AnnaMarie Boccuzzi
Title: Vice President, Estate and Trust Officer, First County Advisors
Age: 49
Experience: 16 years
AnnaMarie Boccuzzi got her feet wet in the financial services world as a financial analyst at Citicorp. While she had a knack for the numbers, she found herself wanting a little bit more of a human touch. It wasn’t long before she wound up working in trust administration and estate planning, and it was only natural that she eventually made the switch from large, regional banks to smaller community banks. When she’s not working with clients in First County Bank’s ever-expanding wealth management division, First County Advisors, she’s a weekend warrior who loves to garden and tackle home renovation projects.
Q: First County Bank has recently put an increased emphasis on ramping up its wealth management division. What has this meant for your line of work specifically?
A: I meet with clients or prospects and try to figure out … what their desires are at that time. Maybe they need some help planning for retirement or college, or they lead very busy lives and they don’t have the time for it. I’ll meet with them to talk about their current needs and looking further down the road in their lives, I’ll say, “OK have you thought about your estate plan?”
That gets a bit more complicated. You’re talking about your own mortality. … I try to help them with their estate planning and ultimately, really down the road, if they should pass away, sometimes we might settle someone’s estate. Sometimes we might still be involved and have a trust for a beneficiary.
Those are tough questions, but having a plan in place can really make the difference for a family, whether they’re going to barely survive or whether they’re going to flourish. It’s about helping people. No two families are the same, no two individuals are the same, so it’s about finding the best plan for that particular person or that particular family. It’s about really optimizing what they’re trying to accomplish.
It could be a special needs trust for a disabled child. Someday, if the mother and father pass away, somebody has to be responsible. When you can see that you’ve helped a family and they recognize that you’ve saved them money or put a safety net in place, when you can sort of be that peace of mind for a family, that’s huge.
Q: What kind of clients do you typically work with?
A: It really varies. We do have corporate executives. We have surviving spouses, we have divorced women (usually), we have the little old ladies. We sometimes have the kid who came out of rehab and is trying to get his life together. We have the special needs kids. It really, really runs the gamut.
No two situations are alike. Some [of our clients] are small business owners, some work for giant corporations. It really just depends.
Q: What challenges do your clients face that are unique to the generational and demographic trends we see today, and how do you help them navigate those?
A: These are more my personal observations: I think it takes kids longer to launch, certainly, than 30 years ago. I sort of feel like 30 or 40 years ago, you had more of a plan: you go to high school, graduate and then work or go to college. You may or may not go for your MBA or whatever.
I sort of feel like today’s Gen Y … I think it’s taking them a lot longer to launch, to get their careers in order, and I know kids who are taking a year sabbatical after college. While that’s a wonderful experience, financially, the longer that you don’t contribute to a 401(k) plan and the longer you don’t make money … that’s something for them to consider.
We always try to educate our clients, our customers, about what we’re doing, why we’re doing it. We always try to have some financial education. Oftentimes, that’s the reason we are called into the picture.
You might have a surviving spouse who was not really involved in the management of the assets and didn’t really understand all the nuances and the complexities of the accounts. We try to get them up to speed, even if it’s something as basic as, what’s a stock, what’s a bond? It doesn’t really matter if it’s the Baby Boomer generation or the Xers or the Ys. I think it’s all about education.
Q: What else is ahead for First County Advisors and First County Bank this year?
A: We just received an award called the Women’s Choice Award. It’s recognition that we invest, support and empower women, both in the workplace and as our clients. It’s just a real bonus to have that recognition right now. We’ll be recognized in January as an award recipient. That’s a nice accomplishment.
It’s not something new – that all of a sudden we’re paying more attention to women – it’s what we’ve always done. It’s just a wonderful recognition.
Boccuzzi’s Top Five Sources Of Inspiration For Her ‘Fixer-Upper’:
- HGTV
- Houzz.com
- Lowe’s
- Flea Market Flip
- Fixer Upper
