Financial planner Ronit Rogoszinski, a West Hempstead resident and mother of four, was recently elected to the Financial Planning Association of Long Island’s board of directors as the new director of women in finance. The founder of Women+Wealth Solutions in Carle Place, Rogoszinski works closely with women and families navigating major financial life transitions.
Q: Can you tell me a bit about yourself?
A: I’m a married, mother of four. I’ve been in the financial service industry for about 36 years. I opened my own practice, Women+Wealth Solutions, in 2006 and have been actively managing monies for clients based on the context of their life since then.
I attended Queens College, where I got my B.A. in economics and then I was hired by Citibank to be in a two year management training program. I eventually transitioned over to the investment side of the bank, got licensed, insured, and then in 2011 I qualified for the Certified Financial Planners designation.
Q: What is a Certified Financial Planner?
A: A Certified Financial Planner means you can perform financial planning for clients. You can also act as a fiduciary, which means you’re acting on behalf of the client’s best interest. It really gives you depth of knowledge, as far as money management within the context of legal and accounting structures, taking in a clients life and breaking it down to help them manage their money.
So it’s my job to get the client to understand where they are right now, what their financial picture looks like. Then we can rebalance, edit, or continue managing the money in order to get them where they want to be. If they have long term goals like retirement, saving for college, buying a home, then making sure they understand where their finances stand and what we need to do to accomplish those goals.
Q: How did you become interested in this career path?
A: I had finished my management training program and became a branch manager in Glendale, Queens. I was expecting my first child and I realized the financial advisor at my branch had a more flexible schedule. I was curious to understand more about what he was doing.
In order to work on the investment side and become licensed, I had to reign from Citibank before I was hired by Citi Corporate Investment Services. I went into the role for the flexibility, but within a day and a half, I fell in love with the idea of really being there to guide and service clients from an active money management perspective, rather than just managing a branch.
I was there for 18 years before I learned you could be an independent financial advisor. I really wanted the independence to treat my clients the way I wanted to be treated. So I opened my own practice and 20 years later, it’s the best decision I ever made.
Q: What is your mission with Women+Wealth Solutions?
A: I realized over the years that many of my clients are women. I have male clients, couples that I advise, but I realized women gravitated towards me. It wasn’t that I was offering a different investment vehicle, it was the style, approach, and conversations that we were having that made me more relatable to them and made them feel more comfortable.
I decided to name my practice and put it out there that I was helping women, because if that could take away a fraction of the hesitation a women might have about coming to the table, that’s what I wanted.
We tend to put a lot more barriers on ourselves as women when it comes to talking about money, and anything I can do to do away with some of those barriers, I want to do.
Q: What is the Financial Planning Association of Long Island? What role does it play in your field?
A: The FPA of Long Island really looks to be an advocate for the industry and the financial role of a CFP. They also provide continuing education classes, because to have the CFP designation, we have to go through 30 hours of continuing education every two years. The FPA provides accredited classes for anyone who’s a CFP, they have an opportunity to come and stay informed through this educational arm.
The FPA also does a lot of pro bono work for the community. So if there are individuals who don’t have the ability to pay for a financial plan but need some guidance. For example, I do consultations with women who are going through divorce.
The FPA gives us CFP’s the opportunity to network and connect with other professionals doing similar work. There’s just a wonderful camaraderie within the group and we’re able to help each other.
Q: How did you get involved with the FPA?
A: As soon as I got my accreditation someone from the local chapter reached out and asked if I wanted to join. So in 2011, but in the last few years I’ve been more engaged and wanted to give back to the community.
Q: How does it feel being elected to the board of directors? What is your role as director of women in finance?
A: It’s my first time serving on the board. I’ve realized there’s not enough women in the industry and I think those of us that are, and have been in this industry as long as I have or longer, need to be much more visible and vocal in order to attract younger women to this industry.
For me, this is a real privilege. There’s a lot of very experienced women in this group with years of knowledge. If we can work to continue to grow together, support each other, and learn from one another, I think we can really open this industry to more young women. Which is so important, because financial literacy is something we keep coming back to, that’s under-represented, so anything we can do to promote more knowledge in this segment, I think, is something we should be doing.
