What drives someone to spend their career helping other people with their money? In this video, Paul Sydlansky, CFP®, shares why he became a financial planner and what keeps him doing this work. It’s a closer look at the person behind Lake Road Advisors and what he hopes every client feels.

Topics Discussed:

• Numbers are just a tool
• A young couple’s year-long planning process
• Helping clients through life’s changes
• Being the first call when decisions get hard
• Having someone genuinely in your corner

Transcript:

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always liked helping people and at the same time I’ve enjoyed numbers and investing. That’s why becoming a financial planner has been such a natural fit for me. The irony is that the longer I’ve been a planner, the more I realize that the numbers are just a tool. What we’re providing for our clients is security and a plan to help them live the life they want now and in the future.

Early in my career, I worked with a young couple who was really nervous about starting a family, not emotionally but financially. We took this couple through a year-long planning process where we reviewed everything. Their balance sheet, their investments, their cashflow, their insurance, their estate plan and after a full year they finally had the confidence to move forward. Today they have two young children and what stuck out with me through that experience is that this is so much more than investing and numbers.

It’s about helping people feel comfortable to live the life they want and build the life they want for the future. What I love most about being a financial planner is helping clients as life happens, whether that’s good or bad, whether maybe there’s a loss in the family, there’s a new job opportunity or a job loss, a new business opportunity, whatever it may be. Helping people and being that first call, being that resource and that honest opinion when they want to know, “Is this possible? Does this make sense? Are we thinking about this right?” is extremely rewarding.

What I want people to know who work with Lake Road Advisors is simple. It’s that we have their back when times are good and especially when there’s indecision about what the future holds and they’re not sure of which way to turn next. That feeling of having somebody in your corner who knows you, understands what’s important to you and can give you honest feedback and help you plan for the future and genuinely cares about where you’re headed is extremely important to us.

That’s why we’re here.

Lake Road Advisors (LRA) is a virtual wealth management firm headquartered in Corning, NY, with offices in Ithaca, NY, and Vancouver, WA. Founded by Paul Sydlansky, CFP®, in 2016, it serves successful couples planning their next chapter—whether that’s retirement, part-time work, or a less demanding second act. Paul has worked in the financial services industry for 25+ years. Prior to founding Lake Road Advisors, he worked at Morgan Stanley in Manhattan for 13 years, where he was a senior-level manager within the Institutional Equities Department. In 2018, he was named to Investopedia’s Top 100 Financial Advisors list. Paul received a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Marist College and holds an MBA from New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business. Paul is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® and a member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) and the XY Planning Network. They can be reached by phone at the Corning, NY office at (607) 438-2914, Ithaca, NY office at (607) 463-8400, or Vancouver, WA office at (607) 292-2172 or at the firm’s website at https://www.lakeroadadvisors.com/