Nicole Gomez | Partner | Director of Operations
In 2008, after working as an Executive Assistant in 2 different hospitals for 5 years, I decided to see what else was out there. I landed an EA role at a financial firm located in of all places….5th Avenue Manhattan. Clearly I didn’t know much about finance at the time because starting a new job in that industry in 2008 wasn’t the smartest move, but it did end up being a great opportunity for me. Also, this is where I was fortunate enough the meet and work with the amazing Pamela Capalad!
In my 5 years with that company, I learned more than I could’ve ever imagined! There were all these vehicles and tools out there that I never heard of. No one I knew growing up in East Flatbush, Brooklyn had a Trust, a Will, a whole life insurance, a disability policy, assets or a financial planner! What the heck were these things?
Guess only high net worth individuals needed them, unlike me! Everything I was working on felt foreign to me and completely unrelatable. I was led to believe only very rich people should ever have to worry about these things, because this company’s clients were only rich people.
Then it hit me…..geez, how much better would my parents be doing right now in retirement had they invested ANY of their money in ANY thing? They both came to NY as young children from Puerto Rico and they each had been working their butts off since they were teens.
Why did they both work so hard all their lives and now, in retirement, have hardly anything to show for it other than the family house?
Was their money and all their hard work not as important as someone else’s money and hard work because they weren’t in a certain salary bracket?
Did my parents even have a Will?
Did my parents have life insurance or disability insurance?
They didn’t have any of this stuff! So who could help them and other people like us with this secret stuff I never knew about, that wasn’t not taught to us in school? NO ONE! It seemed like no one was out there to offer any help to “regular” people like my family and everyone else in my world at that time. Why?
After 5 years, I moved on to a different industry, learned different skills, had different roles, but I always missed the core of work I did at that financial company which was helping people. I had always followed Pam on LinkedIn and knew that she had started her own company. One day, I came across a job description she posted and that was that!
It was perfect - I’d be able to work in finance again AND now be a part of helping and educating other people like me! People who need it, want it, and can benefit the most from financial guidance when they may not have had any, prior to finding Brunch & Budget, other people who are just learning about Wills, Trusts and all the other tools out there to help them get ahead.