Christina Boyd, Managing Director, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management
Name: Christina Boyd
Firm: Merrill Lynch Wealth Management
Location: Wayzata, Minnesota
AUM: $1.9 billion
Forbes Rankings: America’s Top Wealth Advisors, Best-In-State Wealth Advisors
Background: Boyd, 51, studied psychology at Colorado State while also interning at Merrill Lynch. She was fascinated by the stock market at a young age and used to chart stocks in her free time. She has found her psychology studies to be helpful when evaluating different clients’ needs and goals.
Investment Philosophy/Strategy: By having a one, three and five-year plan for clients, she is able to ride out down markets without having to sell. Boyd has been incorporating more alternative investments to lessen the correlation to traditional stocks and bonds which has been helpful of late to lessen the impact of volatility.
Competitive Edge: Boyd sees being a woman in a male-dominated business as an advantage with many clients looking to work with a woman. After starting her career trying to do things just like a man, she later decided to stay true to herself and saw her business explode.
Biggest Challenge: The biggest challenge for Boyd is finding talent that complements her skill set to add to her team.
“I’m constantly wanting to expand my team and continue to deliver the highest level of service,” she says. “I’m finding there’s a bit of a challenge in finding good help that aligns with our values goals and work ethic.”
Lessons Learned: Boyd learned lessons through challenging markets such as the dot com bubble, having resisted pressure from clients to buy some of the stocks that ultimately went bust.
“The most critical thing to do to be successful in this business and have your clients be successful is to have extremely strong conviction, stick to your philosophy and don’t try to chase trends,” she adds.
Biggest Client Misunderstanding: Clients have a hard time understanding the current market as equities and bonds have gone down in concert.
“It’s a tough market because both equities and bonds are down and clients have a hard time understanding bonds, sometimes even more than stocks. As interest rates go up, bonds traditionally go down,” she says.
“What I often have to explain is markets move in anticipation of things happening,” Boyd adds. “One of the most difficult things to understand when you’re dealing with investments is that things get factored in long before they ever happen and it’s our job to try and figure out how much of that event is then factored in. I spend a lot of time going over that with clients.”
Investment Outlook: Taking a long-term approach to investing, she is often reminding clients that their plans aren’t only for up markets but also for down markets. She is bullish on blue-chip stocks that are increasing their dividends and will be a strong hedge against inflation. Boyd is there to help clients work through down markets, which she says takes a “strong stomach.”
“If you take a long-term approach to more volatile assets, history shows you can be rewarded,” she adds. “I spend a tremendous amount of time on research…and I think that’s critical. You need a basic understanding of the trends in the market, a good pulse on the market and to understand where it’s going.”
Favorite Book/Movie: An avid reader, Boyd mentions “Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy” by Patrick Bet-David as helpful for her career.
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