Mentorship, Allyship, and Making Strides: Redefining the Narrative of the Financial Planning Industry

Leah Alter [00:00:10]:

Hello. Hello, and welcome. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Leah Alter. And I'm Joanna Ehresman. And This is Women Share, a marketing guide for women in financial services.

Joanna Ehresman [00:00:23]:

And today, we are in for a treat. Lena Nebel, a principal and chief operating officer at BFG Financial Advisors is our guest. She's joining us to discuss the importance of mentorship and supporting other women in the industry, which is so well aligned with our mission. Cannot wait for this conversation. But first, a little bit about Lena. She has nearly 2 decades of financial advisory experience. She's a certified financial planner professional and has her master of science in financial services. But Lena's focus on empowering women in finance is just as impressive as those credentials.

Joanna Ehresman [00:00:58]:

She was the 1st female president of the Financial Planning Association of Maryland, where she took that role in 2007 and received a leadership award for her board service. Today, she continues to champion women in finance through mentoring, serving as a role model, and inspiring young students, especially girls, to pursue careers in finance. So, Lena, thank you for being here, and welcome to Women's Share.

Lena Nebel [00:01:21]:

Thank you. Thank you. I'm excited to be here.

Leah Alter [00:01:25]:

We have a lot of ground to cover today, but let's start with an overview of BFG Financial Advisors. Tell us a little bit about the firm, the firm size, the clients you serve, and, of course, we wanna hear all about your role.

Lena Nebel [00:01:38]:

Sure. Sure. So we're located right outside By Baltimore, Maryland, there's about 20 of us on the team. And what I think makes us a little bit different of a financial advisory firm is that 66% of our leadership team is females. Of our, certified financial planners, over 45% of them are females. And, the reason that I know that is because I was just running statistics for, another award we won about empowering women, and I didn't realize that Less than 25% of certified financial planners are female. So to understand that we have much more than that, it's just, It's fantastic. So I'm excited.

Lena Nebel [00:02:18]:

I'm excited about that. We tend to work more with families, in empowering them through financial planning. And so we may be Working with the grandparent to talk about wealth transfer and legacy planning, and then we're talking to maybe, you know, their son and daughter about planning for retirement. And then, of course, the grandkids of their buying their 1st house or they're getting married or they're about to have a child. So it's nice to be able to have all Aspects of that of that demographic of of different life stages. So our advisors range from the age of about 24 to their fifties. So that gives us a nice depth of financial advisory experience. It allows the comfort level for clients to be with people who, you know, are kind of more like them, which is which is nice.

Lena Nebel [00:03:06]:

So, It's exciting on kind of where we're going in the future, which which, you know, I know we'll get to. As far as my role, I wear many hats in the firm, which I love. I am one of the lead advisors and I'm also the chief operating officer. So, I kinda helped to keep this place going and have a great support system. We have a fantastic CEO, Eric Brotman, who's, one of the best, female allies that I know, you know, for us, which has been great. I'm sure I can share some stories about that. As far as the the clients that I work With personally, I tend to work more with engineers, probably because I have a little bit more patience than most. Most advisers tend to stay away from that demographic, but I tend to lean towards that, just because of that of that patient's level with them.

Lena Nebel [00:03:57]:

Lately, the past few years, I noticed that people that I've I've really been gravitating towards have been Single females, specifically losing a husband, going through a divorce. So that's been, what's been, I think, transitioning over the past couple years. So it's been an interesting shift in kind of where our where our clients are, you know, what what's developing with our clients.

Joanna Ehresman [00:04:20]:

Yeah. That's really interesting. Congrats on the, the focus on engineers.

Lena Nebel [00:04:25]:

Right?

Joanna Ehresman [00:04:25]:

For working with advisers in the past, they're like, Oh, it's an engineer. They read the prospectus, and they want to know all of the things. But like you said, it sounds like you've got that intellectual like, You know, you're you're willing to not go toe to toe, but have those conversations. Right? Right. And that's important to them, and you meet them where they're at. So I

Lena Nebel [00:04:43]:

can put up with their spreadsheets.

Joanna Ehresman [00:04:46]:

Beautiful. Beautiful. So tell us a little bit about, how you've seen growth there in your practice and what's been successful. One thing we wanna share within this show is just what are some best practices and things where you're finding wins that others may be able to apply in their practice.

