When Judy Heft took a look at how Covid-19 was affecting the general population, she characteristically took action.
“It doesn”™t sound right,” she said, “but the pandemic overall has been a plus for us.”
“Us” in this case is Judith Heft & Associates, a Stamford boutique financial concierge service that rebranded itself as Judith Heft & Associates Financial & Lifestyle Concierge in October. The move was made, Heft said, to reflect a new division and the expanded expertise it now can offer.
“With so many people affected by the pandemic, there”™s been a lot of recognition of the need t get their financials ”“ and their lives ”“ in order,” she said.
The Lifestyle Concierge division will complement the company”™s scope of financial concierge services with an extensive array of personal services, Heft said. Those services include luxury-moving management, realtor referrals and resources, professional organizing, home improvements and maintenance, liaison services, elder care and appointment scheduling.
Hired to head the Lifestyle Concierge division as chief financial officer is business management specialist Liz Levy, whose 25 years of executive-level expertise includes sales, marketing and business development in such industries as education, corporate real estate, resort management, and aerospace technology.
“I”™ve known Liz for a while, and knew what a good strategist she is,” Heft said. “She had a lot of good ideas right from the start about building our lifestyle business, so we decided to join forces.”
While JHA has specialized in working with high-net-worth individuals locally and up and down the east coast (“from Florida to Boston,” Heft said), she emphasized that she”™s redoubling efforts to work with people from all walks of life as well.
“We do a good amount of small-business bookkeeping, and a lot of our work involves handholding,” she said. “Everything from returning cable TV boxes to choosing the right international plan for their cellphone. We help clients find a handyman or a tutor, and we can help set up travel arrangements if they”™re going from state to state. We recently signed on with a new client who”™s going through some marital difficulties, and we helped them get a more transparent picture of the money involved.”
A particular focus is on seniors, she said, estimating that 20% of JHA”™s clientele is age 80 or more.
As for Heft”™s own journey, she said her interest in helping others began as a child, when she essentially grew up in the retail clothing business. Her mother became a bookkeeper without any experience, she said, and within a few years had bought out her partner.
“I got a lot of education from the age of 13 on,” she said. “My parents would take me into New York on buying trips, and I learned a lot from that. When I was in high school and college, they”™d put me in charge whenever they went away for vacation. It was a lot of responsibility, but I rose to the challenge.”
Eventually, high rents and competition from discounters spelled doom for her parents”™ firm, so Heft reinvented herself by entering the jewelry business. It was then that her husband, a painting contractor, mentioned he needed someone for bookkeeping.
“It went from there,” she laughed. “A hedge fund contacted me about helping them, and along with some senior clients I met I realized that what I wanted to do was helping other people.”
That JHA”™s seven employees are all women “just kind of happened,” she said. “But I think women network and work differently than men. It”™s more of a sisterly thing, but we didn”™t set out to do this ”˜woman power”™ thing purposely.”
Heft is considering how to properly celebrate the company”™s turning 25 next year. “The original plan was to throw a big party,” she sighed. “I”™m still hoping we can make that happen, but with the pandemic, who knows?”
