From Marketing to Finance with Sara Stanich

In this episode of RIA Collective, Charlie van der Ven welcomes Sara Stanich of Cultivating Wealth, based in Montauk, New York. Transitioning from a vibrant marketing career to founding her own RIA, Sara shares her journey through the early days of internet advertising, the .com crash, and eventually, the financial sector. Their conversation sheds light on the unique challenges and insights gained from transitioning to an independent financial advisor role, with a special focus on empowering women and navigating the divorce financial planning niche.

Listeners will gain valuable perspectives on leveraging diverse backgrounds for success in financial planning and the strategic moves that propelled Cultivating Wealth. Sarah's story is an inspiring example of how adaptability and passion can pave the way for a fulfilling career in finance.

Transcript

 00:02
Speaker 1
Thank you for tuning into another episode of Rea Collective. My name is Charlie van DER Ven. As always, your host. I got a great guest today, marketing background, a great niche, passionate about what she's doing. Sara Stanitz, cultivating wealth, Montauk, New York. Cultivating wealth, Montauk, New York. I got to slow down a little. Sara, welcome to Rea Collective, and thank you so much for joining me today. 

 00:26
Sara Stanich
Thanks, Charlie. It's great to be here. 

 00:28
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah. Listen, I was. As soon as I saw your profile on LinkedIn, that's how we got acquainted. So we're, you know, in all disclosure, we're very new friends, but I love. So you've got some warehouse background. You've got independent background at one of the large firms that has both a captive and an independent side, and then you started your own ra. But even before all that, Sara, you got a marketing background. How fun is that? 

 00:55
Sara Stanich
Yeah, it's true. It's true. My friend of mine used to say my resume was like a rock and roll tour. 

 01:02
Speaker 1
That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. I know a rock star. Sara Stanis. So, Sara, I want to kind of walk through your, you know, your experience in the industry, going from a captive position into an independent position, and then furthermore, opening your ra. And, of course, you know, our goal here is to. I don't know if we're really educating people who are thinking about that jump, thinking about moving to independence, such a trend in our industry now, but as much as that is, like, give people confidence. Right? 

 01:34
Sara Stanich
Yeah. 

 01:34
Speaker 1
And before we'll wrap. Before we wrap up today, we'll find out some of those things that you did really well that really helped, you know, call catapult your path, and maybe something that happened that you were like, I could have done that a little differently, but we'll. We'll save that stuff to the end. Let's start. We don't have to name any firms unless you want to. I usually leave that stuff out of this just because I'm not, you know, we don't want to be critical of anybody along the way, but talk about your experience coming from agency marketing to our industry, financial services. 

 02:07
Sara Stanich
Sure, sure. I mean, just, you know, going way back, dating myself. Like, shortly after I finished college, there was this exciting Internet thing happening, and I joined an online advertising agency. I mean, really, they were one of the first ones. I mean, really, like, a leader in the industry. And we had some really great clients, like Disney and, you know, some of the dot coms that had, like, big budgets to spend on, like, aol, you know? Yeah. 

 02:40
Speaker 1
Hilarious. 

 02:40
Sara Stanich
So it was really cool, and it was really cool to be part of a startup culture that started, like, I think I was the 20th employee, and it was before I left, they had over 200. So it was, you know, a really amazing growth trajectory. I went to another digital marketing firm, you know, also enjoyed my time there. I was, I was always, you know, pretty quickly I became, like, the account manager and, like, account contact. And so that experience of working with a client and having that communication, I actually do think it translates to our industry as financial advisors. So anyway, so I worked at this other firm called us Interactive. I learned a lot there, but then there was, like, this thing called the.com crash. That company actually closed down, and I went to a market research firm. 

 03:33
Sara Stanich
Just, I was like, okay, well, I'm going to round out my marketing experience. And so I did sales and business development for a qualitative market research firm. So, you know, the company that does, like, focus groups and, you know, behind the mirror. So that was very interesting thing about marketing. And during that time, I started working on my MBA part time at New York University, which, you know, I had kind of a marketing focus, but it's really a finance school. And so I had lots of finance, you know, learning there as well. And I liked marketing, but I wanted to, instead of working for an agency, I wanted to be, like, on the corporate side. So when you're like, an agency environment, like, the corporate people are always the client. 

