Page 38 - San Diego Woman Magazine POWER WOMEN ISSUE

Power Women

Gina Ellen

By Judith A. Habert
Photos courtesy of Gina Ellen

I love San Diego because it is such a opportunity for them and call them up
dog-friendly town." immediately to share it. We also encour-
Gina works with an advisory partner, age clients to call us whenever they
John P. Toman and a team of dedicated come across an idea to discuss whether
professionals who have built an organi- it might work for them. Unlike other
zation that genuinely cares for their cli- companies that do quarterly reviews, we
ent's needs. Gina's team is involved in all are in contact with our clients monthly
aspects of their client's financial matters. to make sure all is well and be certain
They often provide complex advice in tax that we are servicing their wealth
efficient strategies, and access to a net- planning needs proactively, rather than
work of qualified, ethical professionals waiting and reacting."
to whom they can direct clients working I asked Gina what she loved most
as a sort of gatekeeper for their clients' about her current position, and she lit
financial lives. "What makes Jet Wealth up as she responded to the question,
Advisors different than most other firms "Education is definitely my favorite part
is our customer service. Every one of our of my job. I love being able to educate
When you grow up with a Mom and clients has our cell phone numbers and my clients. Often I will meet a client who
Dad who started their own Financial can reach us at any time, day or night is really interested in financial matters,
Firm and grew it to be one of the top and weekends too. Our clients are like but they were never taught even the ba-
independent advisors in California, it family to us, and regardless of when they sics. I think that as children we should all
is easy to understand the drive and need us, we are there." be educated on finances in school. I’ve
determination which was passed down Gina and her team relate to their met several clients who may have been
to Gina Ellen. Born and raised in Cala- clients as if they were family and share taught the Pythagorean theorem in
basas California, Gina was engulfed in in all of their life-changing experiences, school but have no idea how to do their
the financial industry as a young girl. “I the birth of a baby, the purchase of a taxes. I feel that our educational sys-
tell people I knew the rule of 72 by the new home, or on a sadder note even the tem needs adjusting. Personal finance
time I was 12.” Gina’s Dad loved what death of a family member. These conver- shouldn’t be a university elective like
he did and shared it with his 5 children. sations are what Gina believes enables it is now, but several different financial
“We would be driving to go get lunch, her team at JET Wealth to add the most basics classes should be mandatory,
or to my basketball game or something value. She says, “the financial industry’s starting in the elementary years.”
and my dad would open up the stocks status quo is to talk numbers, but that’s One of Gina’s main passions is her
app on his phone, and he would say ‘if backwards.” association with Lean In. “I work with
you can guess where the Dow is within She believes one of the key ingredi- LeanIn.Org, which is a nonprofit organi-
100 points, you can pick where we go to ents to success in this field is listening to zation founded by Sheryl Sandberg, the
lunch, or something like that." your clients and getting to know them COO of Facebook. It is an organization
Being engulfed in financial mat- and what their goals are. “We want to which focuses on supporting women. So
ters at an early age turned out to be a know what kind of lifestyle they want to that's one of the ways I get to fulfill my
motivating factor for Gina. She spent have and once we know that, then we need to help educate women. I recently
one year at Rider University in New can reverse engineer their investment heard the statistic that in the next few
Jersey and then transferred to USD. Gina plans to get them to the place they want years, over $13 trillion worth of wealth
double-majored at first in International to be.” is going to be in the hands of women.
Business and Finance, and when she Gina's team has a goal in mind, and So, women need to be educated and
transferred to USD, she added a minor in that is to build lifelong relationships prepared.”
Chinese. with their clients, meeting their children, For those not familiar with Lean In,
Gina's time at USD allowed her to grandchildren, and sometimes even Gina shares the following, “It's actually
fall in love with San Diego and so this is their parents. This helps with family a lot of peer mentoring, which I think is
where she started her career, "Plus I have succession planning. “Our duty is to just as valuable as experienced men-
two dogs, male twin Australian Kelpies watch out for our clients at all times, and toring. Members meet in small groups
whom I adore and are part of the reason in doing so, we might come across an called Lean In Circles once or twice a

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