Lena Nebel [00:05:03]:

Great question. So, you know, as I mentioned, one of the things, that's a little bit unique about us is is the age range of our advisors. So we have Quite a few younger advisors who are able to work with, kind of their generation in 1st marriage, shaving for a house, a 1st job. So what that means is that we're taking on clients who may not have any assets to actually manage, but need financial planning advice. So many advisors, out there have a, have a minimum, You know, you can't walk through the door unless you have $1,000,000 to invest with us. We don't work that way. So that's what's made us very successful in that We can work with somebody who has $1,000 or somebody who hasn't, you know, $10,000,000. They obviously get different service levels, But they are able to pay different engagement fees to engage in the service that best meets their needs.

Lena Nebel [00:05:58]:

And then as their needs develop over time, We're able to grow with them, which is fantastic. So that's been a huge success for our firm. We've done a wonderful job in kind of marketing our financial Planning for all program to those individuals. So that I would say has been, immensely successful. And then the other area because we're able to do that, we've been forming a lot of strategic alliances with other advisors, so we're not, in competition with them or in collaboration with them. So with these advisors That are shutting their book because they don't have the capacity. They don't have the infrastructure. The clients aren't profitable for them.

Lena Nebel [00:06:37]:

They're able to team with us and deliver great service to clients. We're able to reduce the cost to the client. The client wins in the end. The prior advisor feels more comfortable in the efficiency and in their workload, and then we're able to take care of that client as well. So I'd say strategic alliances that we've been able to form with other advisors. It's it's been a, it's been a great program over these past couple of years and just kind of getting that message out.

Joanna Ehresman [00:07:03]:

You know, and that's really interesting, because in what we've observed working with advisers, the advisers' time horizon, You know, for how long they plan to be in the practice and where they are in that practice growth is so tied to the types of clients they wanna work with, obviously. And Kind of the one of the questions I've had for the past few years is, like, who's helping these younger clients? The Henrys. Right? The high earners not rich yet Type of thing where they they have needs, could value the comprehensive advice that a CFP can provide. So sounds like you you engage in more of, like, a retainer model or a

Lena Nebel [00:07:38]:

Absolutely. For those, for those clients, I mean, you hit it right on the head is that there's so many individuals that are getting ignored Because they don't have the money that a lot of these institutions require, which is unfortunate because Financial planning is so much more than how much do you have to invest, right? It's do I have my risk management taken care of? Am I doing the right things with Taxes. What about my beneficiary designations? Moving in, you know, buying a house with my boyfriend. Do I need to put an agreement together? So, You know, all of those conversations and questions, people need, people need help regardless of the stage of life that they're in. So, We're very fortunate we've been able to, to be able to provide that solution for so many people.

Joanna Ehresman [00:08:20]:

And do you have marketing programs? Because I'd say you're, You know, a larger practice or a larger firm than, you know, some smaller teams that are out there. So do you have marketing staff, or is everybody Kinda tasked with doing marketing and business development as well. How does that work?

Lena Nebel [00:08:36]:

Fantastic question. Because a lot of firms, our size really don't have A marketing team and we're very fortunate that we do have a marketing team. Eric Brotman, he's the one who kind of oversees that Process. He tends to be a little bit more on the the podcasts and, writing more articles. And and what we've made a An intentional initiative is to have more of the team's voices out there. So it's great to have, all of the other advisors kind of find their story and what they're passionate about and the types of clients they like to work with And get them out into different networking organizations, onto different podcasts. So we have people that kind of wear a couple hats on the marketing side, but then Fill a different role as well in the office. And, and, and it's been great because the advisors can leverage them to then implement A variety of a variety of items.

Lena Nebel [00:09:31]:

As you know, Sarah used to be our director of marketing, who connected us, and she's still engaged in our which is fantastic and and really helping our advisors to develop their stories and uncover, just different avenues for them. So We put together a marketing plan. We talk about the things that we want to accomplish, the areas that we want to get involved in, and then we go ahead and execute it.

Joanna Ehresman [00:09:54]:

That's great.

