Gabe Trasatti picked his first stock when he was in eighth grade. He’d watched his father poring over Value Line printouts and was intrigued by the charts and PE ratios. After working through the data, Gabe purchased 200 shares in a medical equipment manufacturer. “They didn’t go through the roof, but we eventually sold it and made money,” he remembers. “And that got me hooked.”
His interest in financial matters continued into college. Hailing from a family of accountants, his choice of a major came before his decision of which school to attend. After receiving his degree from James Madison University and passing the CPA test on his first attempt, Gabe went to work as an auditor with PricewaterhouseCoopers. While the job was stimulating, it wasn’t what he was looking for. “No one likes to see the auditor show up,” he says. “I wanted to use my analytical skills in an atmosphere where people actually wanted to see me.”
He moved on to Legg Mason (now Morgan Stanley Smith Barney) to work as a financial planner. After demonstrating his skill in the field, he was promoted to senior financial planner, and eventually to department head. In 2004, he left to start his own successful firm — Trasatti Wealth Planning — which he merged with Pinnacle in 2012. “I wanted to work in a team environment and expand the resources available to my clients. Partnering with Pinnacle lets me spend more time focused on client issues and less time on the day-to-day activities of running a business.”
When it comes to financial planning, Gabe adheres to the Hippocratic oath: Protect the client from catastrophe, and do no harm. When he works on a client’s finances, he looks first for areas of exposure that could lead to fiscal disaster — risky investments, an improper will, a lack of insurance, etc. “A good financial planner can identify risk and protect the client from it.”
“All of us, even the affluent, have limited resources, whether in investments or earning potential. We also have dreams, goals, and objectives. My job is to connect my clients’ resources with their goals,” he says. “I like the image of a wheel. The client sits in the middle, like a hub, with all of these other professional advisors around the circle, like spokes — accountants, insurance agents, business consultants, attorneys. Someone needs to stand alongside that client as his or her advocate, to coordinate the work of the various specialists. That’s the role of the financial planner. I function as the household CFO for my clients.”
Unfortunately, many who would benefit from the services of a planner don’t see the need to enlist one. With the abundance of financial information now available on the Internet, a lot of people choose to go it alone. In Gabe’s view, this only reduces one’s chances of achieving the ambitions they have for themselves. “Think of it this way: A person might have the goal to lose weight. He can buy some home gym equipment, pick up the latest fad diet books, stock up on protein bars, and try to slim down on his own. Or he can go to a qualified gym, get teamed up with a professional trainer, work with a nutritionist, and have an entire support team behind him. Which approach is more likely to lead to success? If your goal is to be financially healthy, why wouldn’t you want a full time, professional team helping you do that?”
Gabe’s enthusiasm for his work is contagious. “I’m very fortunate to have found a career that comes natural to me and that I enjoy, because it makes my days fun.” Years ago when he was looking for a professional direction, a friend gave him a copy of Richard Bolles’ classic, What Color is Your Parachute? “In the first few pages, Bolles asks you to think of something that you can talk about freely and naturally, and that you can get paid to do. I knew immediately that for me, it was financial planning. I was so happy that I found my answer so quickly… and that I didn’t have to read the rest of the book.”
