This is one in a series of articles in our month-long special report, “Women in Family Offices.” To view all the articles, click here.
Sara Zollo is known among the families she works with as the kind of wealth advisor who feels more like a confidante. Ask her clients and colleagues at Assante Capital Management Ltd. to describe her, and they invariably say, “We feel like we’ve known Sara forever.”
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Zollo has been a wealth advisor for more than 15 years, and she often appears on BNN, CTV, and Rogers Daytime, among numerous other broadcasts. Last year, the industry publication Wealth Professional recognized her achievements as one of the 50 Leading Women in Wealth for 2024.
In this conversation, Zollo discusses her commitment to advising families and how her reputation for empathy stems from a simple approach: “Try to understand.”
How did you get into finance?
A career in finance wasn’t my ‘plan,’ initially. I completed an undergrad in sociology at Wilfrid Laurier with a plan to pursue law school afterwards. I interned with a lawyer once I finished my undergrad, and that changed my perspective. I felt very lost and went back to the drawing board, but I still knew I wanted to work with people in a way that felt meaningful to me. While I was trying to regain some direction, I landed an entry-level position in a financial centre with Sun Life, and it was there that I was first exposed to the role of the financial advisor in a meaningful way. What gave me the courage to ultimately pursue the role was seeing the wide range of backgrounds in the career. I saw many advisors succeed—from new grads, previous business owners, and those in second or third careers. I was 21 when I became an advisor.
As I hadn’t completed my undergrad in finance, I did my required licensing and quickly focused on increasing my knowledge base. Within my first five years, I completed my Certified Health Insurance Specialist (CHS), Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designations. Increasing my knowledge base early in my career was instrumental to developing my confidence while simultaneously growing my experience. The learning curve in this business is steep, which is probably part of the reason the attrition rate is so high within the first five years.
What drew me to the role and solidified that this is a career for me is the satisfaction of helping people in a meaningful way. My ‘why’ is relieving financial anxiety for people at any stage of their lives.
Did you have mentors to support you as you got started?
I completed the first decade of my career at Sun Life, pre-pandemic. At the time, I held an office in a financial centre with over 40 other advisors and managers. We would have many regular weekly meetings, and most offices had open doors (when not in meetings). There was a huge sense of community and camaraderie and plenty of ongoing idea sharing and support.
There were a handful of senior advisors who always made time for me, and so I found my knowledge grew faster with these mentors as consistent reference points. I have never forgotten this, and it’s been something I strive to give back to the advisor community. I am always willing to be a resource for developing advisors.
These soft skills tend to be downplayed, but they are crucial aspects of long-term success in this field.
I also had managers in my early career who really kept me on track and taught me how to think of this career with a business mindset, developing annual business plans and setting aggressive goals. This can be a lonely career, so having strong friendships with colleagues with similar visions is crucial to feeling supported and part of a larger community.
As a woman in wealth management, what have been your biggest challenges?
The main thing that sticks out to me is going to industry trade shows and conferences with hundreds of other advisors and being one of only a handful of women in the room. It has gotten better over the years, but I believe female advisors still represent less than a quarter of the industry. But like many other professions that have historically been male dominated, we are seeing a consistent trend towards female representation, which is encouraging.
I think there is also a perception among women that this job is very linear and analytical. While there is technical analysis involved in what we do, effective portfolio construction and financial planning often require great listening and interpersonal skills to reach the heart of the matter for the client. It requires a level of empathy that women tend to naturally excel at.
Creating meaningful relationships with our clients that span over many decades is extremely rewarding and meaningful. I believe women are naturally well equipped to service these relationships and organize many moving parts into a financial plan, allowing them to be great advisors. These soft skills tend to be downplayed, but they are crucial aspects of long-term success in this field.
What more can be done to bring equality for women in finance?
