Alexis Fernandez

02/17/2022

I'm excited to share that my career has taken another amazing turn! Same firm, same building, same mission - but a new role and title!

I'm now the Director of College & Social Media Engagement here at Strategies for Wealth. On top of continuing to build my business and reach clients as a financial advisor, I've now taken on leadership responsibilities here at the firm in two key areas.

First, I will be directing our newly announced Financial Advising & Leadership Summer Program for 2022 for college juniors and seniors - an 8 week program designed to build fundamentals for a career in financial advising. More information incoming about that soon - but if you know a college student within commuting distance of NYC that is looking for an internship in finance this summer - I encourage you to connect us!

Second, I've taken on more responsibilities in recruiting - whether they be successful college grads, rockstar career changers like myself, or experienced advisors - and will be creating projects to build the Strategies for Wealth brand on social media in order to attract the best talent (could that be you?)

The best part of all this is - I'm still me. Still the same loud voice, long nails, big hoops, bigger ideas. A former stifled and burnt out teacher now given the breathing space to be excellent and herself. The same girl who laughed the first time someone suggested she could excel in a career in finance.

This is only the beginning.

01/25/2022

Today at Noon ET! DM me for the link!

01/18/2022

In what world can a group of kindergarteners out-smart a group of business school students when it comes to completing a project? Incredibly, ours.

For my first entry in the 50 book goal of 2022, I may have cheated a bit with a book that I've read several excerpts from over the past few years as I dove deep into organizational leadership theories.

My biggest takeaway from Culture Code is that allowing people to explore freely and safely, to collaborate and experiment, is the only way groups become greater than the sum of their parts.

And more importantly than that, creating a group that feels safe is more about what you DON'T do, than what you do. Nuance in phrasing, subtle body language, relaxing of control - it all makes more of an impact than calculated and overbearing measures.

Whatever our roles are in an organization, we all have the capacity to create a sense of safety and belonging with each other. I hope that as we're all hurdling headfirst into our professional goals for the new year, we are all looking for ways to make our groups a little more harmonious, a little less defensive, and a lot happier.

09/27/2021

I am not what has happened to me.
When things end, and opportunities close, we’re allowed to mourn. We’re allowed to fight and scream and cuss and throw very fragile objects against much more sturdy ones.
I have been rejected, been taken advantage of, been abused, been told “No” a million times. I have failed classes, bombed interviews, have lost people I loved. I’ve had dreams crushed, ideas laughed out of the room.
However, we are given the privilege to continue.
You know the saying that goes “When the Lord closes the door, he opens a window”? Well sometimes there isn’t a window, you’ve just got to dig a hole through that wall prison style with a rusty spoon.
We are responsible for making meaning out of the things that happen to us. But that responsibility is a privilege.
We have the privilege of full ownership over our fate, over the solutions we create. What we do in the face of adversity, and the wins we claw out of certain defeat - those wins are entirely ours.
Nobody can take away your creativity, your drive, your ambition. Nobody can laugh you out of the room that you built, nobody can say no to the opportunity you create.
The result may not look how you thought it would, your life may look entirely different than you could have imagined - but it will be yours and you will own it.
Then, when someone else like you comes into your world, you’ll be able to show them to the tunnel. You will be wiser. You will be able to help.
At the end of the day, nothing we do ends with us - just like what others have done to us didn’t end right there.
Let that inspire you to keep going....
Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexiskfernandez/
Follow my NEW IG:

09/17/2021

09/15/2021

It’s the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month! It’s also the eve of Yom Kippur - the holiest day in the year for myself and others in my Jewish community.

Don’t get me wrong, not a day goes by when I don’t think about my identities, and consider how they impact the way I show up in my day to day life.

However, today is certainly an on the nose reminder of the worlds that have made me who I am.

When we show up in the world with multiple identities, it takes a long time to see ourselves as entirely whole. Not part this, part that, but a whole human being who cannot separate parts of themselves even if we tried.

Yom Kippur is a day of repentance and reflection. Some who observe choose to fast and spend the day in intensive prayer.

The fact that this holiday is so important, as opposed to anniversaries of battles or other festivals, reminds me of our deep obligation to others, and to the world. When we ask forgiveness with humility, and seek to make reparations, we are reminded that we are fallible and that the collective experiences of our community are so much bigger than us.

Because of being the whole person that I am, this day of repentance falling on a day meant to celebrate the achievements of my Latinx/Hispanic community could feel at odds - but not really.

I’m thinking about how I can show up better for other Latines, celebrate them harder, provide credit where it is due. I’m thinking about how better we as a community can be in solidarity with other oppressed groups, and how we’re all stronger when we rise up together.

While this day is not about demanding accountability from others, it is my sincere hope that those who see this post - no matter who you are - reflect on the ways they can better show up for their Latinx community members, and not just for one month out of the year.

How can we better uplift each other? How can we start new? How can we build trust and authentic community? All big questions. All important questions.

Finally, for myself, I make a commitment to show up totally and completely. I have wronged myself as well, after all - making some parts smaller, allowing damaging thoughts and actions to affect my well-being. Trying to be a little less loud, a little less this, a little less that, fit myself into boxes with uncomfortable corners and edges. Every day I show up though, a little fuller than the day before.

Acknowledgement, forgiveness, progress - it’s all one big process that we humans will never fully understand. But I believe it’s our mission to continue.

Pa’Lante!

