Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, Ukrainian-Americans have been keeping tabs on their families back home. But there’s another group, Ukrainian-American financial advisors, who have also found themselves playing a part in the conflict overseas. They might be helping Ukrainian refugees open bank accounts in Europe or rebalancing investment portfolios, but they are rising to a challenge both here and abroad while living with the stress and fear that go with having skin in a game they never wanted to play.
“I have two first cousins in Kyiv. One just had a baby on the first day of war. She had the baby in a bomb shelter,” said Sonia Kowal, president of Boston’s Zevin Asset Management, who has been using social media platforms to keep in contact with family and friends in Ukraine. “So far they’re all right, but now they can’t leave their apartment. They’ve been overwhelmed with the support they’re seeing the world show for Ukraine. They’re really heartened by any good news, anything that distracts them.”
“A girl I grew up with next door was in Kyiv with her epileptic daughter and sending me photos from their bomb shelter,” echoed Michael Tokmazeysky, a Cleveland financial planner with Ameriprise who is originally from Odessa. “And of course she’d ask me how I was doing, and I felt quite a bit of guilt. What do I say? That I just took my kid to a tennis lesson? That we’re about to eat dinner?”
“The invasion was no surprise to anyone who was watching,” said Zoriana Stawnychy, a Kinnelon, N.J., CFP and founder of Stawnychy Financial Services. Ukraine voted for independence in 1991, amid the dissolution of the Soviet Union, creating the second-largest country in Europe by landmass, a break that foreshadowed decades of tension with its former Soviet neighbor Russia.
“Ukrainians know their history, and they have always known this was going to happen,” agreed Kowal. “We just didn’t know when.”
Stawnychy points out the close ties that Ukrainian-Americans feel to the country.
“All of us that grew up here in the U.S., we didn’t learn English until we went to school,” she said. “And once we went to school, we still went to Ukrainian school on Saturdays to learn our history and keep our culture. We know that we’re the breadbasket of Europe, with coal, cobalt and rare earth. We know our geography and our value.”
Though the invasion wasn’t a surprise to them, they said they were surprised at how quickly civilian neighborhoods became military targets. “Once the bombs started flying, it was horrible,” Stawnychy said. “We didn’t expect civilians to be targeted the way they have been. I have clients who tried to get family out earlier, but they didn’t want to go. They were too old to travel, or they thought it would blow over. And now it’s become obvious it is going to be a terrible war.”
With the plight of friends and family top of mind, these advisors have been buckling down to the hard work of making a difference under the worst of circumstances. From fundraising (see a list of legitimate agencies below) to packing medical kits in church basements to making calls to elected officials in the U.S. Congress, there seems to no shortage of directions in which to hurl their energies.
Tokmazeysky’s Cleveland neighborhood is a melting pot of many cultures from that part of the world, he said, with the Ukrainian, Russian and Jewish diasporas pulling together, united in the single purpose of helping. Roughly 20% of his clients are Ukrainian and Belarussian, he said.
“It’s not the Russian people who are against Ukraine. It’s a lunatic in the Russian government,” he said. “So everyone here is fighting to protect Ukraine. Individuals are gathering funds, people are flying over there to help, we’re getting clothing and medicine to help refugees. And we’ll do everything we can to fight.”
But there are limits to what can be done at times, Tokmazeysky admitted. The father of one of his clients lives in Ukraine but works for an international shipping company. His company quickly moved him to Europe, but it’s now unclear how he’ll get paid since he’s no longer able to access his bank account.
“It’s virtually impossible to open an account in Europe without residency,” he said. “There are legal and logistical questions we’re trying to resolve for him.” Tokmazeysky’s other clients have serious investments in Kyiv, he said. One has an IT business with as many as 80 employees that one day simply stopped functioning.
Kowal, too, said she’s been navigating international waters in trying to help direct contacts. One friend, a man who has to stay in Ukraine to fight, called her to see if she could get his wife and children to the United States.
“In terms of bringing people here, it’s still quite difficult because it’s not the seamless process the Europeans have set up with free travel,” she said. “But I have a brother in Italy, so they’re going to go there over the next few days.”
The most important way she can help, Kowal said, is through beating the drum of environmental, social and governance investing, which is not just her firm’s focus but also a tactic that could help Ukraine well into the future.
“The Ukrainian government has asked for isolation of Russia. I used to be a Russia analyst, so I never thought those were risks we wanted to expose our clients to. And it’s a good thing because no one can get their money out because the markets are closed,” she said. But it’s the future she’s concerned about. “Do investors have the will to forgo profit? In Russia, assets are soon going to be very cheap, and people are going to go in and scoop them up.”
Instead, financial advisors and their clients should be asking hard questions about how companies in their portfolios might be enabling human atrocities in Ukraine—specifically how they might be financing military and surveillance equipment or extracting natural resources.
Since many Ukrainian-Americans favor some investment in the region, it’s important to be proactive with clients in shifting portfolios to reflect new information, says Stawnychy. The Russian troops massed along the border were a clear enough signal. “No one believed Putin when he said he wasn’t going to invade,” said Stawnychy. “Of course he was going to invade. What else were they going to do there?”
That anticipation was part of her thinking when it came to client money.
“What we did for our clients is we started raising cash in January because we knew the conflict was going to pressure the markets down,” Stawnychy said. Some 40% of her clients are Ukrainian and Ukrainian-American. “So we started to change the portfolios to prepare for the probability of war.”
Even with plenty to keep her busy, it has been a rough four weeks, she said, with many sleepless nights.
“The first week of the war, quite frankly we were all dumbstruck, and it was hard to focus, but after a while you shake yourself and say I’ve got a job to do and I’ve got to do it,” she said. “You still have to get back to the office and do the work you have to do—protect the portfolios, complete the financial plans, make adjustments for inflation.”
Tokmazeysky said he has been heartened by the outpouring of support he’s received from his clients, and even from his own company. Ameriprise has collected about $300,000 from employees wanting to help Ukraine and added another $100,000, all going to the Red Cross’s efforts in the region, he said.
“The way I run my practice, my non-Ukrainian clients know who I am, so I’ve had a lot of non-Ukrainian clients call just to see how I’m doing, how they can help and contribute,” he said. “What we do, it’s not transactional. It’s a relationship. If someone needs a distribution from their IRA right now, I’ll make sure they get what they need. They know that. There’s trust, there’s real friendship. And that’s how I do business.”
Charities Recommended by Tokmazeysky, Stawnychy and Kowal:
Razom — This nonprofit, founded by Ukrainian women, provides medical supplies and humanitarian aid.
Voices of Children — This Ukraine-based aid organization provides psychological support to children who have witnessed war.
Women’s Veterans Movement — This organization of female Ukrainian veterans prepares for action in case of emergencies and defense situations.
Ukraine Take Shelter — This platform connects people willing to host a family with refugees in need. It was built by two Harvard students.
Come Back Alive — This organization takes donations of helmets and body armor for civilians trying to defend their cities and towns, and volunteers to run supplies, etc. (not arms or ammunition). It is organized through the Ukrainian American Coordinating Council.