Andrea Schaffer started as a professional chef and restaurateur in her twenties, working around southern California. By the early 1990s, she went back to school to get her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English Literature at UCLA and Claremont Graduate University, respectively.
Although she initially thought about becoming a professor, at age 32, Schaffer pivoted hard to financial advice, undergoing training and working her way up at NorthwesternNWE 0.0% Mutual. She stayed there for more than ten years before joining her current firm, Pacific Advisors, in 2006. “It wasn’t entirely different from orchestrating a very complex event—stuff happens and you have to be able to respond on the fly,” she recalls of the switch, adding, “the same things happen in a client’s financial life.”
chaffer likes to be a sounding board for her clients: Before any major decision, they call her and she provides all of the tools and information needed. When making suggestions, she always tries to use real life stories and examples as an educational tool.
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