SHOMARI D. HEARN

CFP®, IRS Enrolled Agent
EVP, COO; Financial Advisor/Business Manager
Palisades Hudson Financial Group LLC

Interview

• Where are you originally from?
  Bronx, NY

• Where do you currently reside?
  Fort Lauderdale, FL

• What prompted you to get into the sports/entertainment industry?
  My main motivation was the need to ensure that athletes and entertainers receive sound financial advice and representation. Good advice and representation allows them to achieve their long-term objectives of providing for themselves and their families during their lifetimes and beyond. It also helps them avoid the pitfalls of living beyond their means or making bad business investments, which can cause them to lose everything they worked so hard to earn during their careers, which can often be short-lived.

• What type of clients do you typically represent? What factors do you consider when deciding which clients to take on?
  Our clients consist of business professionals, athletes, entertainers, senior corporate executives, closely held businesses, and high-net-worth families across the United States and abroad. We seek clients with complex financial lives who are willing to accept and follow advice.

• Please outline the services you provide for clients and any specialties.
  Palisades Hudson Financial Group LLC is a fee-only, independent, and comprehensive financial planning firm. Palisades Hudson Asset Management, L.P., is our SEC-registered investment adviser, with more than $1.4 billion in assets under management. We believe that effective financial advice has two ingredients: 1) considering a client’s entire financial situation before making recommendations, and 2) always acting in the client’s best interest. With these tenets in mind, we seek to provide impartial financial advice on all issues confronting successful individuals and their families. Our services include business management, asset allocation programs, investment management, income tax planning and compliance, bookkeeping and bill pay, cash flow projections, retirement planning, insurance consulting, gift and estate planning, and business consulting.

• What is one thing people would be surprised to know about your profession? What is one of the biggest misconceptions?
  According to the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, as of Feb. 1, 2023, only 2% of Certified Financial Planners ™ are Black. One of the biggest misconceptions is that all financial advisors are the same. However, advisors vary in terms of the types of clients they serve, their level of expertise, and their fee structure. It’s important to seek a fee-only financial advisor who has knowledge and experience serving clients with situations similar to yours. Ideally, you also want one who will educate you on financial matters so that you can make informed decisions, rather than just offloading your financial matters to the advisor and hoping for the best.

• What are some challenges or obstacles you have faced as an African-American in this profession?
  The perception that Black financial advisors are inferior in terms of their knowledge and ability to advise on complex financial matters. Unfortunately, this perception is often held by the Black community.

• What do you think can be done to improve diversity with regards to representation?
  I think Diverse Representation is doing the necessary work to improve diversity in representation. This work ranges from offering a public database that allows athletes and entertainers to easily find competent agents, attorneys, financial advisors, managers and publicists; to holding boot camps that offer young African Americans the opportunity to learn how to pursue careers in these fields from skilled professionals who look like them; to hosting events that allow us to share our experiences, and that raise the profiles of Diverse Representation’s members and their professions. I look forward to seeing Diverse Representation grow even larger, because it fills a major void. Collectively, it is also important that African American agents, attorneys, advisors, managers and publicists make a concerted effort to network with and recommend business to each other when our clients are in need of representation.

• What advice would you have for other African-Americans looking to enter this profession?
  Focus on becoming a comprehensive advisor. A good financial advisor must not only be knowledgeable about investing, but also proficient in the various areas of financial planning, like income, estate and gift tax, retirement planning, insurance consulting and education funding. These may not be as glamorous as investing, but they are just as important in ensuring that your clients meet their short- and long-term financial objectives.

• What is the best way for people to get in touch with you?
  Email (shomari@palisadeshudson.com) or phone (954-524-5552).
  
  

• Is there any other information you would like to share?
  My colleagues and I at Palisades Hudson have written the book 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘈𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘎𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘞𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 to offer athletes, entertainers, musicians and other young professionals in their 20s, 30s, and 40s practical advice on financial topics that include budgeting, spending, investing, income taxes, retirement planning, charitable giving and more.