COVER STORY | YOUNG ADVISORS TO WATCH
Melissa Weisz , CFP , CFA , ChSNC
Wealth Advisor & Associate Partner / Corient / Morristown , N . J .
WHEN MELISSA WEISZ WAS studying finance and women ’ s studies at Rutgers University , she knew she was good at math and she wanted to help people . She ’ s a first-generation American , and her parents had lived the American dream — her father left Hungary at age 10 in 1956 and become a successful entrepreneur while her mother came from the Philippines , started as a bank teller and went on to get an M . B . A . and design the OTC derivatives trading system at DTCC .
Most of Weisz ’ s fellow finance majors wanted to go to Lehman Brothers , she recalls . “ I lucked out with an internship ” at Wechter Financial Services , a Parsippany , N . J . -based RIA firm .
Weisz says she loved that firm , its people and the opportunity it gave her to wear many hats , from compliance to marketing to accounting to writing the quarterly newsletter . But when she was recruited by northern New Jersey-powerhouse Regent Atlantic in 2017 , she accepted the offer , realizing she would become part of a larger team and more of a planning specialist .
Her two specialization areas at the firm — working with seniors and special needs individuals — came out of her personal experiences . Weisz was caregiver for her mother ( who died in 2019 ) and one of Weisz ’ s two sons is autistic .
Insomnia is commonly associated with autism , and Weisz credits her desire to be with her son during long nights to her ability to study for and pass exams for both the CFP and CFA designations . She also got a Chartered Special Needs Consultant certification .
Today , she finds herself serving between 80 and 90 clients , most of them in the New York Tristate area , many retired with between $ 3 million and $ 5 million . Her work entails trying to project healthcare expenses and legacy goals so clients “ can optimally live off their assets .”
It ’ s important that people create what Weisz calls “ a circle of support ” that includes their children and possibly other family members . “ Adult children can become parents of their parents .”
In December 2021 , Regent Atlantic was acquired by Corient . Shortly afterward , Weisz became part of the first class of associate partners of the giant $ 135 billion aggregator .
Now she finds herself in a position between some of the veteran partners and newly minted advisors . “ I really enjoy mentoring ,” she says .
Uziel Gomez , CFP , AFC
Founder / Primeros Financial / Los Angeles
AM MY PARENTS ’ RETIREMENT
“ I plan .” Uziel Gomez declares this
monumental fact of his life matterof-factly . But the big responsibility he shoulders as the crucial financial support for those around him is the force that drives his life and career . It also fuels his efforts to use financial planning to empower young minorities and help them eventually close the wealth gap .
Gomez joined Ballast Point Financial Planning , an independent , fee-only practice in Burlingame , Calif ., right out of California State University , Northridge in 2021 . He left in 2023 . At 26 , Gomez , a native Angeleno and child of Mexican immigrants , is the first in his immediate family of six to graduate college .
He ’ s passionate about boosting the number of Hispanics and other minorities in the wealth management space , noting only 4.5 % of CFPs are Black and Hispanic . Since April 2021 , he ’ s been volunteering part time as an intern coordinator at BLatinX helping aspiring Black and Latinx financial planners build out the next generation of advisors of color .
While helping his family is imperative ( and in this he ’ s taking the well-worn path of endless first-generation Americans ), he ’ s also eager to leave a footprint in the RIA space . Fueled by the nobody ’ s- gonna-break-my-stride attitude of a Gen Zer on a mission , he plans to open his own fee-only practice in May called Primeros Financial and serve primarily first-generation minority Americans like himself in the first 10 years of their careers . Gomez is getting financial support from Equalis Financial , a Los Angeles firm that specializes in serving the LGBTQ + community .
“ It ’ s much harder for an advisor like me to branch out on my own since I don ’ t come from a wealthy background ,” says Gomez . “ We also don ’ t have a vast network of high-income individuals we can tap into for business development . We need to start from scratch and build our brands .”
Gomez ’ s 60-year-old father , who has worked in construction since the age of 12 , and his mother couldn ’ t give him startup capital . But they did impart money management skills and the value of sharing one ’ s good fortune with others .
“ I definitely feel a load on my shoulders , but it ’ s been my biggest motivation ,” Gomez says . “ I ’ m proud to be my father ’ s retirement plan . I ’ m proud to be my mother ’ s retirement plan .”
36 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | MAY 2024 WWW . FA-MAG . COM