Leah Alter [00:09:55]:

And, having known Eric for a long time, he's never been 1 to shy away from marketing. He always has been interested in it. He's always wanted to be, You know, the one trying the new things and what new ideas do you have. So when I was a marketing consultant at Cresta, he and I were on the phone a lot. So I do think that makes you guys really unique. A lot of firms your size don't allocate a lot of time and resources and money towards marketing. The fact that you guys are thinking outside the box, being really creative about who you are attracting, I think helps set you apart. It's, it's really exciting to see.

Leah Alter [00:10:37]:

Just to switch topics a little bit, because we know that empowering women in this industry is a passion of yours. So can you tell us a little bit more about that? How did that come about? Have you always been really passionate about it? In terms of your own career, did you kind of always know you were gonna be in this industry?

Lena Nebel [00:10:59]:

So no. It was not something that I thought I would, ever be passionate about. Did I think I was gonna be in this industry? Yes. I always had. I always leaned towards something within finance and, money management, but I wasn't sure what that was. And looking back, I can see the pivotal moments in my life that had led to me really wanting to make a push towards more female advisors in the financial industry. So for the Take your time. I will trim down my story for you.

Lena Nebel [00:11:32]:

But when when I interned, I worked for a stockbroker at what was then Dean Winter. And I basically had literally a phone book and I made the phone calls to these individuals. It was cold calling 101. I was the only female in that office. And when you think of Wolf of Wall Street, that kind of sets the image of, of that environment. So fun. I realized I did not want to be part of that environment. Just wasn't for me to be kind of a A stock broker at the time.

Lena Nebel [00:12:01]:

The branch manager, wanted to hire me after college because he said that I was good on the phone and I was also a female and they needed more females in the office. So right then I noticed, okay, I I I'm good talking with people, and females seem to be unrepresentative. I then helped to form our investment committee within our college. So we formed the 1st investment committee with my investment professor, And we did trips to the exchange. We met with hedge funds, etcetera. And when we took a picture in front of the bus, I was the only female. So again, just another visual that I'm the only one here when we went to, visit different fun families and everything. The only females that I saw were the receptionists.

Lena Nebel [00:12:46]:

There was nobody on the floor there. There was nobody talking, you know, there was nobody behind the, The big glass doors and the big chair. So it it had always been a visual, you know, and I am, I'm somebody who, you know, when I want to go after something, you know, I want to be the best. I want to do my best. So I started to see that more and more. And as I was kind of figuring out what I wanted to do in in the career path, I ended up, working for a Firm that did comprehensive financial planning. And I had an amazing female mentor at that time. She showed me, you can have the Kids, the husband, you can work, you can be an advisor, you can have it all.

Lena Nebel [00:13:27]:

She showed me how to balance that work life. And that was great. And it was it was a fantastic experience to have a true mentor at that time. I was there for about 5 years. When I transitioned into the the next Company. It was like working at a fraternity house is basically what my husband explained it as. And, you know, I would, I would go to conferences and I was, You know, one of the only females there. And I think when you, when you start in that environment, you just kind of expect that's the way it is, Right? And over time I realized that's not the way that it should be.

Lena Nebel [00:14:03]:

And when I joined where I am now, within 2 months, Eric and I went to Kestra's conference and Eric started introducing me to people. And the first thing that people would say is, Oh, are you Eric's no assistant? Are you, are you one of the, service reps? You know, so he quickly called on. And for me, I was used to that, Right? That was my environment. I was used to having to give my resume in my introduction. He had never seen that before, So he then started introducing me as, and I want to introduce you to Lena Neville. She's our new lead advisor. She has a 100,000,000 under management. She's a new shareholder.

Lena Nebel [00:14:43]:

So he's giving my resume cause he's like, is this what you have to deal with? And like, yes, this is what we all have to deal with to, To be able to get into the door to sit at the table, I have to give my resume to prove that I deserve to be there. And in talking with so many other female advisors, I'm not alone. We all deal with the same thing. And I started thinking about if I had somebody like me in the beginning to kind of talk about This is what kind of happens when you go to a conference, or these are the challenges, or these are the obstacles that you go through, or these are the different paths that you can go into the industry. I think it would, it definitely would have made things a little bit, it would have made things better. It would have made things more understandable, you know? And that's kind of where I start to have more of that passion of being able to have more females in the industry and just to kind of change the narrative more On what's happening, but it it was interesting always to see from the guy's perspective on kind of what what the females go through at, you know, some of those different events and just the Assumption. You're the you're the receptionist. You're the assistant.