 04:19
Sara Stanich
Then I ended up getting a job as director of marketing at a Fortune 500 company that manufactured construction equipment, of all things. 

 04:28
Speaker 1
Wow. All right. 

 04:29
Sara Stanich
Yeah, yeah. So I know a lot about, like, road building, mining. 

 04:35
Speaker 1
That is an awesome background. 

 04:37
Sara Stanich
Yeah, yeah. And so, and again, that was, like, a lot more rounding out of my marketing experience. So things like the annual report and, like, they needed a totally new website, and we did a commercial for low tobaccos. I mean, a lot of, like, fun and print, you know, a lot of, like, a lot of. A lot of cool marketing stuff. 

 04:56
Speaker 1
Very cool. 

 04:57
Sara Stanich
They had various reorgs, so I was there to, like, the next sort of market cycle where it was still. Anyway, they had some reorgs. I needed to make a change. I wanted. I wanted to do something more entrepreneurial. I didn't really want to be in the corporate environment, and I was looking for a change. I was looking to use my finance background a little bit. Anyway, long story short, I knew someone who was very successful at Merrill lynch, and I joined their largest office at the time. I don't know if it still is on Fifth Avenue in New York City. And there were like 140 advisors in the office at that time. So really kind of at their training, in their training program. And, I mean, it was. It was a little bit of a. You know, it was like a little. 

 05:49
Sara Stanich
It was kind of a step down, you know, where it's like I had gone from being the director of marketing and having a team and having my own office to, like, when you're in the training program, you're literally like the lowest on the totem pole. And it was like, me and, like, the other people in the training program were, like, a lot of, like, post college, like, guys. Like, you know, it was. It was. I didn't exactly fit in, but I learned a lot while I was there, too. 

 06:11
Speaker 1
I'm sure. I'm sure. So you and I, you know, fairly similar, right? So, 98, we started doing websites for advisors. Merrill was not a client, but Morgan Stanley was. Smith Barney was before that merger, and American Express financial Ameriprise now. And anyway, some big firms. Right? So, yeah, it was a fun time to kind of be in marketing, wasn't it? I mean, things were going crazy. 

 06:35
Sara Stanich
Yeah, yeah. And I didn't even say what pulled me to being a financial advisor. But, you know, I just. I was trying to figure out a lot of this stuff for myself and, you know, it was interesting and I can knew that, you know, friends were asking me for advice and, you know, so I really got into, you know, wanting to be a financial planner, and I started pursuing the CFP designation pretty much as soon as I started working there. But I started there in 2007. Yeah, interesting time. And so by the. Oh, and I had a baby in 2008. And then. And then by the end of 2008, there was, you know, they were bought by bank of America. And so I lost, basically everybody below a certain line lost their job, including me. 

 07:24
Sara Stanich
It was kind of a blessing in disguise because it probably wasn't a great fit for me to be there, you know, long term. But, you know, fact is, like, I was coming off a maternity leave and, like, yeah, I wasn't making my numbers, like, so, Anyway, So. But I had. Go ahead. 

 07:43
Speaker 1
No, not at all. I mean, well, and so many people at that time, and I think I shared with you, like, I was in a room, at that moment in 2008 when all these, you know, when Wells was picking up ag Edwards and, you know, Marilyn Morgan and Smith Barney and Maryland bank of America. What a crazy time. So, I mean, you were certainly not alone in that transition. 

 08:07
Sara Stanich
Yeah, I mean, it was fine. I mean, and I was like, all right, well, I have all my licenses. I'm, like, halfway through the CFP, you know, coursework. Coursework. And, you know, like a lot of people, I could find another place. So I interviewed at some, like, insurance related things. I'm glad I didn't do that. And then I went to Raymond James independent contractor division. So I had no salary, no training program, but I also had, like, a one year old and was like, you know, I want to be able to do things on my own pace and not have the pressure of trying to, like, meet certain numbers. So I joined an existing branch in New York City and, you know, stayed with that. That branch for a while. 

