Episode summary
Alexandra Rooney shares her path into finance, private client advising and work with RTSWS students.
Key takeaways
- There are different paths into a finance career.
- The episode describes day-to-day work in private client advising.
- Financial literacy and mentorship can help build confidence.
About this episode
EP5: Main Street Research’s Alexandra Rooney: Join Ashley Leftwich, CEO of Rock The Street, Wall Street, in an inspiring conversation with Alexandra Rooney, CFP and Private Client Advisor at Main Street Research. Alexandra shares her journey from a first-generation American to becoming a successful financial professional, her day-to-day work in private client advising, and her passion for empowering the next generation of women in finance.
In this podcast, Alexandra discusses:
Her unconventional entry into the finance world
What a day in the life of a private client advisor looks like
The importance of financial literacy and confidence for young women
Her experience volunteering with Rock The Street, Wall Street and working with students
If you’re looking to learn about finance, mentorship, or how to break into the industry.
Learn more about Rock The Street, Wall Street and our mission to bring the M in STEM to life: https://rockthestreetwallstreet.com
Disclaimer: All financial and investment information contained in this podcast is merely for educational and informational purposes. It is not intended as a substitute for professional advice. Should you decide to act upon any information in this podcast, you do so at your own risk.
Listen to the episode
Transcript
Transcript supplied by Riverside; it may contain transcription errors.
speaker-0: Welcome to Rocking Finance, the Rock the Street Wall Street podcast. Real stories, real access, real pass into finance. Join us for candid high impact conversations with industry leaders sharing the insights, experiences, career pivots and journeys that can help young women advance through the financial industry with great confidence. Rock the Street Wall Street equips high school and university students, especially young women, by bringing the ⁓ in STEM to life through financial and investment fundamentals. We provide direct industry access and guidance supporting students and young professionals on their journeys from classrooms to careers while expanding participation in the capital markets. Through cohort-based learning, mentorship, and individual career connection, we help students build confidence, capabilities, and networks that open doors. Our goal is clear. Expand participation in the capital markets and strengthen the future of finance one cohort at a time. Today I'm your host Ashley Leftwich, CEO of Rock the Street Wall Street. Now let's rock finance. Hi everyone, I'm Ashley Leftwich, CEO of Rock the Street Wall Street, and I am delighted to be joined today by Alexandra Rooney, CFP and private client advisor at Main Street Research. Alexandra, great to see you again, welcome.
speaker-1: Ashley, it's so wonderful to be here with you. Thank you so much for having me.
speaker-0: I know that you have shared with me a little bit about being First Generation American. You've had a very interesting journey, been at several different firms, and of course, our students would really love to hear what your journey is, as well as what a day in the life is like for you.
speaker-1: Absolutely, Ashley. So again, I think it's so important when we think about how we all get into finance for me. I, candidly, I've applied to hundreds, if not thousands of jobs on LinkedIn when I first graduated from college with a degree in economics. And I was just lucky enough that I found an RIA who's based out of Fairfax, Virginia, not too far from where I grew up. And they were willing to take me on and just help with my education. And, you know, I walked in there saying, I don't know much, but I'm willing to learn. And that really set a precedent for me and a cadence where I was able to move to New York City. I've had the pleasure of working at some incredible firms and the experience and the background that I have has just been so helpful for the clients that I deal with today. And I say that because I've worked at firms that have a couple of hundred million dollars up to 35 billion in assets. And so being able to see and span really what a million dollar client needs and what a client with a billion dollars needs, ⁓ And it's just so important and impactful to be able to deliver that advice to my clients. So at Main Street Research, what I do on a day-to-day basis, I'm really talking to clients. think no day looks the same, no week looks the same. That's both because the markets are just viewing their thing, right? It's out of our control, but also just based on clients' needs. And so I always talk to clients during inflection points in their life. And I think that that's really important. I always say, Part of my job is like being a therapist. The other part of that is, you know, being able to be a North Star for them and help them focus on really their long-term goals and what they want to do with their lives. It's such a pleasure and such a joy. So I will maybe spend the first part of my day working on financial planning for our client, right? Determining what they need to get from the market in order to achieve the goals that they have. Maybe then I'll spend some time with clients walking through their portfolio, what they're doing and how the market has been performing. and where we see opportunities. And then I might spend my afternoon talking to either prospective clients or existing clients. And of course, throughout the weeks and throughout the days, there's always those emergency calls. Oh, my daughter is pregnant and now I want to start funding a 529 or what opportunities do I have there? Or it could be something of the nature of, okay, I just got let go for my job. What do I do next? So it's all of these life moments where I come into play and I help walk them through that, again, with all that expertise that I have from the years.
speaker-0: really love that you talk about how you're helping others meet their goals. Like there has to be such a relational piece to your work in that way to know intimately what your clients are interested in achieving with their money and what that needs to look like as far as their plan. That's incredibly interesting. And you also mentioned that you have this willingness to learn and something that you've always had an appetite for. So looking back, Is there a lesson you've learned or maybe something that you wish you had known earlier on in your career?
speaker-1: Absolutely, Ashley. I think for me, first and foremost, is just knowing that it's okay to not know something and asking for help. I think we've been taught so much and I think especially as women sometimes where you need to kind of know the answers before you're even asking the questions. And something that my father taught me that's so important to me was it's okay to not know, you just have to make sure that you don't tell people that you know that. you my first job when I started in finance, I remember just writing down everything I didn't know. I didn't know what a mutual fund was in my first year, because why would I? And that I would be Googling or investigating and trying to figure out what all these terms meant and how to connect them together. And because I didn't know and I was a little afraid to ask for help, I thought I could just figure it out on my own. And what I realized over the years is just being able to talk to other people, learn from other people and actually tap on their experience has been so impactful. which is of course why I'm so passionate about giving back to organizations like Rock the Street, Wall Street.
