Business

PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON

Financial advisor Shella Sylla (left) and securities broker Lynda Harris moved to Charlotte when Miami-based Henderson Financial Group expanded to North Carolina.

Talking finances can be intimidating. Henderson Financial Group wants to make it simpler.

Based in Miami, the financial services company made the strategic decision to expand to Charlotte six months ago.

“The reason why we made the decision to come to Charlotte was mainly because we looked at the economy, and we looked at what was going on around us and, based on the research we did, we found that there was a need,” explains Shella Sylla, a financial advisor and reverse mortgage specialist for Henderson.

“We’re excited. We did some research on Charlotte,” says Lynda Harris, a licensed securities broker and vice president of Henderson.  “Charlotte didn’t get hit economically as bad as a lot of the country. Charlotte would recover sooner. Charlotte is growing, especially the middle and upper middle class, and a lot of industries are moving to Charlotte.”

Henderson Financial Group, Inc. assists its clients with financial objectives, including business planning, investment strategies, retirement planning, estate planning, and college education planning. With an unstable economy and uncertain job market, research suggests that the demand for such financial services will increase as people become more concerned with how to save and grow the money that they have.

“People are hungering and thirsting for financial literacy,” says Sylla. “You can’t move forward in the future, you can’t make it from 2010 and beyond without knowing how to properly handle your finances, and I think that’s at the top of the list for everyone. Being that the economy is what it is right now, it’s not important how much you make right now, it’s how much you keep that’s the most important thing.

“That’s what we’re passionate about. We’re passionate about teaching people how to maximize what they’re earning and how to set themselves up so that they have a sound financial future.”

While some may question the decision of a smaller firm to open a branch in a city that is already home to several financial giants, Harris says Henderson’s approach is different.

“I think what we do best and what’s important is that there’s a missing niche, not only in Charlotte, but in the financial industry where if you makeover a quarter million dollars, you can go to Bank of America’s or Wells Fargo’s wealth management division.

“If you make too little, your big companies don’t want you because you don’t have the liquid net worth. What we are seeing is that hard working (people) …hat know they need to do better [and] that want to do better, don’t know where to go, and we don’t talk over people’s heads,” she says.

The “home town atmosphere” at Henderson is fostered by removing “fancy words and fancy terms” out of financial planning and breaking the process down into a digestible format that their clients can better understand.

“We firmly believe that if you just put things on the table, give people the facts, most will make the right decision,” Harris says. “A lot of it is common sense, and once we educate, then usually we have just the best clients. The best client is an educated client. We do a lot of educating. We engage the client.  We want the family. We make it a family event because the family that invests and plans together stays together.”

Harris realizes that often with finances comes fear, and admits that factor can be a “challenge” to overcome. She insists, however, that education is the best weapon for her clients and reassures them that “there are no dumb questions.”

“Fear and doubt will wipe you out,” she chimes. “People are scared of things they don’t know . . .  People are afraid of the unknown, and once we take all of that away and reduce or eliminate that fear, then we have really good participants left, people willing to learn and teach it to the next generation.”

Harris says it is paramount to Henderson that they work to empower the African American community, in particular, in order to let them know that they must have a place at the global financial table.

“We just celebrated Martin Luther King’s birthday, and a big part of his message and his struggle was economic power and economic equality, and a lot of times we just don’t have it because no one is teaching it, no one is doing it,” she says. “As far as the African American community, especially women, I find that a lot of us make decisions based on financial reasons. We stay in bad situations we shouldn’t be in. We do things we shouldn’t do all because of financial reasons.”

One way Henderson is sharing their message of financial literacy is through their “Understanding Money” radio broadcast on Tuesday mornings at 9:00am on WGIV. Last Wednesday, they began a series of free monthly seminars and workshops in which they covered topics such as retirement planning, disability, health and life insurance, IRAs and demystifying reverse mortgages. In addition, they are available to present financial presentations, workshops and seminars to businesses and individuals.

“Our services are not a luxury anymore because right now, with what’s going on in the global financial market, it’s not what you make it, it’s what you keep,” says Harris. “We have to get out of that ‘working for a dollar’ [mentality]. We need to make sure our dollar works for us.” 

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