John: I am here today with Model Citizen, entrepreneur, writer, teacher, coach and financial representative, Margreit Jupp McInnis. How are you today?
Margreit: I’m pretty good John. Thank you for asking.
John: I know you wear a lot of hats, and you are a bit of a workaholic, in between having fun. I also know you’re very creative, but one of the areas that I really don’t know much about you, and our readers may want to know more about, is that there is a really good brain on those shoulders. Do you work in the financial field?
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Margreit: Yes, I’ve been in the financial industry since about 1995.
John: How did you get started as a financial representative?
Margreit: Although math was not really a strong subject for me in high school, I was in between opportunities in my early twenties, this was after the car accident I had when I was twenty. I knew some people in my family that had been through some financial hardship and knowing that made me want to learn more about the industry. Strangely enough, the training for building my financial expertise came at the same time as my brain was recovering from the accident. I think I kind of connect my ability to learn and remember things during the training with my recovery. While I was working with Dreyfus Mutual Funds, I was about 25, and I remember that all of a sudden, I started to really understand everything I was being taught. I was able to remember and retain it all. For lack of a better term, it was as if my brain turned back on again and I guess some of the passion I feel comes from this evidence, in real-time, in real life, that I was actually recovering.
John: Wow, you really have such an amazing story. I too have had memory issues, but for different reasons. At the time I didn’t know it was being caused by overprescribing painkillers. Now they know that that will cause significant short-term memory problems, which it did for me and frankly I was lucky.
Margreit: It’s very hard when you can’t remember anything someone tells you or retain the information you just read. Short-term memory issues are really frustrating, right?
John: Yes, when you have memory problems, you just feel unorganized. Sometimes if you’re writing and you go back and read things and then think, did I write that, it looks like it’s Chinese? I do get it, and I’m very happy that you’ve recovered. Your stories are amazing. What does a financial representative do? I know you help people through financial crises and have also helped family members because you said that’s how you learned it. What kind of financial crises can you help people get through?
Margreit: Well, it really could be just about anything or anyone. If you have negative five cents or 5 million to your name, it doesn’t matter, there’s always a strategy that can help. So for people in the low-income bracket, my passion would be for education, because I really truly believe that when someone educates themselves about how to save and pull themselves out of debt, they can get on the positive side of cash flow and net worth. That is really going to break the cycle of poverty and helps people grow their net worth. I truly and passionately believe that. So, for people in the middle-class income range right down to the poverty level, those are the people that need the most help. It really starts with cash flow management, debt management, and understanding that you need to pay yourself like a bill, just like you would your electric bill or your car insurance. You need to put yourself at the top of that list, and the earlier the age that you start that, and set that habit, the better off you’ll be.
John: So, tell me how a financial representative differs from an accountant?
Margreit: An accountant will help you with your taxes, and if you’re a business owner, they will help you with filing for your business form, whether you’re an S-corp, C-Corp, Limited Partnership, whatever is the best for your business. They can help you do your bookkeeping and tax returns because our tax code is so complicated, most people can’t really do it on their own. But most accountants are not necessarily trained in all the areas of financial planning, from cash flow management for personal finances through to estate planning. Accountants are necessary, but for instance, they may not be trained in how to advise a client on the right type of insurance to have, how much to have, and sometimes the use of insurance for estate planning. They may not be aware or know about all the strategies that even wealthy people can utilize to pass their wealth to their children and grandchildren with fewer tax implications. Some are trained in these areas, but in my experience, most are not.
John: Do you help people with investing? What about high-risk, low-risk? Explain the differences. What is that all about?
Margreit: Every decision about what to do with your money carries risk. If you choose to keep all of your money in a savings account, you’re not going to see the downside from the stock market, but you’re going to erode your assets with inflation and losing purchasing power. So, you’re safe from the volatility of the stock market, but on the other hand, you are going backward because you’re going to pay tax on interest and you’re not earning anything beyond inflation or cost of living increases and that will eat away at that money.
There’s a risk, and there’s a reward. Everybody has their own risk tolerance. If you’re at the water cooler at the office, or these days in the Zoom session and somebody’s talking about stock ABC and how they heard it’s going to go up, etc. etc., well that person may be willing to take the risk with $50,000 on that stock, but if it falls apart and goes away maybe that doesn’t matter to that person, they’re not going to care if that money disappears. On the other end of that conversation, the other person’s risk tolerance may be totally different. They may not be able to tolerate even losing $500. So, it’s really a matter of getting to know your client and understanding where that risk tolerance is and then making sure that your recommendations are tailored to that specific person. There’s no cookie-cutter answer, you have to get to know your client.
John: What is better or different about you than any other representative? What is your competitive edge?
Margreit: Honestly, I think it’s that I’m really good at building relationships. I really care about what happens to my clients and how they progress towards their financial goals. A lot of other financial representatives may say that, but I can only speak for myself. I know that I care. It really does matter to me that I make a difference in their lives and that I do the right thing and steer them in the right direction. I always put my clients first. There are so many financial representatives, it’s really about the relationship that you can build. There’s a lot of trust involved in that relationship and it’s not something that happens in five minutes. It is something that builds over time. I’m a people person and I like to help people and so this is a great fit for me.
Categories: Model Citizens Magazine