Money doesn’t buy happiness. In fact, it often brings stress and anxiety. Geri Pell, listed on Barron’s Top 100 Women Financial Advisors list from 2009 to 2016, may understand this better than most. According to her website, she believes “that financial planning should be a healing modality.” To that end, she usually welcomes her clients in her Rye Brook office’s serene Gathering Room, a lounge she designed and furnished personally to evoke a “spa, zen-like feeling.” This all may sound like New Age hokum, but, she says, “what we do is not New Age. It’s well thought-out and follows standard financial guidelines.”
Still, the Ardsley resident explains, “My philosophy around the way we interact with clients is different.”
Her longtime friend and client, Rob Fishman, says Pell’s ability to make complicated financial terms simple and understandable is what sets her apart. “She has a way of explaining things that makes sense,” he says. “She has the ability to put people at ease.”
One of her role models is The Boss. Not her boss — The Boss. Her next Bruce Springsteen concert will be her 90th since 1973. Why Bruce? “The music, obviously, but it’s like he said to his band, ‘We are going to leave it on the floor every night. We will be great and consistent,’” she says. “That’s what I want my brand to be. Give everything, and don’t cause drama.”
