Benjamin Ott strongly believes in seizing the day.
This hard-working wealth manager has a compelling reason why he bounds out of bed each morning – to help his clients in every possible way.
Ott became a Partner and Wealth Manager at Kingsview Partners in Hammonton after working for years and seeing the downturns in the financial markets in the private sector.
He graduated from Drexel University with a degree in mechanical engineering, but took a special interest in numerous finance courses.
After graduation, Ott began his seven-year career as an engineer and product manager in the field of plastics and diesel fuel filtration. It was while working as an engineer that he realized that talking about investments and helping his coworkers choose and balance their retirement plan investments was far more interesting and rewarding than fuel filtration.
Even before he had the opportunity to make the career change, Ott saw so many people struggling with layoffs and firings. The 30 to 50% of downturns in the financial markets deeply affected him.
“I took people home at a time when they were crying after a layoff,” Ott remembered, “and in addition to losing their job, they were deeply concerned about their portfolios, or 401(k)s, which were all on the decline.
“I saw these people struggle as they feared losing their house. It was a disaster.”
The heartbreak of witnessing the struggle led to Ott’s calling – to become a wealth manager.
“These people had no idea how to survive and how not to lose everything,” Ott said. “I knew that this was something I was meant to do. I chose this, and at the same time, it chose me.”
As a wealth manager and registered investment advisor Ott is involved in the lives of the families he helps to “uncover what they are worried about and determine how he can help to invest properly, without taking too much risk.”
Ott is an independent contractor, so there are no investment quotas nor any small or big company instructing him where to put each client’s assets. The firm’s motto is simple: “Planning for a Better Future, Together.”
Ott focuses on how to help his current and future clients make smart decisions with their money; how to help them invest properly, and how to address their financial worries and fears.
“I always want to be on the same side of the table as my clients,” Ott said, hence his move to Kingsview. “I often hear from clients that when I give them financial advice, they know nothing is swaying me to go in a specific direction. There is no conflict of interest.
“They know I am trying to do the best thing for their money and their family.”
That freedom gives Ott’s clients the ability to say, “When Ben gives me advice about what to do with my money, I know for a fact that nothing is clouding his judgment. He is trying to do the best thing for my family and my money.”
Ott is from Media, Pennsylvania, and his wife, Dr. Laurie Lemons, is from Hammonton. The couple has four children: Brayden, 14, Alex, 11, Evelyn, 8, and Kyler, 6.
Nurturing his four children as a hands-on father has been a true pleasure.
“I love watching life through their eyes and seeing them experience what they love,” Ott said, adding his children have diverse interests, including sports and artistic endeavors. “I love watching them as they explore life.”
Ott and his wife decided to bring up their children in Hammonton because, as he was starting his new business, they wanted to have a close-knit network of family and friends nearby.
“I could tell early on that I had the opportunity to be part of a family here,” Ott said. “…Hammonton is very close-knit, and so I leaned on our family and local volunteer organizations to try to build up the business and get to know the local people.
“I love that it’s a quiet town,” Ott added, “and a great community that allows someone to have that personal feel. I love the closeness, where everybody knows one another.
“It has been wonderful integrating myself into the community.”
The melting pot of Hammonton means there are deep roots of Italian and Hispanic heritage, and Ott praises the fact that people come and stay to plant firm roots. There are a lot of business owners, community activists, and farmers, and “the town and its dynamic residents really spoke to me.”
His best dad advice as his children mature?
“Whatever they’re doing in life, they have to lean towards their passions and follow them,” he advised, adding “Don’t have any regrets.”
When he was an engineer, Ott worked hard at it, but he knew deep inside it wasn’t something he was passionate about.
“But when I discovered investments, everything felt like a great fit,” he recalled. “I felt like I ended up in the right place and I will encourage the kids that whatever path they ultimately take in life, they should seek to find their deepest passion.
“I believe that once you have that alignment, it is truly liberating. I feel extremely fortunate that I found my sweet spot – I ended up doing exactly what I wanted to do with my life.”
Ott compares trial and error to youth sports. When you have children, you tell them to try baseball, soccer, gymnastics, or dance.
“But eventually they can’t stop talking about that one sport that they get and that gets them, and it all clicks,” he said.
Ott is fiercely proud of his path and his motivation for it.
“I want to help people, and I want to be part of their financial success, and I want to help take care of them,” he said.
Many of his clients have experienced a death, or divorce, or some other upheaval in their lives, and they end up with a lot of questions about their finances.
“They tell me they want to accomplish certain goals with their money and don’t know the next step or the right step,” he observes. “Maybe they have inherited money from a parent or spouse, and they just don’t know how to manage it all.
“I got into this work to help people make the right decisions for themselves. One day, I want to be able to sit down and tell my children and my grandchildren, ‘This is what I did to help others in my community, and this is how I was productive in the world.’
“It will be so satisfying to say, ‘This is what I did to help people achieve their financial goals.’
“I will always be proud to share that with them.”
