Father-daughter team steer path to financial security
It’s an all-in-the-family operation at Arcadia Wealth Management, where Shelter Islanders Walter Wisniewski and his daughter Allison Vanaski guide their clients to achieve financial stability, explaining methods in their recently published book, ‘The Millionaire Within.’
Most people who recognize the need to establish financial stability envision hours poring over numbers.
But think again.
For part-time Islanders Walter Wisniewski and his daughter, Allison Vanaski, a 90-minute opening consultation will be spent talking numbers for about 10 minutes. The rest of the time is about getting to know a client — his or her interests, values, goals, hopes and dreams.
“It’s our family helping your family,” Mr. Wisniewski said, explaining the methods of their business, Arcadia Wealth Management.
Most of the clients come from referrals, but they also advertise through the National Association of Professional Financial Advisors, Mr. Wisniewski said.
He came to financial services after a family tragedy where he saw his hard-working parents lose everything they had following the death of one of Walter’s brothers in a car crash in the late 1960s. They had built their own business, a general store, but couldn’t maintain it amid the grief they were enduring. Both found solace in alcohol following their son’s death.
Although Walter was devastated, he found the coping skills to persevere and helped his parents get back on their feet. That period showed him the value of having a strong financial foundation. It became his life’s mission to help others discover their own financial freedom, he said.
His story of building his business led to the recently published book he and Ms. Vanaski authored, “The Millionaire Within.”
Ms. Vanaski describes the book as “a way for us to tell his story,” she said, turning to her father, referencing his family’s tragedy.
“The book started to write us,” Mr. Wisniewski said about the process of creating what they call “a guidebook to money, relationships and creating a vision for your unique path to success. We want to create a shift in thinking.”
He told the story of a ship’s captain seeing a light in the path of his craft and radioing the person there to shift course. The person refused, suggesting the captain shift his course. After several back and forth arguments in which the captain became increasingly demanding, the person on the other end finally explained he couldn’t shift course because he was at a lighthouse. That clearly created a “paradigm shift” in the captain’s thinking and he rapidly changed his course.
It’s that same philosophy that informs the approach Mr. Wisniewski and Ms. Vanaski take with their clients: Give them the information they need to understand why the client may need to shift course.
Ms. Vanaski was inspired early in her life by her father’s’s passion for all things financial and initially went to work at Lehman Brothers in New York City. Seven years ago, when her father began talking about hiring someone to help him handle his business, to his surprise, she suggested joining the firm.
With offices in Manhattan and Smithtown, the team manages between $150 million and $170 million for its clients.
The team likes working with women in transition, whether it’s the result of a job change, a divorce or other life-changing events. Women tend to make better investment decisions than men, Mr. Wisniewski said.
They seek to determine which of them or one of their associates will be the best match for a client.
Some will choose Mr. Wisniewski at the outset because of his 46 years in the business, but later realize they’re just as comfortable working with a married woman with two children who, at 35, knows what it is to balance a demanding job, family and social life.
“It’s tough” to balance the many demands on her time, Ms. Vanaski said. “There are days when you feel you can’t do anything right.”
“It’s all about the relationship” with clients that makes her work life worthwhile, Ms. Vanaski added. The hardest part is “figuring people’s quirks” and how they handle their money with respect to their specific interests, she said.
Their book is for a new financial world, Mr. Wisniewski said. “What worked 30 years ago doesn’t work now,” he added.
He spoke about a couple he’s been advising for years who were reviewing their strategies. Almost as an afterthought, the husband mentioned the couple was separated and in the process of divorce.
That they didn’t see this as a major life change that could affect their finances was surprising, to say the least. Mr. Wisniewski and Ms. Vanaski advised them on handling their individual financial interests. She worked primarily with the wife while Mr. Wisniewski counseled the husband, and at times, they met together to ensure both will be secure for the future.
