Shari Hoffman’s role as a wealth adviser begins with learning each client’s needs and goals.
“I provide services to some of the firm’s most sophisticated clients with multigenerational needs,” says Hoffman, managing director at BKD Wealth Advisors LLC. “I am a day-to-day adviser to my clients, assisting them with all facets of their life, not just the financial piece.”
During her 30-year career, she has helped hundreds of families manage and transition wealth from one generation to the next while cultivating a relationship of trust. She works on complex issues with clients to help them realize the goals and dreams they have for themselves and their families.
“We work towards those goals, monitor progress and celebrate with them once they are achieved,” she says. “It is so rewarding to watch my clients when they achieve something they have been working toward.”
Hoffman launched her financial services career in the banking industry before moving to BKD Wealth Advisors in 2000. Her focus areas include retirement planning, education funding, estate and tax planning, benefit plan consulting, investment management and charitable gift strategies.
“She has worked with some of the most complex, ultra-affluent clients I have been around,” says Jack Thurman, president of BKD Wealth Advisors. “She has been exceptionally compliant with industry standards and focused on doing what was right for the client. Her success in taking care of our clients is affirmed for me each year as her clients consistently refer her to other large clients.”
Thurman says Hoffman constantly embodies the qualities of a great wealth management professional, adding she cares for the client and their family from a personal and financial perspective.
Hoffman’s methods are all-inclusive.
“Our approach is holistic and includes personal finances as well as their business,” she says. “I believe I have had a positive impact for my clients, from assisting them by establishing funds for their employees all the way to transitioning the business to new owners.”
Hoffman chaired the BKD Wealth Advisors Client Experience Committee for seven years, the longest a person has held that position. During her leadership, the committee developed and implemented a client-service model across all BKD Wealth Advisors offices in five states.
She has participated in Ritz-Carlton’s leadership training and the Disney Institute to learn about those companies’ successful processes and procedures, and she has twice represented BKD at the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning conference, one of the nation’s leading and largest programs of its kind.
Included among Hoffman’s multitude of civic commitments is her longtime involvement with the American Diabetes Association, which honored her with its American Diabetes Cure, Care and Commitment Award for her years of volunteering. She’s also served on the board of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks and participated in Leadership Springfield.
