Whitney Rogers, Mt. Pleasant born, raised, and more

MT. PLEASANT — While the financial field was once a male dominated field, Mt. Pleasant’s Edward Jones boasts a 50/50 representation of men and women financial advisers in the community.

Whitney Rogers is one of four total and two female advisers in Mt. Pleasant.

Rogers is unique in a multitude of ways.

For starters, both of Rogers’ parents made an impact in the community.

In the early 1980s, Roger’s mother, who was the Public Relations Director for the hospital at the time, promoted the hospital with a television series, “Waiting on Baby” on KTVO.

“I was born on TV,” Rogers said. “I even saw some of the clips of it on VHS that we recorded from the television.”

Rogers did clarify that her gestation was merely documented up to the point of birth, but anyone watching KTVO at the time had a first row seat to the adventure.

Additionally, her dad started the first Mt. Pleasant Edward Jones Office in 1983 shortly before she was born.

Her father, Mike Henderson, worked as an Edward Jones Financial Advisor up until his retirement.

“When he started to consider retirement, he came to me and asked me if this was something I would want to do,” she said.

Originally, she said no.

Her brother already worked in the business out of California.

“Growing up and going to school, I had always wanted to work for Disney,” Rogers said, and she did for 10 years in hotel operations. “I knew I always wanted to do something that dealt with people.”

After chatting with her father further, however, she decided to take the leap of faith.

“I expected this job to be all about numbers and facts and figures,” Rogers said. “That is an important part of this role, but what really stands out to me is how I interact and connect with people. And that is one of those things that is an important role to be successful.”

Just because she is following in her father’s footsteps does not mean she is doing everything the way he did.

“I have different relationships with my clients than my dad did,” Rogers said.

Those relationships are her favorite part of her job.

I wish my dad had told me before starting this, my clients would become my family. That is very rewarding, but that can be heartbreaking at times when some of them pass away.

“Through that, though, you see all of the legacy that comes from that,” she said.

Rogers can think of multiple families with which she is working with the four generations.

Despite the heartache of loss, Rogers find joy in seeing legacies, much like her own, passed throughout these generations.

“I love seeing people take the trips of a lifetime,” she said. “I’ve seen foundations and scholarships founded and created for the community, not just families.”

“Living vicariously through my clients is my favorite part of my job,” Rogers said. “This year I have helped purchase homes in multiple states and we just helped a client purchase a horse.”

This work with people is what makes this a career from which Rogers plans to retire one day.

“I would love that the Lord would allow me to be here for a good long time and continue to benefit our community and help many families for years to come.”

For now, Rogers will continue to connect with clients as she helps people with their goals and saving.

She will work with her clients toward retirement, saving for homes, and children’s schooling among other financial needs.

According to Rogers, her job is to help guide her clients through these processes.

“I want to know what is important to you and help you achieve it,” Roger said of her role in financial planning as her face lit up.

Rogers is personally seeing the shift of a male dominated financial field to an equal representation, specifically in Mt. Pleasant.

“We are 50/50 in Mt. Pleasant, now” she said. “The industry is changing since I joined our firm. We are increasing our number of women in the field.”

In her experience, she continues to see women are just as good at it as men.

“I had a client jokingly say to me one of my first days, ‘I didn’t know girls could do this,’” she said with a chuckle. “It is just a cultural shift. Women can do this, and are actually very good at this.”

Even if women aren’t particularly interested in becoming their own financial advisers, Rogers highly suggests women become more aware of their finances.

“Statistically women live longer than men and therefore more wealth will be held by women as we continue to get older,” she said.

With this in mind, Rogers suggests that women become more involved in family planning, future planning, and those things that were historically left up to the men.

“Visit with an expert,” She said. “Things change. Life changes. Let someone help you take some of the weight off and be able to enjoy it.”

Rogers knows about pushing gender stereotypes thanks to her front-row seat to her mom’s fruitful career.

She knows about finances thanks to her dad.

She knows and cares about people thanks to her drive to continue to serve others in her career and life.

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com