Emily Green is the director of private wealth for Ellevest, an independent wealth management firm for high-net-worth women launched by industry veteran Sallie Krawcheck. Green was one of the first employees hired to build Ellevest, with a key mission: Provide financial, investment and wealth management services to women who are often forgotten by traditional wealth managers. Green shares her personal journey and key trends that women are investing in today.
Early influences in our life often shape who we become. Who were the women in your family who impacted your life?
Family has had a large influence on me. Since my mom was a teenager, my grandmother was legally blind. She was a brilliant woman. She couldn’t go to many places on her own, so she spent a lot of her time at home trading stocks. Yes, this was a woman in the '70s, '80s and '90s who would follow stocks, call her stockbroker and buy or sell stocks. She bought us grandkids stocks that interested us as little kids, which helped us all engage. For example, Disney. I would compare this to an adult today buying Apple stock for their grandkids. Disney was something we loved, and we loved owning a part of it.
Influenced by my grandmother, my mom has also always been the head of finances in our household, which included the bill-pay, budget and investing. She’s been the executor on people’s estates more times than I’m sure she cares to count. Why? Because people know she is comfortable with money. She’s always been comfortable managing and talking about money.
Having watched two women take complete financial control of their lives was one of the things that led me to Ellevest. When I worked on Wall Street, I was amazed to meet some of the most powerful women in New York and hear about the angst and stress money caused them.
You came from the traditional wealth management space before Ellevest. What was that journey like for you?
Honestly, I mostly loved the culture of a big bank while I was there. I think they are fantastic places for people to start a career and learn. When I was an associate, I was the youngest associate on the team of about 10 associates. The other nine associates were all men. That was hard. While I still consider some of them close friends, being in your mid-20s without someone like you around to relate to, to share things with and to commiserate with during those long days is tough.
When I quit the bank for Ellevest, there were those who supported me. But there were also a lot of people who made me feel like I was ruining my life, my career and everything I had worked for. One person told me that once the allure of working with a famous woman [Sallie Krawcheck] wore off, I would be back. That was almost seven years ago. Still, I wouldn’t give up those early days for anything.
These past years have been an incredible journey. I remember when I first made our fee schedule. I spent weeks doing research and pulling competitive data. I made a whole slide presentation — using a Mac versus a PC, which was a whole learning experience — and scheduled a meeting with Sallie. I went through my whole presentation, and she responded at the end: “Yes, whatever you think. I trust you.” That was a shock to me. I had never been in a professional position where I felt like I could truly make a decision on my own before. The big banks tell you what to say and think.
There are days when it would definitely be easier to be back at a large, traditional institution, but I wouldn’t give up my experience at Ellevest for anything.
Sallie Krawcheck is a well-respected leader in this space. How has it been for you building this business out side by side?
Sallie is an incredible visionary, and I feel honored to have built something alongside her. It’s funny, when you’ve worked with someone for so long, you almost forget about who they are or what they have accomplished. Sallie and I love to joke around with each other, and we’ve worked so closely for so long that we appreciate challenging each other.
After we hit $2 billion in assets, it was one of those moments that made me really reflect on my career. I sent Sallie a note saying that “it is so hard to take a step back in the day-to-day and really appreciate everything. If you told a 25-year-old me that I would one day help build an RIA with $2 billion in assets alongside Sallie Krawcheck, she wouldn’t believe it! Standing at the NYSE ringing the opening bell with you is truly a pinch-me moment. Now I can go back to being hard on you.”
She is an incredible leader and really lets you make decisions and learn from your mistakes. I am very grateful for that.
Ellevest’s growth has been impressive to watch over the past few years. What do you attribute that to?
The financial industry wasn’t built for women. Most advisers are men, and the way financial institutions and media talk about money isn’t geared toward women. When I left a big bank, someone on the way out told me that no one was going to want to come to a firm with no assets. And yes, of course it’s hard to build something from scratch. In my first week of work at Ellevest, I made a fee schedule that covered clients with $1 [million] to $3 million in assets, because I couldn’t imagine someone coming to us with more. Well, that very next week, I got a call from a woman with $25 million-plus in assets. I quickly realized that women of all wealth levels weren’t and aren’t being served by banks. As women gain control of more and more assets over the next few decades with the great wealth transfer, I expect this growth to only quicken.
What are the key investment trends that your clients are most interested in today?
Values-aligned investing has been a key part of our growth. Women disproportionately believe in climate change. Women are more philanthropic. It’s a natural next step that they would want to align their investments with their values. A lot of people have tried to jump in and out of the impact, ESG, values-aligned investing space, but I think that we have really been able to capture a market in this space because we are a mission-driven firm through and through. People are starting to care more about who they invest with and what they invest in.
What are you seeing on the private investment side?
The majority of our clients in our private wealth business use private investments. We believe this is an important part of the diversification of a portfolio for clients where appropriate. I see a few trends. People who were investing in private investments did a lot in venture in a short period of time. They are now reevaluating that and thinking about how they can build a more diversified portfolio of private investments in areas like private debt, real assets and renewable energy.
Second, the interest in this space continues to grow. A lot of people are sick of seeing the same large managers from their large wealth advisers. We have many people reaching out looking for more bespoke opportunities.
Third, the importance of the direct impact our clients can make in this space continues to grow. From education technology that helps underserved communities to building renewable energy, our clients love the storytelling that private investments allow for.
What’s next for you and Ellevest?
Someone recently asked me if there is a dollar amount of assets under management at which we will stop. The answer is no. We will continue to grow our team and services to serve all women and their families. We have amazing growth and fit with clients in the high-net-worth space. We recently launched a service focused on the $500,000-to-$1-million space, which I am very excited about and we have gotten a lot of great feedback on.
