A dynamic duo — Judith and Simone Lee

Judith Lee was 12 years old when she moved from Jamaica to Brooklyn with her parents, who were seeking a better life and a wider range of opportunities. She enrolled in public school as a grade 7 student, but her academic life quickly took off like a rocket.

She skipped grade 8, ended up graduating early from John Dewey High School and soon earned a degree from Hofstra University.

“I am a child of immigrants who have a culture that stresses education, that stresses hard work and the importance of family, and so I wanted to make my parents proud,” she said.

Today, Judith is senior vice president and resident director of The Lee Casey Group, a Merrill Lynch Wealth Management practice in Bedminster, N.J. Judith’s daughter Simone Lee is a financial advisor in her mother’s practice. Earlier this year, Simone became the 100,000th financial professional to earn the Certified Financial Professional designation.

“My parents left Jamaica with little and had to start over,” Judith said. “So understanding the concept of this and taking advantage of the opportunity to be a first generation in building wealth is something that is not lost on me.”

Judith entered the Macy’s management training program following her graduation from Hofstra. “I enjoyed the retail business because it is very dynamic. It is very fast paced, and I had many opportunities to interact with the public. I didn’t know where my path was going to take me, but I always knew that I enjoyed having a career that allowed me maximum interaction with people.”

Her Macy’s career also enabled her to travel to Asia on buying trips, something she enjoyed as well. But Judith had two young daughters and faced a two-hour commute to work each day. Something had to change.

She was always interested in the financial markets and bought her first mutual fund while she was still in college. “Anything to do with money and wealth sounded very exciting to me,” she said.

A bank comes calling

In 1997, Judith received a call from a recruiter who was interested in her retail background. The recruiter worked on behalf of Summit Bank, which was opening branch offices in supermarkets.

“They believed I could learn about banking because of my retail experience and my interest in finance,” she said. She became a branch manager, but she didn’t stay in that position for long.

“A manager in the bank’s financial service division said to me, ‘Judith, I think you’d make a really good financial advisor. Why don’t you think about coming on our side?’ And ultimately that’s what I did.”

Judith became securities licensed in 2000 but realized she needed something more. 

“In 2005, I obtained my CFP designation because I believed that — No. 1 —  as a Black woman in the industry, I needed to have the requisite certifications that would allow me entry into the business and that would allow me to have the confidence and, more importantly, the broad product knowledge, to be able to help high net worth individuals in all aspects of their finances.”

Summit Bank was absorbed by another bank that eventually was absorbed by Bank of America. Bank of America completed the acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. on Jan. 1, 2009. 

“Merrill Lynch recruited me from what was Bank of America at the time, so I have been working for those predecessor firms since 1997,” she said.

Working in many worlds

As resident director of her firm, Judith said that she is a producing manager. “I still serve my clients, hold on to my book of business, but I get to be in management as well.”

Although The Lee Casey Group serves many high-net-worth clients, Judith said her firm also works with many “blue-collar clients, clients who are first generation in terms of building wealth, some individuals who are the first in their families to go to college. We work with senior executives who have risen to the highest ranks in corporate America and are building wealth through their 401(k) plans or stock options.”

She said her immigrant experience has served her well in relating to her clients.

“The very nature of having to leave your original birth country and having to start over, I think gives someone a unique level of drive. Even though the majority of my client base is Caucasian, I came from a community that gave me the ability to talk with anyone.”

Judith and Simone both are mothers who are employed outside the home, and Judith said that gives them a special interest in working with women.

“We understand that women face unique financial challenges, whether it be longevity risk or the fact that you know women don’t have income parity with men. Therefore, women are behind in terms of acquiring and building wealth throughout their working years and being able to catch up because of the income gap. It’s appealing to us to have a practice that is interested in working with high net worth women, single women, women who are heads of households.”

A people person finds her career

Simone earned a mathematics degree from the University of Maryland and worked in project management before joining her mother’s practice. 

“I’m very much a people person, and although I interacted with people in project management, I never believed I had any type of significant impact in their lives,” she said. 

“I watched my mother in her career over the years, and I saw the flexibility and autonomy that she had in her career. She was her own boss, she set her own hours. This was appealing to me. And I saw the deep relationships that she built with her clients. She was always going to clients’ weddings, clients’ birthday parties. She became close with a lot of her clients, which told me that she was really making an impact in their lives. And I saw how happy she was in her role, and that ultimately led me to make the career switch.”

Simone said she has childhood memories of her mother taking her along to visit clients. 

“Sometimes they would cook lunch or dinner for us because she had such a personal relationship with her clients. But I was too young to understand what was going on. It wasn’t until I was older that I had a better understanding of what she did.”

Simone said that building relationships while having personal flexibility are what attracted her to financial services.

“I think it’s extremely fulfilling to build relationships with families and individuals where you’re making an impact that can help them achieve their life goals. There’s also the flexibility and autonomy that I love because I’m so very much a family girl. I knew I wanted a family of my own in the future, and I knew I needed a career that was going to be flexible but also allow me to be my own boss.”

Simone recently gave birth to her second child and said being a young mother “puts me in a unique position to help a lot of my friends who are newly married or starting a family, they’re starting to build their wealth, or they might even be inheriting wealth. I’m able to help a lot of them understand the importance of maximizing your earnings during your prime earning years and saving more of what you earn.

Outside of work, the Lees enjoy traveling with their families.

“We’ve traveled extensively to a number of countries,” Judith said. “And when we travel, we don’t just spend all our time hanging out at a resort. We rent a car; we check out the landscape, the environment of the place we visit. We like to get down with the culture, eat where the natives eat, go to where they have fun. We’re an adventuresome family, and we like traveling and taking risks.”

Simone said that she and her mother “have a dynamic relationship.”

“I am able to learn so much from her because she’s been in this career for so many years. Each day is a different day, and I have the unique opportunity to work with someone in a mentor capacity who is also my mother. That’s appealing, and something that I hope to continue for the next 30 years of my life — to continue to build on our legacy, continue the work she started and build our team.”

Susan Rupe is editor in chief, magazine, for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at [email protected].