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photo, Russ Cesari; Ken Wren; Paul Hughes
This month, BIC heads down to Virginia to ask reps about the various customer demographics and product mix in their state. Participants include Russ Cesari, principal and branch manager at Northwest Services, an affiliate of Herndon-based Northwest Credit Union that clears through LPL; Paul Hughes, a financial consultant and program manager for Franklin Federal Savings and Loan's broker- dealer subsidiary Franklin Financial Center in Richmond; and Ken Wren, president of Towne Investment Group, a division of Suffolk- based TowneBank that clears through Raymond James.
BIC: Tell us about your business.
Cesari: Our primary market is federal government employees; because our client base is fairly homogenous, we understand what they need. We do a lot of financial planning, bringing in estate and retirement planning, all the elements. The majority of our clients are between 40 and 50 years old, and they're looking for help building financial plans. We do a lot of wrap accounts, mutual funds, and variable annuities, but very few fixed annuities. We're also in the insurance business, and I recently brought a long-term- care insurance specialist on board. I manage $80 million in assets, about 60% of which is fee-based. Hughes:...