Lena Nebel [00:15:53]:

You know, you you can't be the lead advisor or a shareholder of a company. So, You know, we're we're kind of working towards, making changes that way by having podcasts like this, by educating more, especially on the younger generation, Introducing that to girls in high school level, at college level, and kinda seeing everything.

Joanna Ehresman [00:16:15]:

Yeah. Well and it's interesting when you're telling that story and your experience with Eric, I was actually reading an article recently, and it's talking about there's mentorship and then there's, like, being a champion as well. And it's like, I feel like he was stepping. You've used the term ally, but helping to be a champion and, you know, actually bring light to the women in the room and advocate for them and that sort of thing. And that can be done no matter what your chromosome makeup is. Right? So That experience, that wasn't that was within the past

Lena Nebel [00:16:44]:

5 years? 5, 6 years. Yeah. Yeah. So when you think about when you think about where are we? What's changed? Are we getting better? I would say on paper, We have improved dramatically. We incorporate and support more female organizations. We, you know, have more study groups, we have more programs designed towards females. We, you know, so on paper things are going in the right direction. The culture has not yet changed.

Lena Nebel [00:17:16]:

The day that I can walk into a room to where I don't have to give my resume, that's when it changes. That's when I can see that it's changed. You know, my my husband will sometimes go with me on some of these trips, and and he loves it because We usually play a game of, do we think it's going to be 5 minutes or 10 minutes before somebody says, Oh, what firm do you work at? What firm do you, because they assume he's the advisor. And so he'll always say, oh, no, I'm the plus one. So it again, until we can start looking at females and Automatically assume they are an adviser, they are a leader, they are an executive. That's when things really change, but we're not fully there yet.

Joanna Ehresman [00:18:00]:

So so true. Okay.

Leah Alter [00:18:01]:

So We're all on the same mission, though. Yes. Yes. Well and but

Joanna Ehresman [00:18:06]:

then along those lines, right, that of, think anyone listening to this podcast is probably aligned with that perspective that giving women more of a seat at the table, more influence in the industry. Right? That That credibility from the get go, is a good thing, not only for the industry itself, but for the clients we serve. Right? More balance is is gonna be beneficial. If I'm a listener, what tips, recommendations do you have for someone to do in their career, Like right now, today, to help move this forward.

Lena Nebel [00:18:39]:

So I always tell people, if you can find you talked about a mentor versus a champion. Finding somebody that can be your ally is crucial, male or female. Finding an ally that can help to open up the doors, Having somebody to lean on, having that support system is great, whether it's a study group, in a multitude of people, or just 1 person. And then eventually for females, Finding that female mentor, finding that female ally, I think is, it's so impactful. I get together monthly with Female who's not even in my industry, but she is another chief operating officer. She actually retired from a firm and being able to just Talk to her about the challenges that I'm facing with and ideas, and she can give me her experience and knowledge of how to handle certain situations. It's so helpful and you have to make the time for those things. And you also have to be able to ask for help.

Lena Nebel [00:19:37]:

And as females, I think we can do it all and We, we can't, we need help. We need our village and my village is huge and I embrace my village and I need those people. So I would absolutely say to try and to reach out and find out who those individuals are. And from a, you know, this may be kind of, Kind of a touchy area, but on a personality side, I'd say be vulnerable. I think all too often, especially in my Past, I noticed so many females in the industry feel like they have to kind of act like a man and have this masculine, tendency to, to, have their voice be heard. And you don't have to be. You know, we can, we can hear those voices. You just have to speak up, but you don't have to be that man.

Lena Nebel [00:20:23]:

You don't have to go on the golf course. You don't have to learn how to play golf. There's plenty of networking that happens outside of the golf course. So just being your true self and being vulnerable through it all, I think it can make an impactful, impactful career move for you as well.

Leah Alter [00:20:39]:

I cannot agree with that more. I find the more vulnerable and open I am, the better relationships are, the better situations are, projects, collaborations, all of that. So and I think it all really starts with our younger generation, which I know that is also something you're really passionate about of working with children, especially girls. So tell us a little bit more about what you're doing there.

