Transitioning to a Lifelong Calling in Financial Advising

For the last four years or so, I have had the pleasure of working for one of the large federal consulting firms in the DC area. Growing up outside of DC always led to conversations around new administration chaos and the new sectors or fields expected to be impacted by these geopolitical shifts (as we are seeing today). With that, the logical choice after graduating college was to try to pursue a career in federal consulting and to see what areas I may be able to assist in modernizing. My educational background is in Finance and Economics, so I was naturally drawn towards the fiscal side of projects once joining my new firm.

I entered the federal consulting world during the peak of COVID in 2021, so I was able to “enjoy” seeing the policy and workplace shifts across projects. The changes that were affecting the public and private sectors simultaneously allowed me to participate in the new modernizations that the firm was implementing.

While working in the new normal of remote work and assisting various government entities with their modernization, my continued financial interests and background always had me analyzing how the markets were reacting to the geopolitical changes and more importantly, how they’d impact my personal financial decisions. On top of that, I found that over time the most enjoyable part of my work was engaging with the individual federal employees across the country, learning their stories, and applying whatever relevant transformation we could to help them out. What might seem abstract in a policy memo or government funding project started to become real once some of these agencies started moving people around or limiting funding. Again, I kept coming back to thinking about how these policies and funding areas might also impact retirement timelines for the employees or even areas for investment.

As I continued assisting the agencies where I could, my thoughts around policy impacts, workplace shifts and the changing geopolitical impacts brought me back to the markets, managing my own personal finances, and a desire to have a more direct impact. 

Financial advising was always lingering in my long-term career path thoughts for family reasons. Some might know my father, Charlie, or my grandfather Don, and might be able to guess that family events rarely go for a few minutes without discussing the latest market craze or making sure I’ve been squireling away my early career earnings. Mid-2024 was about the time I was ready for a career update, and I finally brought back to light the thought of pursuing financial advising. After long discussions with some trusted confidents in the field (could probably guess who), it became clear that a potential career path in this field could bring what I enjoyed from my current career together with a lot of my outside interests. 

Down the road, after learning for many years, financial advising would build strong relationships (and maybe even some lifelong friendships) with clients as I assist them with navigating the peaks and troughs of life. This direct impact is most rewarding to me and if I can use my natural intrigue of the market interconnections and life organization to allow a client to live financially free, then I won’t consider that working.

Now that I am here, I’m very excited to have the opportunity to carry forward a legacy of trust and confidence instilled by those tenured at the firm. I hope to grow and learn from each of you, the clients and the friends, over the years as we plan for your lives and those of your loved ones.

SSB Wealth Management, Inc., d/b/a Rembert Pendleton Jackson (“RPJ”) offers investment advisory services and is registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).  SEC registration does not constitute an endorsement of the firm by the SEC nor does it indicate that the firm has attained a particular level of skill or ability.  You should carefully read and review all information provided by RPJ, including Form ADV Part 1A, Part 2A brochure and all supplements, and Form CRS. 

Certain information contained herein was derived from third party sources as indicated.  While the information presented herein is believed to be reliable, no representation or warranty is made concerning the accuracy of any information presented.  RPJ has not and will not independently verify this information.  Where such sources include opinions and projections, such opinions and projections should be ascribed only to the applicable third party source and not to RPJ.