Tag: BusinessOwners

The Healthy Advisor: Reflecting on a Life Well-Lived, Yet Not Without Tragedy

The Healthy Advisor: Reflecting on a Life Well-Lived, Yet Not Without Tragedy

Advisor Joseph R. Biondo Sr. just recently celebrated 60 years in the financial services industry, but his path to success was not a linear one. In his 83 years, he has experienced his fair share of struggles—both personally and professionally.

In fact, his life began with tragedy. Just three weeks before he was born, his father passed away, leaving his mother a widow with two young boys at age 30 in Canarsie, Brooklyn. His family ended up on welfare, struggling to make ends meet, so he would help out any way he could, working odd jobs with his uncle. 

Eventually he and his family got out of Brooklyn, and through his own persistence he landed a job as a broker. 

But tragedy would strike him again, when his wife Inga died in an automobile accident in 1979, leaving him with four kids to raise on his own. 

In this episode, WealthManagement.com Managing Editor Diana Britton is joined by Joseph Biondo Sr., founder of Biondo Investment Advisors, who shares his wisdom and life lessons that came out of his experiences. 

Joe discusses: 

  • What life was like growing up in Canarsie, Brooklyn
  • The biggest lessons he learned from his mother
  • Why and how he entered the financial services industry
  • How the industry has changed 
  • How he overcame the tragedies and struggles throughout his life
  • How contributing back to the community has helped him lead a more fulfilling life
  • How his experiences helped him take care of clients better from an emotional and personal perspective 
  • His advice for young brokers just starting out

Connect With Joseph Biondo:

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About Our Guest:

Joe Biondo believes there is no greater joy than to help people make money, to change their lives and to alter the future for their families. His own life experiences reinforce the idea that anyone, regardless of upbringing or resources, can make something of themselves and prosper in our great country. As a child growing up in hardship, his family left Brooklyn, NY, when he was a teenager and moved to a very small town in Northeast Pennsylvania.  Helping his mother to make ends meet, Joe would commute back to Brooklyn on a daily basis to sand floors for his Uncle. Fascinated by Wall Street, he bought his first stock at the age of sixteen and, eventually, walked back into that same brokerage office six years later and offered to work for free if they would teach him the business. Thankfully, they did and thus began his journey in the financial world.

If you have a struggle and wish to share your experiences and help others in similar situations, please reach out to Diana at diana.britton@informa.com.

The Healthy Advisor podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher, Spotify and wherever podcasts are found.



The Healthy Advisor Podcast: The Silver Lining With Danika Waddell

The Healthy Advisor Podcast: The Silver Lining With Danika Waddell

In 2020, Danika Waddell’s prior firm was audited by the State of Washington, and the state found that her U4 was never filed properly, after four years of working with clients. The whole ordeal was traumatic for her. 

In this episode, WealthManagement.com Managing Editor Diana Britton is joined by Danika Waddell, president and founder of Xena Financial Planning in Seattle. Danika shares how the filing error caused her to lose over half her income, created stress over her future as a financial advisor, and disrupted communication with close clients during the start of the pandemic. Despite it all, she persevered and found a silver lining—the ordeal ultimately led her to leave that RIA and start her own independent firm. She’s never looked back.

Danika discusses: 

  •   What those couple months were like for her during the investigation
  •   What compelled her to start her own firm
  •   What the experience taught her about the regulatory framework of this industry
  •   How this changed her approach to compliance
  •   The benefits of therapy
  •   Lessons she learned about being a business owner

Connect With Danika Waddell:

Connect With Wealth Management & NREI:

About Our Guest:

In 2020, Danika Waddell founded Xena Financial Planning. While she enjoyed the role at her prior firm, Danika felt called to be bold and create something from the ground up. Starting her own practice allows her to be more nimble and innovative, while specializing in a particular niche. Women are so often left out of the conversation when it comes to their finances and investing. Danika has many years of experience with equity compensation: going back to her husband’s years of working at Amazon.com in the early 2000s, when she first learned about RSUs and had to figure out what the heck to do with them. Since becoming a CFP, she has worked with clients at many of the big tech companies and knows her way around ISOs, NQSOs and ESPP.