In a new episode of Head to Head, Co-heads of Distribution Kirsten Pickens and Ryan Robertson share their conversation with Rachel Gottlieb, Managing Director, Wealth Management at UBS. In this episode, Rachel shares how she turned a college internship into a career in financial services that landed her on lists like Forbes Top Next Gen Wealth Advisors, Forbes Top Women Wealth Advisors and Wall Street’s Top 40 Advisors Under 40.
About Rachel Gottlieb
An industry veteran since 2002, Rachel is one of the partners and co-founder of Gottlieb Rose Wealth Management and a UBS Managing Director, a title reserved for a handful of business leaders around the globe. As one of UBS’s elite Private Wealth Advisors, Rachel has completed comprehensive training in financial planning, asset allocation and wealth planning strategies. Rachel is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) practitioner and Certified Divorce Financial Analyst™ (CFDA™) and has the expertise to help clients make well-informed financial decisions pre- and post-divorce.
Rachel is the author of Zac’s Dollar Dilemma, a book that teaches children to spend, save, give, and invest. She has spent time with children in schools, bookfairs, and recently helped with BlackRock’s Bring Your Kid to Work Day. She also dedicates her time as a volunteer for Savvy Ladies, a financial advice hotline for women.
Transcript excerpt:
Kirsten Pickens: So let’s get started. We’re excited for you to hear our conversation. Rachel, thanks so much for being here today. I have been really looking forward to this conversation because I think it was…what, nine years ago when we first met? And we were on a panel together at a top advisor conference, and I remember thinking to myself, how is this girl so far ahead in her career at such a young age? Wow, I’m impressed. So just tell us: How did you get started in financial services?
Rachel Gottlieb: So, it started off I was a finance and marketing major in college, and I wanted to be in the city for the summer, so I needed an internship. I ended up getting an internship working for financial advisors. And surprisingly, I loved the energy, I loved that you worked with people. I just really was drawn to the industry. The next summer I had a second interview with the financial advisor’s team. When I graduated college, UBS actually came onto campus to recruit for what’s the GTP program, or the graduate training program, which was an awesome program where you got to rotate around to different areas of the financial services industry. And at the time it was a little different than it is today just because the industry is always evolving. But it was great to be thrown into the mix and actually learn being on the desks.
So I was able to get amazing exposure and meet great contacts within the firm that are still at the firm today. I always knew that at the end of the program I wanted to place out on team. I started off as a NFA. From the beginning of being in the business, I just loved working with clients and people and getting to know them, what’s important to them, and figure out how I can help to plan in order to optimize their best probability of success. And I love how the industry has really evolved. So what we can do as advisors has just gotten more and more impactful. It’s always challenging and it’s always evolving and it really keeps you on your toes. Not to mention everyone’s situation is very different which is really interesting.
Kirsten Pickens: That’s great.
Ryan Robertson: You started so young in the industry and like Kirsten said you were on this panel for top advisors, and you have a lot of accolades and awards including, the Next Gen Wealth Advisor, Wall Street’s Top 40 under 40. When you get and got those awards so early in your career, what did it do for you? What did it do for your marketing efforts or maybe just your confidence? What was it like to get those accomplishments so early in your career?
Rachel Gottlieb: To be honest, I think that you walk into a room and as a young female, people kind of size you up in their heads and they come to their conclusions about you. And maybe it’s actually not the case anymore now that I have some fine lines and whatnot on my face. But it’s interesting, I was in a meeting actually last week and I sat down and I kind of introduced myself and gave some accolades and they said to me, you wouldn’t be in this room if you didn’t already have the credibility. So I think at a younger age, it’s very helpful to have those accolades and to have assets under management because you feel as though you want to show that you are an expert in the space. As your career evolves, you just want to grow more and more.
I mean, it’s also dependent on personalities, but I do think a lot of financial advisors share that, especially successful financial advisors share the characteristics that they always want to keep growing and growing, and you can be more selective with the clients that you take on as you have the base of clients to do that, which is great. I’m very fortunate and grateful for that. But you still want to keep meeting new people and expanding your clientele and educating yourself and your offerings and your knowledge base so that you can be more impactful to clients.
