Mark Belcak
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A SUCCESSFUL FINANCIAL ADVISOR?
MARIA GEFFERS
Tell us about your journey and the moment you knew you wanted to work in the financial industry?
MARK BELCAK
I've been in the financial industry for 28 years. It’s an interesting path for any who follows the financial markets. I’m on the buying side, which means I support clients. There is a big differentiation between the buying side and the selling side. I work for individuals and help them create a goal-based retirement plan. Whatever my clients want to achieve in life, I help them come up with the plan to successfully get from point A to point B.
When I started college, this was not the career path I chose. My dad was a chemical engineer, and I was interested in cars. I thought roller coasters were fascinating. So, I decided mechanical engineering would be a good major because I was good at math and okay at science. It seemed like the logical route. Then, during my sophomore year, I was enrolled in calculus two, statistics, and dynamics, and decided I wasn’t having fun. At the time, my mom was a portfolio manager for a bank. She had been in the industry for a while. I talked to her about what she did and then decided that seemed more my pace.
So, I changed curriculums and started in the business program. I started enjoying myself. The classes I took made more sense and seemed more applicable for my future. When I realized I didn’t want to go into engineering, everything changed for me. If I had known the two of you back then, I would have taken the Birkman test and I would have known engineering wasn’t for me. I would have had a better head start.
TOM GEFFERS
We speak to people around the country about different careers, and a lot of them start off with something totally different and they evolve into something they're currently doing. The terms financial advisor and financial planner cover a broad range of services. How would you describe your job as a financial advisor?
MARK BELCAK
The industry's changed quite a bit because the expectations from our client base have changed quite a bit.
When I started in 1994, being a broker was about helping your client facilitate trades, whether they were selling stocks or bonds. Today, it’s very different being a financial advisor or planner. It’s much more all-encompassing. My first job was with First Fidelity, in their trust department, where I worked with trusts and estates. The individuals I worked with needed help planning their retirement. That piece has bled into the traditional broker position.
There aren’t many people who only buy and sell because people could do that themselves. So, the role has expanded to incorporate more retirement planning and how to go over the bumps in the road between where you are today and when you retire. I help people transfer assets and give charitably. I help people with tax planning and estate planning. Being a financial advisor or planner is a lot more involved and the line between the two professions is blurred. Now, my role involves handling all aspects of estate and retirement planning.
TOM GEFFERS
What is the definition of a fiduciary?
MARK BELCAK
I am a fiduciary, which means I must put my clients’ interests before my own. That factors in in the investments you do, the strategies you put in place, and the plans you’re building. For example, if I’m selecting a particular share class of fund that they’re investing in, choosing one that’s more cost-effective for my client, as opposed to the one that has the highest commission for me. As fiduciaries, we help alleviate a lot of questions after we make recommendations. If you’re putting your client’s interests before your own, there is not a lot of second guessing going on. Putting the client’s interests before our own is a regulatory issue. If you don’t, you can get in a lot of trouble.
TOM GEFFERS
What are some of the top skills required to be successful in the financial field?
MARK BELCAK
Everyone is different. In the financial industry, there are positions that are better for introverts. If you’re a financial analyst or working in the accounting department for a large corporation, you won’t deal with people as much. If you’re a financial advisor or financial planner, however, you’re more client-facing. I encourage anyone going into this field to expose themselves to human behavior classes because you’re always going to deal with people. The human behavior class gives people an opportunity to learn about different personalities and how to work with them. It's important to understand how to adapt, and how you communicate, so anybody can understand you. It’s also smart to get involved in public speaking. People should either take a public speaking class or go after an opportunity that allows them to get public speaking practice. The more comfortable they are conveying their message, the more concise, effective, and efficient they will be.
People in this field are going to find themselves in situations where they’re speaking to anywhere from dozens to thousands of people, so they need to be comfortable conveying their message. That will always be beneficial. That ties in with the human behavior class because everyone listens differently. Because being a financial advisor is more client facing, those two classes outweigh any accounting courses or microeconomic courses they may take. Being a financial advisor is all about building relationships and being able to use that relationship to become a trusted financial contact. That’s most important.
MARIA GEFFERS
It’s important to know people don’t see and hear things the same. We all hear things differently.
TOM GEFFERS
How do you stay on top of all the changes that happen daily in the financial world?
MARK BELCAK
The industry someone is in will determine the level at which they need to understand this. Because I help my clients with retirement planning, it's important to keep the big picture in check. A lot of what you hear in the headlines doesn't come to fruition. So, I must understand the psychological impact it has on moving markets. It’s important to take a closer look at whether it has a fundamental impact at all. When I explain markets to my clients, I tell them that the long-term trajectory is based on the fundamentals. If the economy is doing well, there is an opportunity for growth, and companies are reporting good earnings, the longer-term returns will be there.
