Private wealth advisor Christine Gustafson, operating as Phoenix Wealth Management in Phoenix, has joined the branch channel of Ameriprise Financial Inc., Ameriprise announced.
Gustafson was formerly with UBS, where she and her team, comprised of private wealth advisor and managing director Norman Lemus; senior registered practice associate Amanda Morrell; and senior registered client service associate Lisa Campbell, managed more than $450 million in client assets.
“We’re delighted to have Christine and her team join Ameriprise,” Ryan Lurie, who supports Gustafson as her Ameriprise branch manager, said in a prepared statement. “We look forward to partnering with her to build her practice according to her values and vision, which is to ultimately help more people through comprehensive financial planning.”
Gustafson has more than three decades of experience working in wealth management for high-net-worth individuals, family offices and charitable foundations.
“We take a holistic, custom-tailored approach to wealth management,” she said in the news release. “In our search for a new firm, it was clear that Ameriprise’s values aligned with ours and they shared our goal of managing money for wonderful clients—many of whom are philanthropically oriented.”
In an email, Gustafson offered her suggestions for other women seeking to make inroads in a wealth management industry where the majority of professionals are males.
“Take advantage of the natural strengths that women tend to bring to our field: listening skills, empathy, creative solutions, and the willingness to think out of the box,” she said. “Acknowledge and realize your gifts: lean into your advantages and be confident when dealing with prospects, clients, management and your peers.”
Gustafson said that because many women outlive men, they often seek out another woman to help them manage their finances. But all too often, women advisors fall prey to what Gustafson calls the “perfection syndrome.”
“They are afraid to make a client proposal or approach a wealthy prospect unless they know every concept, strategy, recommendation, plan, idea, paragraph, phrase, and word are perfect,” she said. “This striving for perfection can leave us with analysis paralysis while our male peers are more likely to just go ask for the business.”
Gustafson’s advice to aspiring women advisors is not to second-guess themselves.