 08:55
Speaker 1
That's awesome. And, you know, we hear over and over with the interviews we do, flexibility and lifestyle really are two of the key driving factors for people moving out of that kind of captive environment into a more independent space. 

 09:08
Sara Stanich
Yeah. 

 09:09
Speaker 1
Joining the RJFs side of things instead of the RJ advisors. Of course, six or seven years later, when you decide RA is the direction that makes your transition a whole lot easier, too. 

 09:20
Sara Stanich
Yeah, I mean, it definitely did. It definitely did. So I was. I was part of this branch that they were fine, but again, I didn't really fit in. I was the youngest by decades, and, you know, they were, like, sort of more old school, you know, not the. Not RJ, but, like, the branch that I was in was definitely, like, they weren't CFP. You know, they weren't really doing comprehensive financial planning. I wanted to do things a little bit differently. I started, you know, I kind of discovered this need for working with women in the divorce process, and I got my CDFA during that time, and that became, like, a source of business for me. And it just, you know, more and more, I didn't really. 

 10:04
Sara Stanich
Most of my, like, 97% of my business was fees, not commissions or, like, insurance or anything like that. And. And I just felt like, why? You know, I. I could be fee if I'd rather be fee only. So I made that switch and launched my own RIa in 2016. 

 10:22
Speaker 1
That is awesome. And you've got a great name. I love cultivating wealth. So many. 

 10:29
Sara Stanich
It was just about the name, by the way, I was the standage group, so not very creative, but I had a blog. I started blogging pretty early on, and my blog was called cultivating wealth, in part because I would write a post every month about my garden on top. So I was like cultivating and whatever. There was a little bit of a garden tie in later. I felt like, oh, you know what? It is a good name, and I made that a dBA for my company. 

 10:58
Speaker 1
So many I hear, and this is not to be critical of anybody, but to give people who are thinking about their ra kind of a thought as they're building a name or as they're thinking about a brand. So many come across as almost generic. Right. Like, where the standage group would stand out because it is you individually cultivating wealth stands out. But how many I'm going to, like, if somebody is listening with this name right now, they're going to be pissed, but that's okay. How many, like, pinnacle wealth managements are out there that really go in one ear and out the other for a lot of people because it's just kind of generic. So I love cultivating wealth, and I think it sticks. I think it's memorable. 

 11:39
Speaker 1
I expected, Sara, that was, like, directly from all this marketing background that you have, but there was an evolutionary process to get there, evolution. 

 11:47
Sara Stanich
But also, I mean, I knew that I wanted a team. I knew that I didn't want it to just be me, and so it didn't make sense for it to be this danish group long term. 

 12:01
Speaker 1
Yeah, that's awesome. Well, congratulations on making that move. I know that's a big decision for anybody that does it, but leaving the confines of a team and going on your own, that's commendable and awesome. Let's talk. Let's talk about, I mean, you got a lot of passion for the industry, which got a lot of passion also for women in the industry, women at large, and helping them in transition. When we chatted a couple weeks ago, we talked about, like, you're one of, like, maybe, what, 15% of Rias or even financial advisors across the country. That's. 

 12:41
Sara Stanich
Yeah, believe it or not, yeah, it's awesome. 

 12:45
Speaker 1
And I'll say that I think there's a. How do I say this without being like, two gender, you know, gender. I don't know, whatever. 

 12:54
Sara Stanich
I'll just say you're safe with me. 

 12:56
Speaker 1
All right, well, we got a whole lot of listeners, too, though, Sara. Not a ton of listeners, but enough that I get in trouble. There is a. We've got. I've had a chance to work with a lot of advisors over the years. There is a nurturing approach that typically women take to a relationship that is not about numbers, that is not about, you know, even necessarily portfolio returns. It is more about nurturing vision it is more about constructing life. You know, when I got. 

