several opportunities throughout her life, including her pursuit of a career in financial planning. It wasn’t an easy path, however.

In this episode, Diana Britton, managing editor at WealthManagement.com, speaks with Silvia, a financial planner with Prudential Advisors in Bethesda, Md., about how she found her passion in finance, the challenges she faced as a Latina woman in this industry and how she uses her differences to her advantage.

Silvia discusses:

Her father’s story of getting out of Cuba and meeting her mother in Honduras;
Growing up in and traveling around Latin America;
The values her father taught her and how those led her into financial planning;
The struggles she faced as a female Latina in the industry;
How she embraced and worked through the moments of discomfort in her life; and
Her work with the Hispanic community within financial services.

Connect With Silvia Tergas:

Connect With Diana Britton:

About Our Guest:

As a financial planner with Prudential Financial Planning Services, Silvia specializes in comprehensive financial planning services for a fee. Throughout the consultative financial planning process, Silvia works with her clients and their advisors, as applicable, to formulate a detailed and robust financial plan that is tailored to their needs.

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Transparency with Diana B.: Overcoming the Racial Wealth Gap

By healthy advisor | June 16, 2021

Growing up in inner city Baltimore, Denika Tokunaga and her family struggled financially and couldn’t afford many of the luxuries that others had. That racial wealth gap affected many in the Black community, but she was determined to work hard and get educated so that she could get out of the inner city and overcome that wealth gap.

At the age of 18, with the help of her grandmother, she was able to enter school to become a nursing assistant. She eventually found financial services and a passion for closing the racial wealth gap.

In this episode, Diana Britton, managing editor at WealthManagement.com, speaks with Denika Tokunaga, president of Maven Wealth Management in Fulton, Md., who opens up about how she fought to overcome her circumstances and change her life’s path.

You will learn:

What Denika’s life was like growing up
How she experienced the racial wealth gap firsthand
How she got out of the inner city
How she overcame the challenges of being an African American woman in the wealth management industry
What advisors can do to help close the racial wealth gap, and
How her experiences shaped her work as an advisor.

Listen now to hear Denika’s journey to get to where she is today.

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Transparency with Diana B.: Dealing With the Emotional and Physical Abuse of the Past

By healthy advisor | May 19, 2021

When he was about six or seven years old, Rob Bartenstein’s parents got divorced. The rest of childhood had its ups and downs, with some emotional and, at times, physical abuse caused by the men in his mother’s life.

His family also faced financial hardships, especially when his stepfather declared bankruptcy. Living on government cheese, processed cheese provided to welfare beneficiaries, the family had very little money to get by, putting further strain on the adults raising him. He eventually found his way into the military, which put him on a better path. But then an expected hospitalization and risky heart operation ended his military career and changed his perspective on life.

In this episode, Diana Britton, managing editor at WealthManagement.com, speaks with Bartenstein, CEO at Kestra Private Wealth Services in Austin. He shares some painful memories of his upbringing and describes how he ended up in financial services.

You will learn:

What Rob’s childhood was like
The emotional and physical abuse Rob dealt with at a young age
How Rob navigated through the dark moments in his life
How his life experiences informed his worldview, and ultimately his path to financial services

Listen now to hear Rob’s life story and how several events led him to where he is now.

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Transparency with Diana B.: A Tremendous Loss on 9/11 and the Path Forwards

By healthy advisor | April 21, 2021

Sept. 11, 2001 is a day most Americans can’t forget, when Al-Qaida coordinated four terrorist attacks against the United States, including on the Twin Towers in downtown Manhattan.

But for Chloe Wohlforth, managing director of Angeles Wealth Management in New York, it was the day she lost her father. Chloe was a junior in high school at the time, and that day her father went into work at Sandler O’Neill, an investment bank with offices on the 104th floor of the South Tower. He didn’t come home, and that tragic event would shape the rest of her life.

In the midst of this extreme tragedy, there was uncertainty surrounding her family’s financial situation; her father was always in charge of the finances. Fortunately, a family friend stepped in, and introduced Chloe and her mother to a financial advisor, who supported them during that extremely difficult time and helped them find financial security.

In this episode, Diana Britton, managing editor at WealthManagement.com, speaks with Chloe, who shares how the events unfolded and the blessings that 9/11 has brought to her life, despite the loss.

In this episode you will learn:

What happened on 9/11 for Chloe and the following days
How Chloe and her mom were able to find financial security
About the support offered by Sandler O’Neill following the attacks
How Chloe’s human connections and opportunities lead her to the advisory space
How her experiences have shaped the work she does now at Angeles Wealth Management
And more.

Listen now to Chloe’s story and how the emotional and financial support from others made a difference in her life.

Resources: WealthManagement.com | Diana Britton LinkedIn | Angeles Investments | Contact Chloe | Contact Diana

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