Making Us Look Good: Meet Kennadi

The people that work behind the scenes managing your money are just as important as the ones in front of your face when it comes to your financial future. Financial advisor and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® Colin Day sat down with Correct Capital's Investor Advisor Service Associate Kennadi Haythorne to discuss her experience and the importance of client communication.

For recent investment news and our take on the current market, retirement planning, and investment, listen to our podcast Capital Conversations or view our recent blog posts here.

Below is the transcript of our most recent Capital Conversation podcast episode, “Making Us Look Good.”

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Making Us Look Good: Meet Kennadi

Colin Day: Welcome everyone to another edition of Capital Conversations. I'm Colin Day, Financial Advisor at Correct Capital, and today I have Kennadi Haythorne with me. Kennadi, you've been here for a little bit over a year now, right?

Kennadi Haythorne: Yes, a little bit over a year. So, next May it'll be two years.

Colin Day: Okay. So you're overdue for a video… But we appreciate you coming in and maybe telling us a little bit about your journey and how you've ended up here with Correct Capital and thriving over the past year and a half or so. So, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you found yourself working here?

Kennadi Haythorne: Of course. So, I graduated college in December of 2020 with a Bachelor's of Science and Economics and I have three minors – Finance, Business Administration, and Management. While I was in school, I actually took an internship with TD Ameritrade, which kind of exposed me to the financial services industry. So that was my first feel, and I recognized that I enjoyed it so I continued on that path. After TD Ameritrade, I worked at both Wells Fargo – in a back office position approving certain paperwork – and then at Edward Jones – that was more forward facing, where I worked very closely with financial advisors and the office administrators, whether they needed help with onboarding clients or anything like that.

Colin Day: It's amazing that, also growing up in the financial services industry, how much you focus on the operational side of things. And while operations isn't very sexy, it isn't very interesting work, it is how the majority of folks get their feet wet, so to speak, in terms of understanding what it takes to do the next thing, whatever it might be in your career. When I used to work for Edward Jones, I was working with financial advisors as well, and being an educator to financial advisors really helps me as a financial advisor because I've heard hundreds or thousands of their stories. Or, like you've heard, ‘Hey, here's how things get processed.’ Or, ‘This is how things should work. Is that how things work with your company?’ And so, you get the leg up on any conversation you might run into with a client.

So, here with Correct Capital, within your role, why don't you explain to the folks that haven't met you yet, what do you do here, Kennadi?

Kennadi Haythorne: So, essentially, I am one of the Investment Advisor Service Associates. I work very closely with Brian, of course, on boarding clients and anytime he does account reviews, I'm implementing any maintenance that needs to be performed for the accounts. I'm also on the marketing side, so we work very closely together for all our marketing correspondence. And, yes, I’m just building up as much knowledge and experience as I possibly can in this role. It's very challenging, but it's rewarding in the fact that, like you said, I'm learning a lot to where when I'm ready to make the shift in my career, it's appropriate and I feel like I have enough information to move forward.

Colin Day: The thing is that even during times like now when investments aren't performing well, we as the advisors are not just sitting on our hands, just hoping that nobody calls us. No, they're still proactive things that we do. I just did a webinar with a group and we were talking through, ‘What are some basic budget and debt planning functions that we can do when the market isn't doing well? Because I don't have much good news to share.’ Even with the recent uptick in the market, let's say the past couple of days, it's not guaranteed that's going to continue. We don't know over long periods of time, which are going to be the good and which are going to be the bad. So we use that time to do something, which then means we make people like Kennadi busy because we've got other ideas or other things we wish to implement. So that's really where Kennadi comes into play. So could you maybe give us an example of something that you might be tasked with where, Brian has a meeting with one of our clients and he turns to you and says, ‘Kennadi, I need your help with this with Joe Smith or Jane Smith.’ What would be an example of something like that?

Kennadi Haythorne: He has a review and say, for instance, the client has reached the age where it's time for them to start taking an RMD. We, of course, keep a log of all the clients who need to take RMDs. So, in addition to that, I would do something like setup bank linkages, so that we could send out the RMD through the bank or through an electronic funds transfer. I process anything from check writing applications – if someone is interested in writing checks from an account – I process that, and any account reregistrations – there's instances where joint accounts are very often reregistered to trust accounts. That is a bit of a process. Really, I communicate with the clients. I'm the middle man for everyone. In a lot of instances for transfers, I'm communicating with the client, Brian, and whatever entity or company or financial services firm that we are transferring funds from. Honestly, it's just always a lot of moving parts, so it's about staying organized and just communicating, which is a big part of the role.

Colin Day: And that's really where clients come into play, right? Because Brian is the one that was in the meeting and was sitting with our clients, and now we have to take that ball and run with it with our clients. So it's a little bit of, we have all the details, we just need to understand and make sure that we've organized them in a way where we can properly communicate that, make sure that we can get things accordingly. Of course, that doesn't always mean that the receiving party of the paperwork is going to process it the first time or process it correctly. That's just a lot of labor intensive work that, like you used to do, now you get to see the other side of it from the advisor.

So, when it comes to Correct Capital, when it comes to working in this industry, was there anything that drew you to financial services? Your background was economics; I heard management; I heard lots of financial topics in there. Was there something about financial services or working for a financial office that interested you?

Kennadi Haythorne: Of course the exposure with TD Ameritrade. It was an internship, but we did have moments where we interacted with clients. And, for me, that was big. I didn't want to be doing the same mundane task. You learn that, as you progress through different roles. But one part of that role and other roles is that I was able to interact with a large variety of people while learning different things. I just learned over time that I didn't want to be the one always having to take phone calls, because that comes with its own level of stress and it's kind of the same thing. I'll do the same thing now, but it's not like answering a phone and performing the same task over and over again. So through those roles, and the experience I gained through those roles, it led me to Correct Capital. And what I appreciate about this job is it's challenging and I learn a lot, which is what gets me up every day, which is ultimately the financial services industry as a whole. It's ever-changing, so there's always new things to learn. So really, that's what stuck out to me. I just had a knack for it and I just ran with it.

Colin Day: Yes, there's so much more to offer when you start to get in front of individuals, start to talk to people, really understanding their stories. Because so much of what you and I would've gotten in previous roles, working for larger institutions, is we're hearing it second or thirdhand. When we get more in front of the individuals and talk to them about what their specific needs are, why a recommendation is being made, the connection is just so much better, right?

Kennadi Haythorne: Oh yes, of course. Working at a firm like this one where it's an IA and you don't have all the pressures that some other companies have. To maybe not do things that are in the client's best interests. That's what I can appreciate about our firm, Correct Capital Wealth Management, is that we always do things that are in the best interest of our client. We're never incentivized to do anything that isn't in the client's best interest.

Colin Day: Absolutely. Kennadi, thanks so much for joining me today. Again, you're overdue. And, as Kennadi mentioned, she does help with the marketing, she helps with videos, and our podcasts, and other things we do marketing wise. So, when you see an email from Brian, or from myself, or anybody, really it's Kennadi that's behind a lot of them, too. So we appreciate your help.

Kennadi Haythorne: Thank you and I appreciate you guys, as well.

Colin Day: All right, until next time everybody. Thank you so much.

The opinions expressed in this program are for general informational purposes only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual or on any specific security. It is only intended to provide education about the financial industry. To determine which investments may be appropriate for you, consult your financial advisor prior to investing.

As always please remember investing involves risk and possible loss of principal capital; please seek advice from a licensed professional. Correct Capital Wealth Management is a registered investment advisor. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where Correct Capital Wealth Management and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. No advice may be rendered by Correct Capital Wealth Management unless a client service agreement is in place.