speaker-0: Well, that's a great segue. I mean, what inspired you to get involved with Rock the Street, Wall Street? You have been so gracious to volunteer for us and there's so many ways to give back. So what is it about Rock the Street, Wall Street that really spoke to you?
speaker-1: I think for me, and not only being the daughter of immigrants, right, my parents are not from America, I had to navigate the entire American system really by myself. I have an older brother, but we have very different paths, very different interests. It doesn't look the same. And trying to figure out what that would look like. And then also on top of that is even at the most progressive firms that I've worked at, what I've seen is that over the years, when we used to print out reports for clients, right? We would print out one copy and give it to the husband. And so there was almost a, I don't want say it's a dismissive nature, but women were almost along for the ride rather than having that financial autonomy. And in hearing about Rock the Street, Wall Street, and again, just what your mission statement is and putting that empowerment back into girls and women so that they can understand what careers look like in the world of of the ⁓ of STEM, I think it's so important because, you know, thinking back from my own experience, I didn't have that and I wish I did so that I could have further honed my skills earlier on. And again, I'm so thankful to be in the position that I'm in and to have found the career that I found. And I just want to be able to shout it from the rooftops for other young women so that they know it and they don't have to stumble upon that good luck like I had. I think when thinking about the transformation, We walked into those sessions and there was a lot of timid nature. These ⁓ girls were thinking about what they wanted to do for college, really knew where they wanted to be in 10 to 15 years, right? The classic, I want to be a doctor. I want to be a dentist, not a phymologist. I want to do ⁓ a science-based career because maybe that's what I heard from my family. To see them expand for not only understanding how we connect across the board, right? We talked through not only what careers we could do, but also how to get there, how to ask for scholarships and how to think about ways to make your career and your future more accessible. And I saw these girls really come to life and expand upon excitement and the opportunity to be able to really achieve these dreams that they set out for them, which again, for me is what I do on a day-to-day basis. And so it was just so heartwarming. I think being able to connect to them and see them break out of that shell and be more comfortable with the idea of one, what college would look like, but also maybe taking a math course or two, understanding what they can do with their careers and that there's not, you know, five or six set different jobs that you have to pick between was really expansive and I think really impactful from my point of view.
speaker-0: Thank you so much for sharing that. For our volunteers, I do have a question. For others in your field that might be considering volunteering for Rock the Street Wall Street, what would you say to them? Why is it important that financial professionals are really stepping into the classroom? And how would you encourage someone to take that first step? Sometimes I think that there is a little bit of hesitancy on on the volunteer side maybe to have these conversations with these young ladies.
speaker-1: Absolutely. think, you when I think about where I sit today and the people that I want to see come into the industry, I want more women there. That comes from just knowing how both empathetic and how skilled we are at having more of soft skills to be able to speak to clients when they're in moments of distress or moments of joy. And I'm sure actually, you know, right, the power of female friendship is so important and impactful that when I think about how we get more of those into our industry and how we get more women in finance, we have to start early and we have to start often to start showing them what sort of individuals are in the industry now and again, expand their horizons. So for people that are interested in volunteering or maybe you're looking at the different candidates that you have and you really wish that there were more women there, just getting involved, just starting the conversation was so important to me. you know, for me, candidly, I saw something about the organization. thought, great, let me just reach out again that goes back to learning this early and often is it's never too early to ask. I think importantly too, is that we all have something to share. So it doesn't need to be that you are an industry leader or that you have 10 plus years under your belt before you can start giving back. There's always something that you can share and show and be a representation to these young women. And I think especially for younger women in the industry, right? You're a great model for them because you've recently done this. So you understand what they're going through even more than someone like myself and who's been in here a little bit longer.
speaker-0: really appreciate that you come in with just such an authentic, genuine nature. And I think that really resonates with the girls. I mean, it's something that is wonderful that you're bringing that energy to them in the classrooms. Rock the Street, Wall Street is expanding our programming. So as someone who has seen the impact close off, why would you recommend supporting a program such as ours?
speaker-1: because I think that there's really nothing out there that is focused solely on women. And when we think about what we wanna do, and again, as a CFP, I know that there's been such a push from the CFP side to get more women to have that credential. We can start with organizations like Rock the Street, Wall Street, and focusing on building those women and setting them up for success before they even enter college is so critically important. And it's on us. to be able to set the cadence and set the future for women in this industry. So I think that there's so many wonderful organizations that exist, but in terms of financial literacy and a focus on women, I haven't seen anything like Rock the Street Wall Street ⁓ in my career. And it's something that I've definitely been searching for. So I'm so glad that you exist and that we're continuing to expand the efforts again across the United States into Canada, I think the UK as well. So it's It's just incredible to see. I want to see it all over the world.
speaker-0: Well, thank you so much for that, Alexandra. Your story, your insight, your support, it just means the world to us and to our students, of course. We're so grateful for you and all that you do to help connect the next generation to these opportunities in the capital markets.
speaker-1: Thank you so much Ashley, I'm looking forward to being not only here today but also with Rock This Street, Wall Street for many many years to
speaker-0: joining the conversation, visit rockthestreetwallstreet.com to learn more. Make sure to follow and join us for the next episode. Until next time, let's keep rocking finance.
