A family-owned practice led by founder and managing director Marilyn Neckes has joined the branch channel of Ameriprise Financial inc., the company announced.
Operating out of two offices in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and Westport, Conn., as The Coastal Group, the team also includes Neckes’ two sons, advisors Kyle Zingone and Scott Zingone, and client service associate Helen Juskus. The practice was formerly with RBC Capital Markets, where team members oversaw $165 million in client assets.
Neckes, a former television producer based in New York City, has 38 years of experience working as a financial advisor. Her practice focuses in particular on high-net-worth individuals and female clients in transition due to divorce or widowhood. According to the news release, the team’s average client has $1 million to $10 million in investable assets.
In making the decision to look for a new partner, Neckes said she and her team prioritized scaling the business. After performing their due diligence, they ultimately chose to affiliate with Ameriprise based on the firm’s growth resources, such as its financial planning platform and coaching programs, Neckes said in the news release.
“Ameriprise supports the way we want to grow, which includes maintaining two office locations in Connecticut and Florida, so we can continue to provide the comprehensive advice our clients expect from us,” she said. “I feel confident that our clients are going to be taken care of for decades to come because my team has robust capabilities and support at their fingertips.”
In an email, Neckes also discussed how she made the decision to transition from being a television producer to a financial advisor.
“I had an interest in what was at the time non-traditional roles for women, and found the challenge of the financial services industry enticing,” she said. “I built my business in the 1980s by cold calling, which was difficult, but I was determined to succeed.”
Asked if there were any similarities between producing a television show and managing a client’s wealth, Neckes said, “I was on the news/documentary side of the business, where you are getting to know someone and telling their story. As a financial advisor, I’m also getting to know a client, but I also help them understand and define their goals so they can achieve them.”
Neckes’ career as a financial advisor did not immediately take off, she said.
“It was difficult at the beginning, but the more I was told that I couldn’t be a successful stockbroker, the more determined I was to succeed and prove them wrong,” she said.
“I think there should be even more women in this business because women are generally better than men at communicating, as well as developing and maintaining relationships,” she said in the email. “Our business is about managing clients’ money, but it is also about the relationships we have with our clients.”
Neckes said she was not surprised when her two sons said they wanted to follow in their mother’s footsteps as a financial advisor.
“They grew up in the business and saw how much I enjoyed my career, and how I could make a positive impact on people’s lives,” she said. “They both joined me after graduating from college. I have teased them by saying that I gave birth to my succession plan.”
Founded in 1894, Ameriprise Financial Inc. is a diversified financial services company and bank holding company incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Minneapolis.