Lena Nebel [00:21:07]:

Sure. So, the past few years, we've had the opportunity to speak at Different high schools in talking to their investment committee or their financial club to talk about careers in finance, financial literacy topics and what's available to these girls now is far more than any of us had when we were growing up. I mean, to be able to take financial courses in high school is fantastic and that these girls are already starting to think about it. So We've had some of them come in and shadow our office so that they can see, okay, we're a financial firm. We have a research department, we have Traders, we have client services, we have insurance, we have all these different areas. It doesn't have to be, you have to be an advisor. There's so many more things you can do, Whether it's on the personal level or the corporate level. So it's exciting to be able to share with these these young women just the opportunities that are out there, and then representing that there are other women who will support their growth as well.

Lena Nebel [00:22:09]:

And being able to To understand that there's, there's so many more of us out there, even though you don't see it on TV, you may not see it In magazines or online, but there's so many strong female leaders out there in our industry and just continuing to reinforce over and over again with them. I have 3 children, 2 of them are girls, and so having those 2 girls is especially important for me too when talking about financial literacy topics. And having them see kind of the different areas they can go into, not just in financial services, but in, in all topics and being able to, or all industries, And being able to have any type of level of leadership, and, and going through the, you know, what's, what's kind of expected and what are your options and Kind of go through all that with them. So that just kind of happened over the past few years where, one of my friends who's a professor At a school in Pennsylvania, you know, he reached out and I spoke to their class and part of our marketing, we put it out on social media, which then led to some other schools, which then led to, you know, it just kinda got around and that's all things that we believe in. I mean, that's, That's one of our pillars here is financial literacy. It's empowering families. So that's not anything that we're getting paid to do. And I think that's so important to remember, it's being able to volunteer your time to spend time to, to make impactful impressions with the youth.

Lena Nebel [00:23:39]:

I I think that's all things that we should be doing.

Joanna Ehresman [00:23:41]:

It's interesting as in hearing you speak, Lena, like, one of the themes that keeps coming to me is how much You and the team at BFG Financial Advisors, right, are taking a long term view. Right? Taking a long term view about the types of clients we attract, the types of CFPs we're developing, the future pipeline by getting engaged with Youth and everything. So that's a really just such a refreshing way to to operate your business and, you know, and, obviously, you still have plenty of clients who are in the retirement age and that sort of thing too. But you've got this interesting perspective of, you know, what you shared of starting in your Dean Witter days and that sort of thing all the way to a relatively recent conference experience. But then you are working with with these young people today. So tell me, like, what is What do you think of how far we've come, and where do you think of where we're going of empowering more women and bringing more balance?

Lena Nebel [00:24:37]:

I think, you know, again, I think we've, we've come a long way from, from when I first started in the industry and everything. And I think part of that had a lot To do with the me too movement. You know, back when all of that was happening, I think it brought to light things that we already knew were happening. But it made companies make change within the organization. It made companies be more inclusive. It made companies develop, Diversity plans and education plans centered around certain demographics and specifically females. So I think that there's been a ton that's happened. I think we're having more females, especially in my generation, getting out there more and participating in in study groups and things like that.

Lena Nebel [00:25:23]:

We actually have a study group, that we're hosting next week that we started with a lot of young female advisers So that we could bring them all together, and again, to kinda start sharing experiences and best practices and things like that. So I think we, again, we've, we've come a long way, which is great to see, but we still have room to go. I think if we continue to clear the path of just varying obstacles, then that's just going to help it better for kind of this next generation in front of us. I am extremely optimistic Of what that next generation is. Every time I go to one of these high schools and these girls ask me questions of information about, you know, How to buy stock and PE ratios, and then they're talking about Roth accounts and state documents. I mean, we weren't thinking about that in high school. So it's, it's amazing to see what that next generation is going to be. Female investors though, that's been a Huge upswing over these past few years.

Lena Nebel [00:26:22]:

And that's because more females are into the workplace. They're saving, they're participating in the family finances. So Because we have more female clients out there, it's just by necessity that the demand is gonna also be for more female advisors, which is fantastic.

Leah Alter [00:26:38]:

Yeah. Fidelity did a really interesting study about female investors and, Like, since 2020. So we're talking about a a pretty small window, like, you know, just in the last two and a half, 3 years. Huge swings in the amount of money that is being invested by women, and that trend is only going to continue. And the truth is most women wanna work with women advisers, so they're out there looking for the Linas of the world. And if your firm doesn't have a leaner, they're gonna get passed over probably.

