Name: Jojo Cresci
Firm: Mercer Global Advisors
Location: San Mateo, CA
AUM: $3.1 billion
Forbes Rankings: Top Next-Gen Wealth Advisors Best-in-State, Best-in-State Wealth Advisors, Top Women Wealth Advisors Best-In-State
Background: Jojo Cresci, 37, grew up in China and completed her undergraduate degree at Lancaster University in England. After earning master’s degrees from London School of Economics and the University of Southern California she began working as a project manager in Hollywood in 2011, but after three years realized that she knew nothing about things like 401ks or stock options. She started doing some digging on her own, and before long, colleagues were coming to ask her for advice. Cresci realized this was her calling and by the end of 2014 she pivoted hard, joining Hewins Financial in the Bay Area as an associate financial advisor. She later moved to Mercer Global Advisors in 2018, where the majority of her clients today are either tech employees or retirees.
Competitive Edge: When it comes to her clients, Cresci always provides numbers to illustrate her point and prides herself on making sure things are exact. “I like to use numbers to tell a story,” she says. “Anything a client asks me, I will always be able to run the numbers to help them make an informed decision.” Cresci also credits her high retention rate to clients feeling like she is always available: “They get the feeling that they are the only client I am working with.”
Lessons Learned: “I think about my client’s money as my parent’s money,” says Cresci. For that reason, she is always very transparent and tends to lean more conservative when it comes to investment recommendations. “My job is to make sure when markets hit bottom, a client can maintain their lifestyle and not worry about money,” she describes.
Biggest Challenge: Five years after joining Mercer, Cresci was recently promoted to director. She says there has been a bit of a learning curve just because the role is so new. “In the past I could always tell if I was doing well or not based on client feedback and retention rates,” explains Cresci. “Now, with managing people, it’s a lot more involved than just numbers.”
Investment Philosophy/Strategy: Cresci first starts with clients by getting an understanding of their net worth and cash flow before making investment recommendations and talking about asset allocation. When it comes to the investment side, she tilts more towards value, focusing on small and quality stocks. Some clients who are more cost sensitive might end up in low-cost ETFs, for example, while others who are more heavily invested might focus on cost effective tax strategies. Amid uncertainty about interest rates in recent years, Cresci and her team have shortened the duration of bond holdings, advocated moving cash into high-yielding money market funds and also offered alternative investments like private equity, real estate and debt.
Investment Outlook: “I usually show clients historical charts and graphs going all the way back to the 1920s,” Cresci says. “The market does its own thing—with a recession every six to seven years—and that pattern has not changed.” While the nuances may be different each time around, she reminds clients to stay the course: “Over the long run, if history is any indication, the market will continue to repeat itself.”
Succession Planning: “Some more senior advisors can start to get jaded and it’s hard for them to look at things from a new perspective—they fall back to experience,” says Cresci. “Younger advisors bring fresh perspectives and are more eager to learn.”
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