Financial Advisors Make a Real Impact on Real People

Danielle Darling: My grandfather was a financial advisor, and my mom happened to be his administrative assistant. So I spent many years as a child in an office of a financial advisor. My grandpa was a role model. I always looked up to him. So when I was about five years old, I knew I wanted to be a financial advisor, and here I am years later being a financial advisor, truly living my dreams.

Kashif A. Ahmed: I think what makes a great advisor is to always keep in mind that what we do and the advice that we dispense has a real impact on real people.

Danielle Darling: When my grandpa was retiring, I decided to purchase his practice, so I took on all of the existing business that he had, which was really special because his clients were all family friends of mine.

Kashif A. Ahmed: You need to have these people as part of your life. That is one of the other things that makes this profession so incredibly fulfilling to me is the clients that I choose to work with are part of my life. Their children call me Uncle Kash. I know them intimately and they know me and my life intimately. That, in my opinion, is a thriving business. When you have clients who really become part of your extended family.

Matt McAfee: The ability to control your own destiny and make decisions that empower you and your family, to be generous with your time and money, to help your community in unique ways, that's where my passion comes from. I really do believe that we work in an industry that's a noble profession.

Dory A. Rodriguez: I really feel a great sense of gratitude knowing that I'm there for them and helping them.

Merri Carol Hall: By allowing people to make decisions based on things that you know well, and they listen and follow through on it, and then realize later how important it was. I mean, it just doesn't get any better than that.

Matt McAfee: There's more to life than just making money. If you're not raising other people up along the way, you're missing out on one of the most important parts of life.

Merri Carol Hall: It doesn't matter at the end of the day what business you've done, or what clients you've gained. What matters is how you've taken care of them. You can hold your head up high, you can look yourself in the mirror, and know that you've done the best job for them.