Joanna Ehresman [00:27:14]:

Right.

Leah Alter [00:27:14]:

So it's Absolutely. Being as proactive as you all are About that is is so good. So it sounds like you have opportunities to give a lot of advice to to young women, from all walks of life. And we ask every guest who comes on, what is the best career advice you have ever received.

Lena Nebel [00:27:37]:

The best career advice that I've ever received, it I would say it's nothing I received, but something I read, which basically said, if, if you can't or don't respect the leaders in your organization, you shouldn't be in that organization. And How I took that because of the time that I was in my career, it was early on. I, I didn't respect what I saw happening with My first company and the, and the leaders there. And I thought if I can't respect the leadership, I shouldn't be here. If I don't look up to them, If I don't want to be them, then I shouldn't be here. And what I realized much later in life was that I ended up turning into a leader. And so I needed to make sure that people looked up To me, I needed to make sure that I had the right morals and, you know, ethics and- and that I was grounded and I could listen and, you know, All these attributes that you think of a leader, all of a sudden I realized that's me now. So I needed to make sure that I could, lead and be a mentor and be a champion and be all these things to so many people.

Lena Nebel [00:28:51]:

And I've made significant career changes because of that quote, you know, because it made me, it makes me stop and look and say, Do I look up to that person? Do I wanna be that person?

Joanna Ehresman [00:29:04]:

Wow. And just what a way of, like, living with integrity too. Right? Because That can be a challenge if you're in a in a position where the money's great and that sort of thing. Making that that choice. Wow. That's That's great. So okay. If there is a young woman, maybe someone you've mentored or somebody you've never met listening who's considering a career in financial services, what advice would you give them?

Lena Nebel [00:29:30]:

If it was somebody young, I would say what I've already been talking about, which is find that mentor, find that ally, find that friend who can Help guide you and lead you on the right path and everything else. If I was talking to somebody maybe already in the industry and Maybe where I was a few years ago, and and really challenged on my next career move on where I wanted to be, I would tell that person to be selfish. I think all too often we, we put everybody above our own, ourself. We've got the clients, our team, our family, everybody else's needs Come before our owns. And sometimes we have to be able to take care of us, whether it's our mental health or physical health or financial health. So it's okay to be selfish. It's okay to focus on you so that you can be the person to take care of everyone else. And that was that pivotal moment that I had before coming to BFG was, Joanna, you mentioned that, you know, the money was great.

Lena Nebel [00:30:24]:

How do I make a change? It was Terrifying as all hell. That's a whole, it is a different story, a different conversation. But I needed to do, I needed to do something for me. I needed to have my, you know, my, my mental health, my physical health was suffering from where I was and I needed to be selfish. I couldn't think about, well, what if I leave and who's going to take care of this client and they're going through a retirement transition and how will we pay the bills and all of this. And, I had to be happy. I had to be selfish and I had to put myself first for once. So I would tell people be selfish and that's okay.

Leah Alter [00:31:01]:

Oh, those are both really good pieces of advice. Nina, this has been so great. If somebody wants To learn more about you or get in touch with you and BFG Financial Advisors, what's the best way to find you?

Lena Nebel [00:31:15]:

Best way is directly through our website. It's bfgfadot You'll see it will go right to our LinkedIn or Instagram or or, Facebook pages. You can see me. You can see my amazing team. Would love to talk to you.

Joanna Ehresman [00:31:29]:

Wow. Well, this has been such a great conversation and just so much vigorous nodding from Leon. You're talking to the roof. The roof. Wanting to do the mic drop. But Right. Yes? So so thank you. Thank you.

Joanna Ehresman [00:31:47]:

Thank you. Thank you for being here and and for just, you know, sharing, like, some specific ideas of how people can make a difference and move this because sometimes it feels like, wow. This is a really big challenge in front of us, and what is what I do going to make a difference? And that's the whole point. Right? Think Right. Think globally, act locally. So that with that, that is our show for today. If ours is a mission that you want to Sharon, go ahead and subscribe to our show on your favorite podcast platform. With that, I'm Joanna Erisman.

Leah Alter [00:32:19]:

And I'm Leah Alter, and we'll catch you on the next episode of Women's