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.