Much of the volatility that happens is psychologically based. There's a lot of fear and irrational behavior that factors in on a day-to-day basis. If you’re watching the market open each day, you might witness some things that might spook investors. By the end of the day, however, it usually doesn’t seem as bad and the market recovers. COVID, for example, sparked a lot of concern about the trajectory of the economy and whether there would be long-term impacts. Being able to differentiate between a short-term irrational movement in the market and a fundamental crack in the system is important. Being able to convey this to your clients is equally as important. Through the pandemic it has been more important to talk your clients through their fears, establish a plan, and ensure they know you’re there for them and keeping an eye on everything going on.
Everyone can be an expert when the market's doing well. It was easy to be an expert in 2019. The value we bring to the table as a financial advisor and certainly as a fiduciary is to provide opportunity when it's not as clear. When we're talking about achieving your goals and objectives, sometimes it's not always, "Well, the SMP is up 10, let's be up 12." In my role, the more important variable is if the SMP is down 10. Then I try to protect my clients as best as I can. The most critical part of being a financial advisor is finding ways to protect assets and still capitalize off them when the market does well, because inevitably, as time has proven year after year, the market will recover.
MARIA GEFFERS
Working with a professional is important because they know what they’re doing. They know the good, the bad, and the ugly. When everything is going well, you don’t need them, but when things go up and down, that’s when the professional stands out. Your motto is, “Don’t wait for the perfect moment, take the moment, and make it perfect.” How has that guided your life?
MARK BELCAK
If you're always waiting for the moment to be perfect, you're going to miss a lot of opportunities. Whether it's your career, your family life, or your friends, you're making the best of a situation. Inevitably, you're going to have more good times than bad. Being proactive, taking control of your life, taking control of your career, taking control of the current circumstances, can be overwhelming. It’s unfortunate that the news headlines are usually negative. It’s always death, destruction, and misery. It’s tough to avoid that and it’s easy to get bogged down by it. Always looking for optimism and looking if there is a fundamental shift in the market will keep you on solid ground.
This year's been volatile, and it's easy to get overwhelmed by a lot of the news. The reality is, if you break things down to their core, the fundamentals are fine. Looking at each moment, not sitting and waiting for the perfect time, allows you to make the best of any circumstance. There have been major downturns in the market since I started my career in 1994. People could have easily buried themselves under a rock and waited for things to pass, but that would do yourself and your clients a disservice. I created the right path for each of my clients during those periods. We were proactive in finding a way to get them success during trying times.
MARIA GEFFERS
Can you talk about a time when you helped someone, and it was clear you had chosen the right profession?
MARK BELCAK
In this role, relationships are huge, which is why it’s important to get comfortable working with people. It’s tough when clients get older and pass away. Working with surviving spouses and family members is difficult. That’s when the value we provide ensures the surviving spouse is in good financial shape. Helping people focus on the things that are most important is very rewarding. I met with a husband and wife, and the husband was in bad shape. His health had been declining. He was the person who took care of the finances. His wife knew he didn’t have much time left, so she wanted him to enjoy his remaining days. In this relationship I found myself working more with the wife, because she didn’t want her husband to know he only had weeks to live. She wanted him to be able to enjoy the time he had left.
The challenge was, they had an annuity they were bringing over. One of the components of an annuity is a death benefit. While I was working with her, I discovered that if I could move her into another annuity, she would get a higher death benefit while increasing the income they could draw from it.
It was a sensitive time to convey to the husband that we were doing this. I couldn’t say we wanted to increase the death benefit because that would be insensitive. So, I tried to cater the conversation so both individuals understood this was in their best interest. It would benefit them today with more income and benefit her later by locking in a higher death benefit. She was very appreciative of how we were able to work through such a delicate situation. It was a tough time. It’s hard to lose a client, but it’s also rewarding to know I helped the surviving spouse be in a better financial circumstance. She felt very comfortable in the communication we had, and she knew she was in good hands when her husband passed away.
Lastly, for anyone who is trying to become a financial advisor or planner, internships are crucial. I did two internships while in college. I interned for United Jersey Bank in Princeton, and I interned at a brokerage firm. That helped me understand both sides of business and what I did not want to do. Internships are not only great for your resume, but they also show you what you don’t want to do with your time in the future.
MARIA GEFFERS
That’s great advice. Thank you for sharing so much beneficial information.
