When Sean Newman overheard a neighbor talking about the cost to remove a tree from her yard after “Superstorm Sandy,” the potential damage to Wall Street futures was the last thing on his mind. The Doylestown resident returned with his chainsaw to cut and remove the obstacle himself. “She came out and asked where my truck was,” Newman says. “I just told her I was a neighbor that knew she could use some help.”
Newman, who grew up and went to school in Doylestown, knows it is this sense of community that makes the town so special. That sense of community is what kept him and his wife here to raise their three girls. “It says a lot about a community when neighbors help neighbors. I want my daughters to see that you should do good things for others and hope that they will follow the same example my parents set for me,” he says.
It is with this same neighborly attitude that he treats his clients as a financial advisor with Wells Fargo Advisors. During a visit to the home of an elderly couple who have been clients since Newman joined Wells Fargo Advisors more than 12 years ago, he noticed an unpainted shed. They told him that because of historical restrictions required by the town, they could not use vinyl siding on the shed but at their age could not get out to repaint it. “I told them, ‘I’m going to do you a favor and come over to paint this one day.’ I showed up on a nice Saturday a few weeks later with my daughter to paint the shed and they were shocked to see us; they thought I was kidding. … It brought the biggest smiles to their faces.”
This region—partway between Philadelphia and New York—is home to a unique type of investor, at once sophisticated and small town. “I think I have a good idea of the mindset of the community because I grew up here. We expect honest, friendly, top-notch service because we’re small-town, but we also demand know-how and sophistication because we should not have to settle for less.” Needs vary from person to person, though and Newman takes that into account. “I provide tailored personal investment planning for my clients,” he says. “Everybody has different needs at different points in their life, and I like to meet with them in person to get at the root of those needs.”
Down-to-Earth Advice
Dave L. Galiani, M.D., owns a busy ophthalmology practice in Doylestown. Newman is a patient of the doctor but Newman’s services were recommended to Dr. Galiani by a friend. Dr. Galiani chose to work with Newman because of this one-on-one availability. “I wanted someone local who would be available for me to walk into his office,” he says.
Newman believes it is important to teach his clients about what they are doing and why. “I want them to understand why they should be looking at specific investments,” he says. “We are in an exciting and challenging economic time in our nation’s history, and it can be scary without someone to guide you through it.” Newman is optimistic about the future and says that, “For every challenge there is a strategy to help overcome it; by making informed choices, [clients] have the opportunity to preserve and grow their investments without taking unnecessary risk.”
Newman believes it is never too early to start planning one’s finances. “No matter their stage in life he suggests people come in and talk to a financial professional. There are no fees for the consultation, where he can address a potential client’s entire financial picture. “My recommendations are different depending on your life stage and lifestyle,” he says. “I will often work with multiple generations of the same family, and I’ve seen firsthand the value of having continuity of advice from one generation to the next.
Wells Fargo Advisors is the third-largest brokerage firm in the industry in terms of the number of financial advisors with more than 15,000 different advisors, in all 50 states and the District of Colombia (as of December 31, 2012). The company also has the means to invest in cutting-edge technologies such as its online planning tools that help clients determine how much they need to live on in retirement and how much to save to get there.
It is the local relationship, though, that matters most to Newman’s clients. “We might be a Wall Street firm,” he says, “but we are most definitely Main Street. In fact, my office is right off Main Street.”
Sean Newman, Financial Advisor
Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC
2005 S. Easton Road, Commerce Center, Suite 108
Doylestown, PA 18901
215-230-2893
www.wfadvisors.com/sean.newman
Investment and insurance products:
NOT FDIC-Insured
NO Bank Guarantee
MAY Lose Value
Data is as of December 31, 2012, and is a combination of Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC, Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC, and First Clearing, LLC.
Wells Fargo Advisors is the trade name used by two separate registered broker-dealers and non-bank affiliates of Wells Fargo & Company: Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC, and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC (Members SIPC). First Clearing, LLC, (Member SIPC) is a separate broker-dealer of Wells Fargo & Company (First Clearing is a non-bank affiliate).
Photograph by Rachel Betson