 13:27
Sara Stanich
I mean, I totally agree with that. I mean, I think that the, you know, manage, like, rebalance a portfolio and, like, know the basics of, like, you know, some retirement saving. That's kind of table stakes at this point. I mean, really what it is a relationship business. And I heard someone say long ago, like, I don't know if you've ever noticed, but some of the most successful realtors are women. And someone said, like, oh, you know, people like working with women because they're better listeners. And it's like, you know what? Like, women like working with better listeners. Men like working with better listeners. You know, you need to. You need to listen to your clients and, like, focus on that relationship. And I would say the industry also, like, the. 

 14:13
Sara Stanich
I see that there's a division between kind of, like, your basic financial planner, which even when I got into the industry of, like, okay, you could kind of differentiate yourself a little bit by having a better mutual fund recommendation and getting the paperwork going for a Roth IRA. I mean, that's really kind of where I started. Whereas, like, now, you know, we have higher net worth clients. They have more complex needs. They're really busy people, and they just, like, need someone that they can trust to, like, help them with this area of their life. 

 14:54
Speaker 1
Yeah, that's awesome. Well, let's talk about that. Trent, you've been now cultivating wealth is about eight years ago, right? That transition, about 2016. So you've got the luxury now of hindsight on a lot of things. Let's tap into that a little bit. For anybody listening who's thinking about this transition, was there something that you did particularly well that, you know, you would be like, maybe you didn't even know it at the time, but, you know, something that was really a catalyst for. For growth and success? 

 15:22
Sara Stanich
Yeah, I mean, I. I'm glad I didn't wait. You know, when I initially went, you know, with the firm that I was with, they actually had a Ria division. I don't remember what they call it, but, you know, I wanted to move to Ria. And they initially said, no, you can't do that with us because you don't have 100 million under management and call us back in a few years. Stay with your branch. I did push back on that and was like, well, I'm going to do this anyway. So I would kind of like to be an easier transition for my clients if I stayed with firm. And I did end up staying with that firm for a little while. I'm glad I didn't wait. That's, I guess, my point there. I did have. I was in. 

 16:20
Sara Stanich
Not everybody knows this, so I'll just share it. But I live in New York state, and there's actually a lower threshold for SEC registration as opposed to state registration in New York state. So I've been SEC registered from the beginning. So even, you know, I think I, when I launched the firm, I was able to move, like, 40 million of assets under management. We had revenue from, like, planning fees, divorce, financial analysis fees as well, but most of our revenue has always been from, like, asset based fees. 

 16:54
Speaker 1
Cool. I wasn't aware of that either. Do you know what that, do you know what the minimum is in New York? 

 16:59
Sara Stanich
It's 25. 

 17:01
Speaker 1
Wow. All right. That's cool. 

 17:03
Sara Stanich
Yeah. So it makes, if you live in New York, it makes it easier to be SEC registered, you know? 

 17:07
Speaker 1
So that's great. 

 17:09
Sara Stanich
I'm, like, getting that secret out there. 

 17:10
Speaker 1
But, yeah, I wasn't aware. We don't create, we don't want to create too much competition. 

 17:14
Sara Stanich
Yeah, but, I mean, I was, you know, they're, like, part of me. It's like, okay, I dropped my insurance license. That was never an important part of my business, but, you know, people need insurance, and so there's. There's hesitation about doing that sort of thing, but I'm so much happier referring insurance to people who. That's what they do for a living, and they, you know, they are keeping up on the ins and outs of, you know, of insurance. So. Yeah, I think so. That was a good thing I did. What else? I think, not trying to do it all on my own. I've had a, I had an assistant who ended up going onto grad school, but then I hired a virtual assistant pretty early on who takes care of paperwork. 

 18:01
Sara Stanich
And, you know, our business has, like, a lot of paperwork, and that can be really time consuming, and it just does take away from, like, your mental, you know, capacity to focus on other things. So getting that off my plate, like, pretty early on was definitely a good move. 

 18:18
Speaker 1
Yeah. If you're, if you're like me, you don't want to do that kind of work anyway. 

 18:22
Sara Stanich
It's not my best. 

 18:23
Speaker 1
No, me neither. I get my eyes rolled back. I glaze over. 