09/14/2021

Financial trends are everywhere. Invest here, get this product, use this strategy. It is overwhelming the amount of advice and tips we can get bombarded with on a daily basis. It’s hard to stay focused when you feel like you’re being pulled in a. Million different directions.

Some people even get financial FOMO when they’re not using a particular strategy they see their friends or people on social media using. There’s a worry that they’re leaving money on the table.

However, the biggest predictor of financial success is NOT a particular strategy, or the flashiest one. The biggest predictor is picking one strategy, and sticking to it.

Pick one strategy that is based on YOUR goals, YOUR financial world, and stay laser focused on it.

07/28/2021

I was speaking to a loved one today, and mentioned that I’m in the life insurance industry. They got a look of relief on their face and asked “Oh good, I saw something about that on Facebook the other day and I wanted to ask someone if it’s true.”

Apparently, they had read that life insurance companies were invalidating claims if someone had gotten the COVID-19 Vaccine, calling it an “experimental medical procedure.” I was horrified, and immediately squashed that worry with the firmest language I could muster.

But now, I’m mad. I’m well and truly furious, thinking that just one vulnerable person could forgo a potentially life saving vaccine because they’re worried about their life insurance.

It makes me mad, because these people peddling misinformation are attacking the basis of everything that I stand for, the very thing that our industry stands on.

Trust.

Life insurance is not simply a number on a page. It is our legacy, one of the few things we can leave behind besides memories. It represents our hopes for our children and our families and loved ones, no matter what happens to us. My clients are literally placing that into the hands of myself and my firm.

To be targeting that trust, in the name of a political agenda or fake science, is truly awful. Especially right now, as we are more than ever so brutally aware of how fickle life can be.

Please, before believing something you see on social media, speak to a trusted professional. I’m so grateful this person did. Don’t hesitate getting life insurance if you need it (and you know if you do.) And for heaven’s sake, get vaccinated.

07/27/2021

Did you know that there’s no record of humans having a word for “blue” until relatively recently?

What is now considered one of our primary colors used to simply be a variation of green, white, and others. Evidence suggests that we humans may not have even been able to tell physically it apart from other colors at all.

It makes me think - until we name something, until we set it apart, does it truly exist?

If we cannot identify something as different and unique, how are we able to remember it at all?

How many more things in our world - our social lives, inner thoughts, workplace, families - are still ancient blue? There are so many things we feel, and experience, that we don’t take the time or energy to name and set apart, in favor of continuing to blend in.

More importantly, how can we set ourselves apart enough - to be distinctly unique - to be remembered? To become as real and fulfilled as we are meant to be?

We have a profound ability as human beings to create, both ideas and ourselves, but only if we find a way to name it. That takes courage, and a sincere curiosity to discover ourselves and others.

That is why authenticity is so important. We are forever in the process of developing ourselves, making our mark on the world. We must be willing to set ourselves apart.

Can you imagine a life not considering the brilliance of the sky, the sea, the hottest flames? We are each that powerful, and we do history a disservice by allowing ourselves to fade away.

07/23/2021

Why Would Someone in Their 20’s Want a Financial Professional?

I’m a financial professional in my mid-twenties. Consequently, the overwhelming majority of my clients fall into the early twenties - mid-thirties range. They are recent graduates, people in their first or second job, newly married couples, etc. Nearly every time, they’re surprised by how much even a couple meetings can improve their financial well-being. It speaks to the unique benefits of speaking with a financial professional when one is just starting out, even with a relatively uncomplicated financial life. Here’s why:

🔹Protection, protection, protection. The most important aspect of any financial plan is ensuring that your most valuable asset - your ability to earn an income over the next 30-40 years - is protected. If you are married or have a young family, it’s even more important. You will never be younger, or healthier, than you are right now, and a financial professional can help you take advantage of that.

🔹It helps you avoid costly mistakes. It is a million times easier to start of planning on the right foot than to undo years and years of financial mismanagement and missed opportunities.

🔹Building a relationship. A relationship with a financial advisor, not to get morbid, lasts until one of you dies. It is a gift to build that trust over time, as opposed to finding someone halfway through your life and trusting them with what matters most to you.

🔹Establishing habits. More than any investment out there, the biggest indicator of future financial well-being is a habit of saving. Forming a plan with a professional that turns saving into an automatic habit when you’re lower on the career ladder means that when your pay increases, your savings will, without any extra effort on your part.

This is just some of the feedback I’ve heard from my younger clients. It’s never too early to start. What would you add to this list?

07/23/2021

Why is "hiring more women" not as simple as it sounds? What changes need to be made in the workplace for it to be truly equitable for women - particularly women of color. Importantly - why does entrepreneurship appeal to so many, especially post pandemic?

"The modern workplace was developed in the initial burst of economic growth after the Second World War and was consequently designed with particular kinds of workers in mind: single men, married men with wives to take care of their homes and children, and young, single women to work in the secretarial pool. The whole (pre-pandemic) culture of business was built on that assumption. It’s why so many business discussions are held over drinks long after five o’clock, or why so many businesses equate “promotable” with “stays late at the office.” Those are conditions which women, on a structural level, are simply less likely to be able to meet while also performing their expected home and childcare duties on the infamous “second shift.” In short, the culture of professional work is not designed for women to succeed, and those same assumptions about where women belong helped fuel our mass push out of the workforce."

It may surprise you to learn that women’s isolation from the economy is a relatively recent development. If you go back to the very beginnings of the United States, or what historians call “the Early Republic,” you find the household as the basic unit of economic activity.