Seventeen years ago, Julia Karasik moved from Kiev to Chicago with her husband and three-year-old daughter to make a better life for themselves. Not long after, she began work as a Financial Advisor, joining Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in 1998. Today she has a thriving practice, working mostly with business owners.

Starting by Cold Calling

Karasik and her husband both held engineering degrees in the Ukraine. After graduating from university she realized she didn’t want to be an engineer. At the same time, 1993 was a difficult time for her family, “It was a really bad time,” she says, neither her nor her husband could find work. They decided the solution was to move to Chicago, where they had relatives.

Karasik enrolled in a school to learn English. Then, after a few months, a friend told her about a stockbroker looking for a Russian-speaking assistant for his small practice. Unsure of what to expect Julia decided to try. Turned out, what he wanted was someone to do cold calls. Karasik quickly realized she enjoyed this kind of work and as a result was able to quickly grow. In her spare time, she read as much as she could about financial planning and investments.

Mastering a System

When the firm closed down four years later, Karasik joined a training program at what was then Smith Barney. It was an invaluable experience. Going through the training program Julia was introduced to many new aspects of financial planning and many new products available to clients. Julia also “saw how important education is in this profession.” Striving to improve herself and to learn more Julia also got her CFP® and CIMA® designations.

Perhaps most important was the process she learned for helping clients with their financial planning needs. She now has a carefully thought-through system, which she explains to all new clients in their first meeting. There’s a preliminary get together, when Karasik finds out such important information as clients’ preferences, interests, and concerns; a second, during which she presents a plan; another when the individuals decide whether or not to hire her; and then another to collect paperwork. “It’s a very organized process,” she says. “It helps me do a better job.”

It also helps to set the stage for a relationship in which she’s always free to ask probing, open-ended questions. Karasik points to a recent interaction with long-time clients, a husband and wife. During their conversation, thanks to Karasik’s questioning, the couple realized they had never discussed with each other their long-term goals for their children. And it turned out they had opposite views on the subject. The husband wanted to spend their money while they were alive, while the wife was interested in leaving a legacy for their children. Karasik suggested they discuss the issue privately and scheduled another meeting to decide what to do, based on their conclusions.

Karasik, who now has two children, age 20 and 13, has also found the profession to be well-suited to being a mother. She can adjust her hours as needed in order to better balance work and family. And it’s been a good experience for her children, too. Her daughter, now a college junior, is studying finance--and already has had an internship with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

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