This profile appeared earlier this year as part of On Wall Street's Top 40 Under 40. All details are as of Sept. 31, 2017. To see who else made the top 10,
Nick Kavallieratos wants his clients to understand the full extent of their financial freedoms and focus on more than the daily humdrum of making ends meet.
"I think we get mired day-in and day-out, that we miss the basics in our daily lives in order to attain our goals and find financial freedom," says the New York-based advisor, who ranked No. 2 on On Wall Street's Top 40 Under 40 with $7.8 million in production . "I've always found self-fulfillment in helping people figure that out and helping clients attain their overall solution."
Not only is Kavallieratos urging his clients to focus beyond the moment, but he helps them work towards simplifying their approach to money and spending — so they aren't juggling multiple elements in their lives.
"I had a client call me back yesterday after they had paid off their mortgage, and it was the greatest conversation I've had in a long time," he says. They had planned to pay it off in 12 years but ended up paying it off in seven. "It was such a huge advantage to them because they are sending their first child off to college."
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Today, Kavallieratos says a key component of his strategy focuses on helping clients understand how things happening at the local level can be affected by global events.
"We're in a state of current affairs where anything could happen abroad that could help your situation at a global level," Kavallieratos says. "We work with clients one-on-one to make sure we can provide them with financial freedoms, but at the same time, hedge them from exposures to geopolitical impact. In a very simplistic way, we make macro decisions so that our individual clients can make micro decisions in their everyday lives."
Kavallieratos has been at Morgan Stanley his entire career. He cites a sea change in his planning philosophy beginning during the recession about a decade ago, when clients were calling frantically, worried about how their money would weather the volatility and uncertainty in the markets.
"At that moment, I think I really started to refocus and reshape the direction I take in my business," Kavallieratos says. "I think, then, I turned a corner to focus more on individual wealth and providing clients with holistic, comprehensive solutions — not just for them, but for their families, their legacy and perhaps most importantly for my clients who serve their communities."
He says he also has several clients who are involved in charity and community service, something that he says is central to his planning philosophy and his life outside the office. "I didn't come from a privileged background," Kavallieratos says. "I believe in paying it forward in a multitude of ways. Progress is a key component of my mantra and what I believe."
