Cents of Self Spotlight – Paulina Iantchev’s Story
As I approach my four-year anniversary with Huber Financial, I spent some time reflecting on the last four years since I graduated from college and realized that I’m about the same age as my parents when they left their home country of Bulgaria. I cannot even begin to draw similarities between our lives, but even so the values and guidance they gave me throughout my life made me who I am today.
I am a first generation American and as such, my parents have always encouraged me to be bold and learn how to pave my own path to success. Almost 30 years ago, my parents came to the United States in hopes of building a better future for their family and to improve their standard of living. They left during the Revolutions of 1989 –a violent era where citizens fought to end communist regimes that swept through Central and Eastern Europe.
When I started college, my number one goal was to graduate with a job—and not just any job, my dream job. Many of my friends started off college more interested in the social aspects of school and by their senior year, still didn’t know what they wanted to do post-grad. Don’t get me wrong, I made plenty of friends and had a social life too, but I remained laser-focused. I was involved in all of the finance clubs, took advantage of shadowing alumni at their respective jobs, attended job fairs and took classes that set me apart from the thousands of other students graduating with a finance degree.
I was in my junior year when I decided that my “dream job” was to become a financial advisor. I would be lying if I said that my parents didn’t influence my decision. In spite of coming here with next to nothing, over the years they have gained more than they could have ever imagined—the true “American Dream.”
As you could probably imagine, my parents were thrilled that I had decided what I wanted to do. Given their unconventional start, they did not have the amount of time and resources that I had. My parents were constantly checking in and pushing me along to make a decision. I’m thankful for their support and wisdom during those years (and always) as I made one of the biggest decisions of my life so far. You may have heard the saying “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Throughout college, I worked diligently at creating a professional network. Ultimately, I heard about Huber Financial because of a connection I had at the time. I interviewed for an open position on the client service team and stepped into a career path to start the process of becoming a financial advisor. Helping, managing and teaching others in addition to working with numbers have been a passion of mine, making this career a perfect fit for me. Over the next couple of years, I watched Huber Financial grow as it almost doubled the number of employees.
From a young age, my parents cultivated a global perspective. They helped me take a longer-term view of my life and goals and reminded me to not sweat the small stuff. I have watched my parents persevere and put in hard work over the years to get to where they are at today and those values have and will carry me through all of life’s ups and downs.
