Many financial advisor teams can claim experience and credentials. But how many of those teams will treat you like their favorite family member? Not many. Shreveport, though, is lucky enough to have just such a team in the King Poljak Group at Morgan Stanley.
That the team has experience and credentials is clear. Financial Advisors John King and Denis Poljak have 35 and 20 years of experience, respectively. Denis has a Ph.D. in Economics, a Certified Investment Management Analyst® (“CIMA®”) designation from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, and a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (“CFP®”) designation (less than one-half of one percent of all financial advisors have both the CIMA® and CFP® designations).
What really distinguishes the King Poljak Group at Morgan Stanley is their love for their clients. Indeed, John, Denis, and Denis’ brother, Davor Poljak, Financial Advisors, founded the team with the commitment to treat each client as if they were their only client. “Our primary objective is getting to know each of our clients professionally and personally to help them make smart financial decisions” said Denis Poljak.
“We really want to connect with them and fully understand — what are their goals and objectives for themselves and their family members through different stages of life?” Giving that kind of service to clients is particularly meaningful and important to Denis and Davor. They arrived in Shreveport in the early 1990s from their native Yugoslavia to play NCAA Division I tennis at Centenary College, and the Shreveport-Bossier community embraced them. Giving locals support and care in navigating the often difficult and confusing world of finance enables the brothers to express the enormous gratitude they feel for the Shreveport-Bossier community.
When they joined Morgan Stanley in 2009, Denis and Davor recognized a fellow traveler in John King. John loves this region and his clients as much as Denis and Davor do. “For 35 years John King has been giving his clients the time and personal attention to meet the financial goals of individuals and families. When it became time to expand our business, John was an obvious choice, and he has become another brother to us,” said Denis.
“We view ourselves as a family business. Since we specialize in working with multiple generations of families,” said Davor, “we think of it as our family taking care of our clients’ families.”
A key component to successfully working with clients, particularly families, is understanding that every person is unique and has individual financial needs. Thus, the group always designs its clients’ services to meet those unique goals. “Our approach is always tailored to each client’s circumstances. When we have multiple generations—grandparents, parents, siblings, children and grandchildren—we may be serving multiple needs simultaneously, such as preserving or transferring wealth on one end and educating about the importance of investing on the other,” said Denis.
To ensure that these different needs are being met, the team commits substantial time with every client. As Denis explained, this approach enables the group to create a roadmap that helps each client achieve their desired goals. The brothers emphasize, however, that developing a financial plan does not end with one meeting or conversation - the team is dedicated to seeing every unique journey through over a long period of time.
“We consistently monitor [the client’s financial plan] from the beginning and adjust when needed because life-changing events happen all the time,” said Davor.
What enhances the team’s ability to provide the highest, most comprehensive level of wealth management services and is teaming up with professionals, including CPAs, tax advisors, financial and insurance specialists, and attorneys that serve their client’s.
“We like to say that it’s our commitment to achieve the highest levels of knowledge, dedication, client experience and personal care that distinguishes us, but our customized approach to customer service is what we really take the most pride in,” said Denis.
The group’s business is based predominantly on referrals from clients friends and family. “We’re thankful that our clients and other professionals refer their friends, family and their colleagues to us. It’s a huge compliment that they trust us to take care of the people they care about,” said Denis. “It is truly the most humbling feeling. Along with this comes an extra level of responsibility it really elevates the level of care we feel we owe to them.”
One of the world’s largest financial service companies, Morgan Stanley allows the group access to worldwide resources which they are able to bring to the local community- to a place where so many have become part of their extended family in more ways than they’d imagined possible.
©2015 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC. CRC1218320 06/15
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