by Adam Levy
How many kids do you have and what are their ages?
I have two amazing teen girls ages 14 and 16.
What are your favorite family activities in Stamford?
We love to go to the farmer’s markets that pop up around town. We are also a gaming family and love the Escape rooms. During COVID, we found a cool outdoor Escape Room called CluedIn – finding geo-clues in downtown Stamford.
Why did you decide to raise your family in Stamford?
I was born and raised in NYC, and I wanted to provide my children with the same gift of growing up in a culturally diverse community. I have not once been disappointed in the breadth of backgrounds in Stamford, and I love what we all bring to the table together as one.
Tell us about your career.
I am a part of the dream team at Judith Heft & Associates. We are a financial and lifestyle concierge and for the past 24 years, we have become the personal CEO, COO, and CFO of households from Maine to Florida. We treat every household like a small business and ensure that your financial health is our top priority.
What inspired you to join Judith Heft & Associates?
I had known Judy personally for many years prior to joining her team. She is not only a thought leader in her industry but also a tireless entrepreneur with an extraordinary talent for networking. I knew I could learn a tremendous amount under her mentorship so when provided with the opportunity, I jumped at it.
by Ale Buljevich
What changes have you made at your company because of the pandemic?
Our business became even more valuable during the pandemic as many households became increasingly busier with children learning from home while parents simultaneously worked from home. Any free time that households had prior to the pandemic, simply diminished. To help families with time management, Judith Heft & Associates expanded our service offerings. Our goal was to simplify the lives of families by catering to anything from A to Z – arranging your finances to zeroing in on your personal needs.
Our tagline is “Giving Moms the Gift of Time” and we love that your new concierge service is doing just that!
Simplifying the lives of our clients and saving them time is our motto! We know that moms and dads do not have one minute of extra time – therefore the time they do have should be spent on the important things! We focus on their mundane financial and lifestyle tasks so they don’t have to!
What advice do you give to families who are concerned about their finances during the current financial climate?
Two important words of advice – first, get organized… know and understand your daily, weekly, and monthly spend. Create a spending plan that you can live by and stick to it.
Second, SAVE, save as much as you can every single week. Your savings should be as organized as the rest of your life. Separate your savings accounts into goal accounts and emergency savings. Goal accounts should be specific – for example, a percentage goes in weekly to raise money for a new car.
Your emergency savings account should hold about 6 months’ worth of expenses in an account that you do not touch. This will hopefully provide you with some peace of mind during these challenging times. Personally, I go so far as to shift my emergency savings into a separate bank than the one I do my daily banking in – therefore I don’t even see this money and there is no temptation to spend it.
What is one thing that families can do to invest in their financial future?
Again, I want to reiterate the most important first step – know and understand your daily, weekly and monthly spend.
Second, work with the right experts to grow and secure your wealth. At Judith Heft & Associates, we can help. We organize your finances and categorize all your expenses. Then we assist you in finding the right team of financial planners, attorneys and CPAs and liaise with them to ensure we are all on the same page. We not only work to save you money, but we also ensure your money grows.
How do you juggle work with mommyhood… especially during COVID-19?
This is the question of 2020!!! I work hard at this juggle and admittedly I fail a lot, but I also win a lot. I definitely have developed a few tricks… they are not for everyone but they work for me… I have created a very small neighborhood pod to help support me and my family with carpooling and errands. I also have upped my time management game! I start working at 6 a.m. everyday – 7 days a week. By the time my girls get up at 10 a.m. on the weekends, I have already gotten four solid hours of work done! Finally, I take advantage of technology. I can be on my Bluetooth and networking while carpooling – I am often called the queen of multi-tasking!
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve gotten from another mom?
Best advice ever – what works for one mom, might not work for all. Only you know what is best for your kids and your family!