Now, I’m tackling the institutional space. It feels like a natural fit to do more work with large families, endowments and foundations where we can offer custom impact mandates. This group really craves personalization and portfolios that allow them to report on the impact they are specifically making. We can already do this, so now we are working on building that client base.
How to turn entitlement into enlightenment
By CHRISTIAN BROYHILL
Decades later, I still remember hearing his voice — a boy of perhaps 10 or 11 stood behind me in line at a gift shop. He asked detailed questions about each item he prepared to buy, appearing knowledgeable and confident. I cannot remember what I was buying … maybe a pack of gum? But after I made my purchase, I heard the cashier announce that this boy owed hundreds of dollars. I panicked, wondering how he would be able to spend so much.
“Put it on my parents’ account,” the boy replied. The store manager obliged, and the boy walked out of the store with giant bags full of seemingly unnecessary purchases.
I went home and asked my father why that boy had been able to spend so much of his parents’ money without them being there. “That boy sounds entitled,” my dad responded. “You will meet people like this in your life. People who do not understand the value of money and who believe they can purchase anything they want, as if the money grows on trees. It is important for you to remember that you are not these people. No matter how much money we make, we will always know the value of our purchases.”
My father continued to point out “entitled” members of society as time went on. The man who insisted his child not wait in line like the other children for face painting at a birthday party. The woman who maxed out her husband’s credit cards even though she did not work and he earned the money. The teenagers who insisted on wearing the most expensive clothes at my boarding school despite having never worked a summer job.
The message growing up was clear: “You will not grow up to be an entitled member of society. You will work hard and be kind.”
Better yet, my father adopted a family quote: “With privilege comes responsibility.” What was my responsibility? I knew I could not be like the “others” who had privilege and yet did not seem to appreciate it. I knew that it was my job to not only be kind but to be the most kind and gracious person in each room. “There are people who will believe you are entitled because of your family name, but you will prove them wrong with your kindness and good deeds.”
I worked hard to shed the “entitled” label. I took my responsibility to steward my privilege seriously. I worked several minimum-wage jobs throughout my teenage and college years. I knew the value of work and the value of a dollar. I pursued a career associated with low pay and service to others. I would not be like the others.
Perhaps I achieved leadership skills that others did not. Perhaps my varied work experience earned me unique and desirable character traits. And yet, the more I worked to avoid my entitlement label, the more I started to bump up against the reality of my own entitlement.
So what is entitlement? Historically, I believe we have used the word “entitlement” to describe individuals who act as if they are entitled to something they did not earn. An entitled person expects a paycheck that wasn't earned — to not have to wait in lines at the airport, to receive faster service than others in dining establishments.
Based on the definition listed above, these people are entitled. And yet, despite all of my work to be the opposite, I have learned that I am entitled. I am entitled to money that I did not earn — money that I have and will continue to inherit from my father, who has inherited money that he did not earn. I can do very little to separate myself from entitlement — from the bank documents that have secured my access to financial stability since before I could even walk or talk. Did I earn this money? No. Do I deserve it? The bank says yes.
How, then, do I contend with the realities of my own entitlement while seeking to avoid the pitfalls of becoming entitled? For a long time, I ignored my financial privilege. I proudly lived (and still mostly live) only off of money that I had earned. I prided myself on my work ethic and my ability to live below my means.
My ability to ignore my wealth shifted, however, when I gave birth to my daughter. How can I teach her about the wealth she will inherit if I do not understand my own?
Furthermore, I started to recognize that the more I ignored my financial privilege, the more I missed out on opportunities to better serve my community.
In the world where I grew up, I was set up to believe that there were two types of wealth inheritors — the givers or the takers. Those who live entitled lives versus those who don’t. Those who go out into the world to be seen and those who go out to serve.
Over time, this way of thinking has become problematic in multiple ways.
First, it requires you to ignore the realities of your personal wealth in order to feel whole — which, of course, is not wholeness. Second, it creates increased division among humans in a world where we are already too divided. Could it be possible that there is a third path?
Within my third path, I suggest that individuals with inherited wealth take back the word “entitlement” for themselves. What if, instead of fearing entitlement, we pursued empowered entitlement?
When I first suggest “empowered entitlement” to my clients, they almost immediately shudder. I can visibly see the physical discomfort a client experiences as I introduce this topic. Their shoulders rise up to their ears, perhaps a brow furrows or a lip twitches. “But I’m not entitled,” they will tell me. And then they will give me their list of good deeds just like I did above — a resume for lack of entitlement.
As we talk, a client may begin to name the harsher realities — “If I am entitled, then I need to accept that I have not earned a portion of my wealth. … If I am entitled then I must sit with the complexities of realizing that I have been given access to privilege in this world by nature of my birth and not my good works.”
And yet, as each of my clients begins to tell the truth over time — and without shame — of their wealth stories, their physical presentation shifts. Their shoulders relax. They breathe more deeply. They can think more clearly about their futures. When we shift from fear of entitlement to empowered entitlement, we can take control over our future instead of living a life characterized by constant striving and hiding.
In Kristin Keffeler’s well-researched book, The Myth of the Silver Spoon, she suggests that rising-generation inheritors often fail to self-actualize due to the ways in which inherited wealth creates increased internal clutter. Specifically, Keffeler has identified “money clutter” as one of the key impediments to personal success. She has created a path forward for her readers to begin clearing the clutter and live more fulfilling lives.
What if you did not have to run from fear of entitlement and could instead find freedom by becoming empowered in your own entitlement? Can you begin to dream of how your life might look different?
Maybe we don’t have to feel so stuck after all. Let’s clear this clutter together.