 18:28
Sara Stanich
Well, I actually, I think I'm pretty good at paperwork, to be honest. Like, and it's like. But it's a time suck. You know, it's. It's like, you know, I actually think a lot of clients, you know, glaze over when they see their tax return or their paperwork. And so it's, like, really helpful for them when we're like, you know, they find they, you know, that we can help, you know, take care of that for them. But anyway, it's. That's not gonna. That's not gonna be my defining characteristic is that I'm good at paper processing paperwork, you know, and I. 

 19:00
Speaker 1
Look, this is. This is my favorite thing of what we do, whether it's on the social advisor side or the. Or the podcast interviews. I mean, the interaction is absolutely my favorite thing about what I do now. I can do the paperwork. It's great to have a team so I can offload as much of that as possible, you know? 

 19:17
Sara Stanich
So, yeah. 

 19:19
Speaker 1
Early on, you know, early on, it was a necessary part of the job, but it was not my favorite part of the job. 

 19:26
Sara Stanich
Yeah, yeah. 

 19:27
Speaker 1
All right, let's. I'm sorry. Go ahead, sir. 

 19:30
Sara Stanich
Oh, go ahead. 

 19:31
Speaker 1
I was going to flip the coin over like we talked about the, you know, the things that you did well and making that transition, is there anything you look back on and you go, I could have done that a little differently? Something that maybe was a stumbling block that, you know, I mean, I think. 

 19:46
Sara Stanich
That I have, oh, you know, a little bit of, like, I've heard it. People call it, like, shiny technology syndrome. 

 19:58
Speaker 1
Oh, sure. Yeah. 

 19:59
Sara Stanich
You know, of like, oh, let me try out this technology, you know, this new application. And you can spend a lot of money and a lot of time going down those rabbit holes. And, yeah, it's maybe not the biggest focus also in our industry is I've definitely taken on clients that are nice people, and I want to help them. But when all said and done, you spend more time that could be spent on more profitable clients. And so really, we've gotten much better at enforcing, maintaining minimums, minimum sized relationships in terms of revenue or assets. But there was definitely a phase where I was like, you know, I think. I think a lot of advisors have had this space where they're basically, they'll just take anyone and they'll like, oh, come to your house at like, 08:00 p.m.. Sure. Like, you know, or. 

 21:07
Sara Stanich
Yeah, I mean, and I just. I'm, you know, I got. I gave that up a long time ago. 

 21:12
Speaker 1
Yeah. Do you think that there's a confidence level that grows with experience or maybe. Maybe when you start, there's a fear that, will my clients move with me? Will I have enough revenue as I make this independent leap? And then as you become more confident in where you're going, it's easier to maintain minimums, protect your time, things like that. 

 21:35
Sara Stanich
Definitely. Definitely. I think I became more confident with experience. I honestly think the CFP designation increased my confidence a bit. And I said that on a webinar for them, and I'm sure they loved that. And, you know, so that experience, the time in the sea, also just, we have onboarded a lot of new clients over the years, and so we know that we can do more. You know, we've done it before, so it's not like a new thing anymore. And so, and we've lost clients over the years, too, for, you know, there's many reasons, you know, why by why clean, you know, clients may come and go, and so, you know, you're not, like, emotionally tied in the same way when you have, you know, you've been doing it for a while. 

 22:32
Speaker 1
Yeah. And you've got resources and. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

 22:35
Sara Stanich
When you have many irons in the fire, you know, there's, there you don't need to worry so much about, you know, I don't know, diversify all your eggs in one basket. All the cliches. 

 22:45
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah, for sure. I love knowing you. I think you're pretty awesome. I love your motivation in your ra. Love the name of the Ra. Thank you for having this conversation. I'm not wrapping up yet. Sara, I want to know, as we learned the past, where is now? Where's cultivating wealth going? What's that vision for your Ra as it continues to mature? 

