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Stepping into the Pewaukee ofce of Ellenbecker Investment Group quickly becomes a new experience in seeing how business is conducted. It starts with the replace in the waiting room, the art and family photographs on the walls, and the menu provided each guest so they can select which beverage they would like to have with the fresh-baked cookies in the conference room. It’s the woman’s touch that makes it feel more like a home than an ofce, and that’s just how Karen Ellenbecker wants it. “I’m a rm believer that you don’t sell a product, you sell an experience,” Ellenbecker said. “And that’s certainly true in the nancial management business where establishing comfort and trust right away is essential.” Of course, like any business the bottom line is still the bottom line, and Ellenbecker Investment Group currently holds close to $360 million in assets under management. But to hear Ellenbecker tell it, the true worth of what her rm has done since its inception in 1996 is measured more in the number of clients — men and women — who tell her they feel safe with the way their money is being treated. Her rm has 18 employees, all women, including six certied nancial planners. In talking about the bulk of her client base, Ellenbecker, herself a divorced mother of three grown children, cited national studies that indicate 95 percent of women will be their family’s primary nancial decision-maker at some point in their lives, and also that the median age when a woman is widowed is 59. Add up those numbers and it becomes clear, she said, that the world of nancial management and estate planning is no longer just a man’s world. “From the beginning I wanted to change the perception of the industry and switch the focus away from dollars and cents and more toward listening to people and determining what their specic nancial needs are,” Ellenbecker said. “It’s the nurturing side of me.” Ellenbecker, 63, also is a nancial consultant on “The Morning Blend” local television program and has her own weekly radio show called “Money Sense.” Barry Mendelson, a nancial adviser with Capital Market Consultants Inc. in Milwaukee, has done consulting work with Ellenbecker’s rm for years and has come to appreciate Karen’s positive message. “She is someone who truly cares about the quality of her rm’s work and the good it can do in the lives of people,” Mendelson said. While condence and competitive spirit are major assets in this business, so is empathy, and that’s where Karen Ellenbecker wants to make her mark. As she put it: “I want to compete in a way that my competition doesn’t even know there is a game going on.” — Kent Stolt From the beginning I wanted to change the perception of the industry. KAREN ELLENBECKER ENTREPRENEUR President and owner Ellenbecker Investment Group Inc. JUNE 7, 2013 22 WOMEN OF INFLUENCE PHOTOGRAPHER SCOTT PAULUS

Karen Ellenbecker

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Stepping into the Pewaukee of! ce of Ellenbecker Investment Group quickly becomes a new experience in seeing how business is conducted. It starts with the ! replace in the waiting room, the art and family photographs on the walls, and the menu provided each guest so they can select which beverage they would like to have with the fresh-baked cookies in the conference room.

It’s the woman’s touch that makes it feel more like a home than an of! ce, and that’s just how Karen Ellenbecker wants it.

“I’m a ! rm believer that you don’t sell a product, you sell an experience,” Ellenbecker said. “And that’s certainly true in the ! nancial management business where establishing comfort and trust right away is essential.”

Of course, like any business the bottom line is still the bottom line, and Ellenbecker Investment Group currently holds close to $360 million in assets under management. But to hear Ellenbecker tell it, the true worth of what her ! rm has done since its inception in 1996 is measured more in the number of clients — men and women — who tell her they feel safe with the way their money is being treated.

Her ! rm has 18 employees, all women, including six certi! ed ! nancial planners.

In talking about the bulk of her client base, Ellenbecker, herself a divorced mother of three grown children, cited national studies that indicate 95 percent of women will be their family’s primary ! nancial decision-maker at some point in their lives, and also that the median age when a woman is widowed is 59. Add up those numbers and it becomes clear, she said, that the world of ! nancial management and estate planning is no longer just a man’s world.

“From the beginning I wanted to change the perception of the industry and switch the focus away from dollars and cents and more toward listening to people and determining what their speci! c ! nancial needs are,” Ellenbecker said. “It’s the nurturing side of me.”

Ellenbecker, 63, also is a ! nancial consultant on “The Morning Blend” local television program and has her own weekly radio show called “Money Sense.”

Barry Mendelson, a ! nancial adviser with Capital Market Consultants Inc. in Milwaukee, has done consulting work with Ellenbecker’s ! rm for years and has come to appreciate Karen’s positive message.

“She is someone who truly cares about the quality of her ! rm’s work and the good it can do in the lives of people,” Mendelson said.

While con! dence and competitive spirit are major assets in this business, so is empathy, and that’s where Karen Ellenbecker wants to make her mark. As she put it: “I want to compete in a way that my competition doesn’t even know there is a game going on.”

— Kent Stolt

From the beginning I wanted to change the perception of the industry.

KARENELLENBECKER

ENTREPRENEUR

President and ownerEllenbecker Investment Group Inc.

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