For this month’s professional spotlight we are featuring Sirak Teodros. Sirak is a Financial Consultant, who specializes in high net worth investment, estate, and tax planning advisement. Learn more about Sirak and his work:
Could you briefly explain some of your responsibilities in your current career role.
As a Financial Consultant, I advise high net worth individuals on their investment, estate, and tax planning issues.
How did you come to decide that this was the right career path for you?
In college, I interned for one of the Managing Director’s of Citibank’s Private Wealth Management (PWM) Division. I sat in on client meetings with him and heard him applying a lot of the same concepts we were learning in school. So I figured, if he can do it and be successful, then so can I!
Is there a philosophy that drives your career?
Simply put, “Kaizen”, is the motto! Kaizen is a Japanese Term for “continuous improvement for the better”. In any industry, we’re constantly experiencing change. Especially in the competitive industry of Finance. If we’re not finding ways to improve how we cater to our client base, then we’re in trouble.
What do you consider to be your greatest professional accomplishment?
Being 1 of 2 Associates out of 17 to survive Morgan Stanley’s two-year training program starting in 2008. For those that don’t know: the U.S. Economy was in the midst of the worst recession since The Great Depression. This was my Day 1 at the firm.
What’s one piece of advice you would give someone looking to transition into your line of work?
Enjoy what you do! I truly believe that if you’re looking to achieve great success in any field, you have to enjoy the journey in getting there. For example, I typically work 50-60 hours a week. If I hated my job, then believe me, I wouldn’t work those kind of hours.
Outside of all of your hard work and efforts toward building your brand, what do you do for fun? Hobbies?
Family time is number one; no matter how busy or consumed I am with other things, I’ll always make time for them. Traveling is number two; every four months, I’m usually out of the country. Lastly, I just picked up exercising (we’ll see how that goes!).