How one LPL advisor—turned novelist—is thriving at work and home

LPL advisor Alan Ioffredo of ALENA Wealth in Lexington, MA, got into the business of helping people manage their money because of his father’s own need for financial advice. The experience of helping their immigrant fathers chart a path to financial security laid the foundation for the principles Alan and partner Lena Mandelis follow in their practice today — identifying and uniting clients’ values, objectives, and money behaviors.

“My father emigrated to the U.S. from Italy and later introduced his adopted country to the liqueur Amaretto di Saronno,” Alan explains. “He had obtained the exclusive rights to sell it in the Americas and landed an unexpected windfall when it became the country’s category leader. Though young at the time, I volunteered to help my father determine what to do with his newfound wealth. We received poor and, at times, unscrupulous advice. I knew I wanted to help others avoid preventable mistakes.”

Alan’s experience, education, and guidance from mentors inform his response to clients’ money challenges. As a result, Alan and his team members are less influenced by periodic market chaos and instead driven by clients’ personal stories.

He believes his experiences and partnership with LPL contributed to his sense of freedom — even allowing him to write and publish a well-received historical novel. Today, Alan and ALENA Wealth are thriving despite the challenges posed by the current environment. 

Helping clients thrive through uncertainty

Alan’s primary mission is to help clients better prepare for and cope with the certainty of uncertainty. This was never more true than in the aftermath of the Great Recession in 2008.

“Market sentiment grew so dark for a year and a half that my partner and I, along with several other industry advisors, hired a therapist to help us cope with our emotions and respond to our clients’ feelings of vulnerability,” he says. “We were guided to focus on what could be controlled and lead our clients to more rational decision making. It proved to be the wisest thing we could have done.”

The experience provided Alan the tools for helping clients through crises, which he applied this spring when market volatility again exploded due to the global pandemic. “We knew what to expect and got in front of client fear with heightened communication, recollections of past falls and rebounds, and an emphasis on limiting course corrections,” he says.

Uncovering client stories

Alan’s attention to clients’ personal stories has contributed to long-lasting, crisis-proof client relationships. “The first thing we have prospects tell us is their money history,” he says, “because attitudes about money influence the strategies we propose. And when prospects find it hard to articulate their values, we instead invite them to describe how they spend their time and treasure.”  

Alan says these questions reduce barriers to communication and make it easier to identify areas where clients’ values or passions don’t align with their use of resources. “Success is more easily achieved when clients understand and respond to strategies better aligned with what brings them joy," he says.

book turning pages

Finding his own story

Alan’s passion for a good story doesn’t stop at the doors of his office. The therapist he and his business partner hired to guide them through the Great Recession believed Alan could better serve his clients by improving his work/life balance and, specifically, by exploring his untapped creative side.

“I’d professed an interest in writing, and she suggested I take one day each week to do so. I was, of course, resistant to change,” Alan says. “But my confidence in LPL’s technology and the support of my team helped me follow through.” 

Ten years and 500 Thursdays later, Alan’s novel, The Artist and the Innkeeper, was published to critical acclaim. “It’s a lyrical novel within the historical fiction genre detailing the life and mystery of Renaissance Italy’s most prolific fresco artist and poet, Bernardino Luini,” describes Alan, “and both client and outside reader reactions have been affirming.” 

Alan feels his creativity and renewed sense of balance have helped him better serve his clients and colleagues. “I only wish I’d begun sooner,” he says. “Giving myself permission to step away from the pressures of protecting and growing people’s resources has yielded peace of mind and clarity of purpose. Between the pandemic, political firefights, and the daily drum beat of negative news, we must find ways to decompress.”

Success through partnership

Alan believes his journey — both with his advisory practice and fiction writing—would not have been possible absent his partnership with LPL.

“Because of LPL’s technology and advisory platforms, I can step away for a short time each week and not feel like I’m missing anything,” he says. “With the ClientWorks integrated practice dashboard, daily research updates, and the advisory platforms, I can quickly understand my business and prioritize client service.”

Despite current global challenges, Alan feels at peace with his clients, colleagues, and family. “My partnership with LPL has been a mutually beneficial one,” he says. “I get calls all the time about leaving, and I simply have no interest. No partner is perfect, but LPL’s leadership and representatives have been responsive and candid with me. Our two decades together have been productive and constructive.”

And his next writing project? “I’m enthusiastic to continue and have begun drafting a rich and romantic, twentieth-century immigration story. I hope you’ll stay tuned.”

The views and opinions expressed by the LPL Financial Advisor may not be representative of the views of other Financial Advisors and are not indicative of future performance or success. Neither LPL Financial nor the LPL Financial Advisor can be held responsible for any direct or incidental loss incurred by applying any of the information offered.

ALENA Wealth and LPL Financial are separate entities.