From office helper to wealth firm president — With Elizabeth Dipp Metzger

Before Elizabeth Dipp Metzger became a financial professional, she would spend her days helping her husband, Brian, sell insurance from his downtown office in El Paso, Texas, with their young children in tow.

Today, Metzger is president and founder of Crown Wealth Strategies, a comprehensive wealth solutions firm where she and her husband work together to bring harmony to their clients’ finances and their families so that they can enjoy their success and have peace about the future. She is New York Life’s highest-producing Latina advisor.

A day at the office

As a financial professional, Metzger provides her clients with an integrated financial and insurance strategy focused on maximizing value for her clients. She primarily supports families, business owners and the affluent market in planning for retirement, as well as doing college, estate and business planning. She focuses on working with physicians, professionals and business owners in the affluent market.

Each day Metzger spends with these clients is “100% different,” she said as she described her typical day at the office. “And that’s what makes it so fun to do,” she said. “I love the flexibility of my career and the ability to work with various people from all walks of life.”

Some of the other enjoyable aspects of her job are the relationships she has been able to build along the way with her clients and her ability to use her knowledge and ability to help make a positive difference in their lives.

On any given day, Metzger will have three or four meetings with various clients. She also sets aside time for estate and retirement planning, which, she said, “Is fascinating, as each client’s plan differs and their needs and goals are different. I can be working on a retirement plan, an education plan or a complicated estate plan for multiple generations.” 

Working side by side with Metzger is her husband, Brian. She said this working arrangement has its rewards and challenges. 

One reward is having a husband as a business partner who understands the way she works, as well as her personality, she said. Another is that both bring different strengths to the business. 

“For example,” she said, “he is the best person I know for prospecting, which allows me to focus on the planning aspect of the business. And there is the accessibility that comes with working with someone who is also available at home.” 

And one of the challenges? “Trying to keep work at work and not take it home with us,” she said.

Encountering hurdles

As a female professional in a largely male-dominated industry, Metzger encountered a few hurdles as she navigated her way to the top. The biggest hurdle, she said, centered on the presumptions that many people had about her knowledge of financial matters. 

“At the beginning, in all honesty, you don’t have as much knowledge as you know you will with experience,” she said. So she leaned on resources and people with the expertise she needed. This allowed her to demonstrate to her clients that even if she didn’t know everything about a topic, she knew how to research and get an answer.  

“I’ve used this approach to this day,” she said, “as I engage clients with more complex problems. My resources allow me to work with even the most complex cases.”

She has also pushed to be a lifelong learner and continues to expand her knowledge. She obtained her master’s degree as well as her Certified Financial Planner and Accredited Estate Planner designations. 

Collecting accolades

Metzger’s years of hard work and dedication to her clients have paid off handsomely. She has received numerous awards and accolades. She is a member agent of The Nautilus Group, a service of New York Life, and a select group of less than 250 member agents nationwide focusing on business and estate planning. 

She is also on the advisory board of directors at New York Life. In addition, she has been a member of Million Dollar Round Table’s Top of the Table since 2014 and is on the list of the 2023 Forbes’ America’s Top Financial Security Professionals. 

Metzger is a past recipient of NAIFA’s Advisor Today’s Four Under Forty Award, which annually recognizes four financial professionals who have achieved excellence in their profession by or before the age of 40.

It’s not her plan

Metzger believes that her success in the business can be attributed to many factors, including her grit and determination to succeed. 

“I think my grit and pure determination to help my clients are reasons for my success,” she said. “When you have your clients’ best interests at heart, everything falls into place.” 

In addition, she said, she has always had a great support system in her friends and family, who have supported all of her aspirations.

Metzger said many of her clients appreciate her honesty and integrity. “I pride myself in always giving my best financial guidance and recommendations, even if it is not necessarily what my clients came in for or what they wanted to hear. This is something that I think a lot of my clients come to me for, as they know I will maintain honesty through my practice,” she said.

The following piece of professional advice that Metzger received early in her career — and one that she has adhered to throughout her time in the business — has also played a key role in her success: “It’s not my plan, it’s my client’s plan. It’s not my money, it’s their money. When I put myself in my clients’ shoes, I can work best for them,” she said.

Metzger said her advice to young advisors is “Understand that this is your business.” 

“No one tells you how to run your day. To succeed, you must set up processes and systems that are repeatable for success. The most basic piece of advice is activity. If you don’t meet with people, you will never succeed. Don’t presume that because a client didn’t engage during a meeting that it was a bad meeting. These are all steppingstones to having the experience and expertise you need for a long career!”

Giving back

Despite her busy days at the office, Metzger still has time to give back to numerous charitable organizations in the El Paso community. She and her family support the United Way, Boy Scouts and the Paso del Norte Children’s Development Center. They also sponsor the Children’s Oncology Unit Playroom at the El Paso Children’s Hospital. The Dipp Metzger S.A.M. Foundation Oncology Unit Playroom is one of the busiest playrooms in the hospital because pediatric oncology patients spend the longest amount of time in the hospital. The playroom is the home of the hospital’s therapeutic art program and puzzles, games and story hours.

“I have always had a commitment and connection to children,” Metzger said, in explaining her support of the unit. “One of my previous jobs was as a teacher for 3-year-olds. When I saw the playroom, I knew it was something I wanted the kids to have access to during the difficult times they were going through.”

Sharing her reading list

With all that Metzger has on her plate, she still manages to achieve a healthy work/life balance. And how does she accomplish this feat? “I schedule my family and personal events on my calendar,” she said. “I always put my family first, and this is important as well for my staff. With this focus, we are more efficient in the time we are concentrating on our work.”

Something else that is helping her maintain a healthy work/life balance is the time she makes for fun and relaxation. She loves to garden, spend time with her family during her down time and read. Among the books she has read recently:

» Conquistador — about the Spanish conquest of the New World, because she loves history and her family is from Mexico.

» Seabiscuit — Because she always likes stories about the underdog.

» Willpower — “I believe grit is a huge reason for my success, and I am always looking to expand my knowledge and my perspective of the capabilities of determination,” she said. 

Ayo Mseka has more than 30 years of experience reporting on the financial services industry. She formerly served as editor-in-chief of NAIFA’s Advisor Today magazine. Contact her at [email protected].