We recently connected with Trecy Kent and have shared our conversation below.

Trecy , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I joined the USAF at 18. I was bored and not interested in attending college yet and needed to find a way to pay for it. In joining the United States Air Force I signed up for the GI Bill and had my ticket to be able to attend college when I chose to. I spent 13 years on active duty and earned my Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. After 3 tours in Saudi Arabia during and after Desert Storm I left the military to become a High School Social Studies/ Economics teacher. I earned my Masters in Education and Education Specialist degrees and rejoined the USAF as a reservist at Dobbins ARB in Marietta GA. I became an assistant Principal not long after and then Deployed to Joint Base Balad, Iraq in support of Operation New Dawn. When I returned from that deployment I felt like I needed a change of career. A friend and former colleague had left education to become a financial advisor with Edward Jones and he suggested that I become one as well. I thought he was crazy. Taking a risk of leaving a steady paycheck and a teacher pension to take a career path that was an unknown? Would I be any good at it? Would it bring me the joy of helping others as much as education? The answers to all of these questions has been a resounding yes! After more than a decade as a financial advisor I can say without reservation that I am successful and the joy I get helping my community is as fulfilling as my time in education. I get to change the lives of my clients by helping them navigate to retirement, preparing for the unexpected, estate planning, paying for college and tax savings.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I grew up in a small town in rural Virginia. Troutville was exactly an exciting place to grow up but it was fun and you gather a certain set of values growing up helping neighbors and being a part of a small community. When I left Troutville for the USAF I truly thought that I would complete my 6 years and come back home. Things didn’t turn out that way. I was picked out of training school for a top secret project in the Nevada Desert. I was one of 10 Airmen selected to be the second group of bomb loaders to work on the F-117 Stealth Fighter at a base called Tonopah Test Range. After leaving Tonopah I was stationed in North Carolina, Iceland Washington DC and then left the USAF to come to GA. Even though I had a degree in business management I had to take more classes to get my teaching certificate so I attended the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega where I received my credentials to teach and eventually my Masters Degree. After being in education and returning to the USAF reserve I finished my Air Force career retiring from the reserves in 2012. I then made a change to finance where I have been with Edward Jones Investments for over a decade.

I help clients set goals that are important to them. I do this by listening to their hopes, fears, dreams and wishes and working side by side with them to turn these ideas into milestones and develop a plan to reach them. I work with my clients to help them stay on track and provide them information and support for them to make good decisions about their financial future.

I am most proud of the fact that in our office we take every client as an individual and learn what their individualized plan needs to be. We are client first. We provide guidance and help with emotional resilience when our clients get worried about their goals during economic and market downturns. Our clients know that I am available to them beyond just business hours I will answer a call after hours. I would prefer to answer a question at 7 or 8 at night than to have clients lose one minute of sleep worrying about something I can help with

Edward Jones as a company just celebrated 100 years in business and we are the largest privately held financial firm in the US. This means that we do not have stockholders to keep happy, only our clients. We have held this as our standard for 100 years with the original slogan “We bring Wall Street to Main Street”. Our firm believes that the personal interaction between client and advisor gives us the edge over firms that are less client centric.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

Each of our clients have at a minimum 1 face to face meeting with me every year for their annual update. In addition they will have at least 3 other phone calls from me to review their portfolios and goals quarterly during the year. Clients also get a birthday call and anniversary card on their Edward Jones Anniversary. We try to have at least one to two client events per year where client can come to the office and celebrate a holiday or event with us.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Word of mouth from our clients has been the most important reputation builder for our business. In addition I teach 3 classes per semester for the UGA Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. In 2019 I won the Best of the Best for Athens for Financial Advisor and Financial Firm. All of these are testament to our office having a client first approach to helping clients reach their goals.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.edwardjones.com/us-en/financial-advisor/trecy-kent
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ejadvisortrecykent
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trecy-kent