 23:16
Sara Stanich
I have been thinking a lot about this lately, and this year, I really want to provide, like, outsized value for our clients, but also our team. Like, it needs to better for our team to be part of cultivating wealth than to be, you know, anyplace else. And I, you know, I think that the best things happen with a team. I, you know, I'm very happy with, you know, we have a great team, but that means that this has to be a profitable business. It can't have been better for us to be part of somebody else's firm or be part of a bigger firm. And so there's a lot of, there's just a lot of strategy that goes into that. 

 24:06
Sara Stanich
And I would say part of that strategy is focusing on fewer, more complex clients because they, it's going to provide value for them at the, at those higher levels, whereas, like, spending a lot of time, you know, with someone who, you know, really doesn't have the financial position to, like, really move the needle is. Is not, you know, is not going to be. Provide that great of a value for them no matter how much time you spend with them. 

 24:35
Speaker 1
You bring up a very important point. Right. So someone who moves out of, say, a captive environment or even maybe an independent firm where they've got a, you know, they were a producer's hat most of the day, and most everything else is taken care of for them when they start an RA. It's not that way. Right? 

 24:53
Sara Stanich
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I spend less and less of my time working with clients. And, I mean, by choice, like, I like to stay in it. I would. I would ideally like to. I like to be the main contact for, like, a dozen or so of, you know, my favorite clients that I've been working with for a decade. A decade. Or maybe the occasional, you know, new, larger client that comes in. But, you know, I have an MBA, and I, you know, I want to focus more on, like, the entrepreneurial side of myself and, like, really growing this business. And, you know, I think the sky's the limit. I think a lot of clients want what we have. You know, our clients were based in the New York City metro area. Like, I live in the Hamptons. 

 25:38
Sara Stanich
Like, there's no shortage of high net worth clients, you know, that could. That can come to our firm. And so we just need to, you know, be smart about our resources and, you know, the services that we provide. 

 25:52
Speaker 1
Yeah. That's awesome. Sara, do you mind if we've got listeners who resonate with you and hearing your story? Is it okay if they reach out to you? 

 26:01
Sara Stanich
Yeah, I would love it. I would love it. I mean, you found me on LinkedIn. I'm definitely on LinkedIn. You know, we're on, like, Instagram and Facebook and stuff, too. But, yeah, LinkedIn or my. Our firm is cultivatingwealth.com. There's actually an option there to contact us, and you can schedule, like, a networking meeting with me. Right on. Right on my calendar. I'm a little afraid to put that. 

 26:23
Speaker 1
Out there, but, yeah, I listen, I give. I give my cell phone. I don't actually get phone calls. I do get. I've gotten a few texts, but I don't get a whole lot of phone calls. 

 26:34
Sara Stanich
We're always looking for good people, especially in the New York metro area. I think that it is helpful to talk to someone who's been down the road before you. And I can't give up my time, but I love to give time to people that I can give them a little advice here and there. 

 26:57
Speaker 1
Yeah. Well, and you represent a minority of the industry, right? Female advisors are also female owned Rias. 

 27:04
Sara Stanich
Yeah. 

 27:05
Speaker 1
So you may become a very valuable resource, too. We've got a, you know, a young lady who is in a captive environment goes, you know what? This doesn't feel right. This may resonate strongly. So thank you for being willing to do that. Sara and I got connected on LinkedIn, so I know she's active there. But cultivatingwealth.com as well. Sara Stanis, cultivating wealth, Montauk, New York. My pleasure to know you. Thank you for doing this with me. I appreciate it like crazy. 

 27:34
Sara Stanich
Thank you so much, Charlie. This has been great. 

 27:37
Speaker 1
Yeah, you got it. And for all of our listeners, listen, if you know somebody I should interview, they got a great story in the industry. Pass them along. I'll also share, like I do on a lot of these episodes. We don't take sponsorship right there that, that clouds the purity of these conversations. We don't want to be serving anybody specifically. So if you can tell people about it, like it, subscribe to it, those sort of things, that helps us reach more people. So, Sara, have an awesome rest of your day, and thank you once again for hanging out with me. 

 28:07
Sara Stanich
All right, you too. Thanks, Charlie. 

 28:09
Speaker 1
Thank you.