Morningstar - Q4 2022 - 71

How did your parents handle money?
What did you learn about money growing up?
If money were no object, what would you
do with your life?
" You can ask a simple question and that can stir
an emotional response in someone, " Harris says.
" But let's be real, money is very emotional. "
Harris' aim is to create an environment where
clients feel safe to talk about finances. " I tell them
that I want to know about their life goals to
see how we can use money as a tool to help them
reach their life's aspirations, " she says.
A Grandmother Makes a Strong Impression
Harris grew up mainly in Kenbridge, Virginia,
situated in the south of the state, living
with her grandparents. Her grandmother, the
income earner for the family, worked at
a nearby Levi Strauss LEVI factory, sewing jeans
by machine.
Her grandmother was a role model for Harris, yet
one day, she saw her in tears-finances had
gotten tight, and Harris for the first time witnessed
her grandmother become emotional.
" It does something to you, " Harris says. " I had
in my mind that I need to learn what I could about
money. Those moments with her still leave
an imprint. The financial struggles I saw are not
something I wanted to be a part of or pass on to
the next generation. "
Harris earned a bachelor's degree in
business administration with a concentration in
accounting in 1993 at St. Paul's College,
a historically Black college in Virginia. She also
read Money magazine to learn about
personal finance.
Zaneilia Harris, CFP, president of Harris & Harris
Wealth Management Group
How she caught our eye: Wrote a book titled
Finance 'N Stilettos: Money Matters for the
Well-Heeled Woman.
Career path: Graduated in 1993 from St. Paul's
College with a bachelor's degree in business
administration. She worked as an auditor, analyst,
and consultant, then changed careers to become
a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch in 2006.
She served at PNC Investments before starting her
own firm in 2009.
Personal: Works from her home in Upper
Marlboro, Maryland, in the Washington,
D.C., metro area. Enjoys blogging about personal
finance, cooking, time at the spa, and
supporting her teen daughter, a competitive
swimmer for Machine Aquatics at the University
of Maryland.
Favorite funds: Exchange-traded funds including
iShares MSCI USA Minimum Volatility Factor ETF
USMV, iShares Core High Dividend ETF HDV,
WisdomTree Europe SmallCap Dividend ETF DFE,
and SPDR Bloomberg 1-10 Year TIPS ETF TIPX.
After school, she worked as an auditor
for the Environmental Protection Agency,
an analyst for the Nasdaq NDAQ, and
consultant to federal agencies for firms such as
PwC, BearingPoint, and Grant Thornton.
For the consulting jobs, she would move around
from office to office, taking to the independence
of the assignments and the ever-changing
nature of the work.
She thought she could use her experience
to help others with their finances and joined
Merrill Lynch as financial advisor in 2006.
In her efforts to gain new clients, a boss told her
that people tend to attract people like themselves.
She found that to be the case, and after
a stint at PNC Investments, she opened her own
practice in 2009, focusing on women, and
Black women in particular. As an independent
advisor, she could charge clients directly for
financial planning and assets held, removing any
conflict of interest for selling what a brokerage
house wanted sold.
.
To build business, she first bought a list of 1,000
names of women across the District of
Columbia and Maryland, sending handwritten
invitations to each recipient. She took prospects
out to lunch or dinner, and hosted events
at her house, slowly building her book of business
over the years. Along the way, Harris obtained
her CFP designation in 2014.
Educating Clients on What They Own
Harris recommends a retainer level that best suits
a client's needs for service and financial planning,
ranging from $155 to $596 a month. She charges
separately for investment advice, an annual
fee of 0.75% to 1.25% of the assets she manages.
Harris uses Morningstar Advisor Workstation
to research investments and create client
portfolios. She invests mainly in equity funds and
short-term bond funds, with cash on hand
for opportunities. For 20% of the portfolio, Harris
works with clients to pick five individual stocks
from the S&P 500. These large-cap stocks
have plenty of analyst coverage, making it easy for
clients to follow them. She encourages people
to invest in companies they know, like, and buy
from. " They're more invested, and they learn more, "
she says. " We should be educating our clients. "
Harris must sometimes steer clients away from
making real estate a major focus. She says that
many consumers believe real estate is a significant
path to wealth and says that it's an even stronger
sentiment among Black Americans because their
ancestors were denied land and came from slavery.
" Real estate is a tangible asset and might be easier
to grasp than stocks and bonds, " she says.
" But people don't recognize that there is a lot to
know, and that expertise is needed. "
Now with a steady client base, Harris, 51, stresses
that her success isn't all about numbers. She has
held back from expanding the business with
employees, capitalizing on the flexibility of having
a home office and a life balance. " My business has
allowed me to be present for my family, to be
available for my daughter, " she says.
That includes supporting her teen daughter's
passion for competitive swimming-even when it
means getting up at 4 a.m. to shuttle her
to local swim team practices and meets. To Harris,
it's certainly all worth it. " To be there for my
family and enjoy my clients, to me, is my measure
of success. " K
Charles Keenan is a freelance financial journalist.
Photography by Matt Roth.
morningstar.com/products/magazine
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https://www.morningstar.com/stocks/xnys/levi/quote https://www.morningstar.com/stocks/xnas/ndaq/quote https://www.morningstar.com/etfs/bats/usmv/quote https://www.morningstar.com/authors/2439/charles-keenan https://www.morningstar.com/etfs/bats/usmv/quote https://www.morningstar.com/etfs/arcx/hdv/quote https://www.morningstar.com/etfs/arcx/dfe/quote https://www.morningstar.com/etfs/arcx/tipx/quote http://www.morningstar.com/products/magazine
Morningstar - Q4 2022

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