I think continued representation of women will naturally encourage others to feel more comfortable entering this world. I believe starting to engage young women at an earlier age, with money talks and financial basics, is important. This could begin in elementary and high school, with curriculums focused on understanding financial basics, savings versus investing, debt, taxes, types of investments and types of investment accounts, etc. Having a basic understanding of these topics may naturally encourage students to see if there is an interest there prior to pursuing post-secondary studies.
As all forms of media are also a reality of today’s influence on the next generation, we need existing women in finance to continue to remain vocal and present in these outlets. Continued representation in media of female voices in the finance space is important.
Teaming is also becoming a more predominant advisory model structure. Meaning that, instead of a solo advisor with maybe one support staff, we are now seeing more and more advisory teams, with multiple advisors and staff. That model can create a more conducive environment for female advisors, who may be concerned about family planning, as the team approach will help to fill in the gaps and maintain continuity if a female advisor needs to take a maternity leave.
How do the perspectives and attitudes of your women clients affect their financial decision-making?
Often our upbringing and past experiences leave an imprint on our psychological relationship with money, creating either a saver or spender mentality. This is usually the root of all future financial decision-making. My role as an advisor is to help people achieve their goals within the limitations of their natural defaults. I aim to listen and learn from my clients and understand their upbringing, which typically defines their relationship within money.
If children see their mother understands and is involved in finances, they will not develop stereotypes that these are ‘male’ domains.
With female clients and matriarchs, I encourage them to build trust in me through earned trust, not blind trust. The difference is that blind trust is given, and you hope for the best. Earned trust is earned over time. I explain to them from the onset that we are developing a relationship of earned trust. I aim to earn their trust by doing what I say I will do and not overpromising on things I cannot control, encouraging open dialogue to ensure they understand my recommendations and educating them by starting discussions from their level of understanding. This way, over time, trust is earned, and we can work towards achieving their long-term goals, despite their past experiences or money patterns.
What advice would you offer women starting out in a career in finance?
Think about who you want to be in five years—I always suggest five years because 10 feels too far out and anything shorter feels like it comes too quickly. You have to have a very clear vision of who this version of you is in five years: How do you feel? What does your day consist of? What is your business model? What is your income? Whoever she is, do you know someone who is doing what you want to be doing in five years? If not, find them, reach out to them and ask the questions you need to ask to give you direction, confidence and clarity on your next steps.
I find women excel with a sense of community. It helps to suppress our inner fears, which can otherwise paralyze us and keep us in our comfort zones.
And what advice do you have for matriarchs and their daughters, granddaughters, and future generations, when it comes to being more involved in financial decision-making?
Take the time to understand. I think about the remote-control analogy. The remote control (for your TV, for example) is not an overly difficult piece of technology, yet how often do we (as women) ask our male counterpart—partner, father, brother—to help us with it? If they aren’t home one day, what choice do we have? We can either not watch TV or spend a few minutes figuring out how to work the remote control and remember what we did—so next time, we aren’t reliant on them anymore.
As women, we need to apply the remote-control mentality to finance. We must remind ourselves that we have the aptitude to understand finance. We are shying away from these conversations because often we can lean on our male counterparts to ‘understand’ for us. Is this a form or laziness, or fear? Both are harmful. It is only when we are forced to figure things out on our own that we finally apply the time to understand and truly engage.
I think about widows in my practice who never engaged in the financial planning of their household and were left with many surprises upon their husband’s passing. They usually catch on quickly and finally understand the reality of their financial situation—but it’s not until they are forced to. It doesn’t have to be this way. Take the time to understand now.
Look at your finances now, be involved in your household day-to-day banking, cash flow and mortgage renewal conversations. Attend portfolio review meetings with your financial advisor. Read your wills and powers of attorney, check beneficiaries on insurance policies and investment accounts. Don’t be left with surprises. Even if you are not the primary earner, it is your duty to your family to know these details. If children see their mother understands and is involved in finances, they will not develop stereotypes that these are ‘male’ domains. You will also now be a resource for your children to learn and lean on as they navigate growing their own financial knowledge.
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect those of Assante Capital Management Ltd.
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