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Internship I-Search

Alyssa Sherwin

Kempsville High School, Entrepreneurship and Business Academy

EBA Senior Internship

TE 4550-211

Mrs. Routsis

May 7, 2021
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Foundation

Financial Management: “[the] Efficient raising of resources and wise and accountable use

of funds to achieve the highest quality end products possible” (McKinney, 1986). Having about

9,000 available professionals that can meet face-to-face across 49 states and 4,500 on their

website, MassMutual is one of the largest life insurance and financial management companies

(Massachusetts Mutual…, 2021). For a while now, I have known that I wanted to get into the

finance industry. It took me a while to determine whether I wanted to work in accounting or

financial management. After some research and conversations with some of the different

employees at MassMutual, I realized that accounting is a lot more historical work and is

documentation-based, while financial management is more of projecting the future and giving

what I think will be the best financial advice I can provide to different clients. Because of this

significant difference, I went with trying to find an internship in the financial management field.

I did not know specifically where to start, nor did I have any good connections, so I went and did

a basic Google search of financial management businesses near me. I ended up coming across

MassMutual, which at the time I thought was Member Wealth Management, and I was able to

call them to ask if they would be interested in hosting an intern for the next few months. I was

then able to schedule a meeting for an interview with the General Agent, Mr. Paasch, for this

branch of MassMutual. During this meeting, I told Mr. Paasch who I was and what I was looking

for within an internship. We discussed that this would be more of an observational role compared

to a hands-on experience, which is understandable as I am only 17 years old and I am not a

full-time employee. However, this experience has moved me one step closer to pursuing the

career of my dreams. I would be able to sit with different types of people and compare different
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positions within the time I was here. By the end of the meeting, my paperwork was completed,

my internship was secured, and I started the following week.

Within the first few days that I went to my internship, we talked about basic information

and clarified that I would be observing different people within the agency instead of doing more

hands-on work. I was able to meet with a couple of different people to see what their position

entails and how they manage responsibilities. This was a really engaging dive into the world of

financial management. Because I was able to meet with a lot of different people, I got a really

well-rounded understanding of what financial management is. Having the ability to meet with

different people ignited my interest in learning more about what a financial management firm is.

Prospective Knowledge

Having the opportunity to meet with and observe the daily lives of many different

financial advisors, I wanted to dive further into what a financial management firm is and how the

different careers within the firm connect with each other. Through different databases and

personal connections with each employee, I am able to fully explain, in-depth, what the different

careers are and how they all relate to one big firm. To gain a better understanding, I focused on a

few points such as the goal of this specific firm and the different roles of staff and advisors, then

looked at how they are connected and how these tasks fulfill the goal of this firm. Also, seeing

different meetings has allowed me to see the connections between clients and advisors.

After observing all of this, I could finally explain how everything comes together as one

firm. Within my internship placement, I used experience from working with different advisors,

clients, and staff to complete my research and further explore the general topic of financial

management. Through my research and internship experience, I have found exactly what a

financial management firm is and how the different careers relate to each other to accomplish the
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goal of a financial management firm. I also had the opportunity to measure the growth and/or

projected growth of clients from individual advisors and as a whole branch and how they

achieved that growth.

Define and Commit

Through informal interviews, I gathered a clear definition of what exactly financial

management is. The following are some direct quotes of their definition of financial management

from staff and advisors around the office. “[It is] the process of evaluating a client's current

financial position and strategies in the context of their personal and family goals. We [advisors]

identify any gaps in their plan and help them implement new strategies to achieve their goals.”

“[Financial planning is] helping people define their financial future and piecing together the parts

that will help them to get there.” “Financial planning is an ongoing evaluation of a family,

individual, [and/or] business. The results of the plan help the clients make informed financial

changes, and it is reviewed annually to make sure the actions align with the goals.” “[It is

defined as] the ability to help your clients achieve their short and long term financial goals, in a

way that best reflects their values and supports best what they both want and need, to bring them

the sense of security and confidence needed to live their happiest life,” (J. Wallace et al.,

personal communication, April 22, 2021).

MassMutual has many goals, some at the local level and some at the corporate level. As a

whole organization, “the goal is to welcome everyone — customers, employees, suppliers, and

visitors alike” (MassMutual Life Insurance Company, 2021). The Commonwealth location

realizes that “local residents and businesses rely on us to help secure their financial futures, but

our commitment doesn't end there. We believe that in order to build long-lasting relationships

with our clients, we also have to serve the local communities in which they live and work”
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(MassMutual Commonwealth, n.d.). There is also Empact, which is the ‘doing-business-as’

portion of MassMutual. Most people have heard of the saying “Give a man a fish and you feed

him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,” from Lao Tzu. Kevin

Paasch described Empact, in this perspective, as thinking about a better way to “fish.” Empact is

more than just wealth management, it’s looking at/creating a financial plan, then implementing a

strategy. The goal of Empact is to “build long-lasting relationships with local residents and

businesses that serve Hampton Roads to support the area they live and work, while making a

difference” (Empact Strategic Partners, 2020). Each of these goals is a little unique in its own

way, but they all have the relatively same purpose: to help the community and serve residents

and businesses. It is important for businesses to reach out and help the community because they

can make better connections and they can reach more clients.

Goal Fulfillment & Leadership Effectiveness

When working with MassMutual/Empact I have been able to see the connections that

they strive to make with the community. Every now and then they will send out boxes to advisors

as a thank you and an incentive for doing well. Empact is also trying to expand these boxes to

prospective clients as a marketing tool to gain more clients. They also held different events,

primarily pre-Covid, as a part of Society11 that attracted more clients and advisors can connect

with them more on an individual basis. A lot of these events are learning experiences in which

people within the community can come in and learn about taxes, annuities, women in the

financial market place, etc. and it is all free to the client. These are all highly important topics

that, when addressed in a social setting, are more relaxed and less overwhelming to potential

clients (S. Julien, personal communication, March 22, 2021). This is just the beginning of what is
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offered through Empact and Society11. Using these events and boxes, advisors can reach out and

connect easier with new and existing clients, and even the staff.

Sometimes it is vital for managers to recognize that “You have to escape from

management land and get in touch with your people,” (Cottrell, 2002, p. 37). Holding

management meetings every Monday morning improves the communication and production of a

company, which Empact does. This helps with productivity and efficiency throughout the staff

and advisors because it makes it clear of what each person is doing that week and has done the

following week. I feel that this really helped them reach each commitment because it allowed

management to see how each person is doing and how they could improve the commitment to

the community. Cornerstone Leadership explains the Principle of Preparation in which “results

improve to the extent that the leaders develop themselves and their followers,” (Cottrell, 2002, p.

103). When the company meets weekly to discuss the current tasks and opportunities, they can

encompass leadership, management, communication, etc. all in one half-hour meeting. This has

improved productivity and efficiency while I was at my internship. I was able to create and send

out a questionnaire for the staff around the office. In this questionnaire, I asked how effective the

staff found the Monday Morning Leadership Meetings, if they attended. All of the responses to

this question varied from seven to ten, remaining on the upper side of the one to ten scale. These

results show a lot to the company and to me, as an intern. Even though it may not be optimal to

log into a meeting every week for thirty minutes to an hour, it shows that even the staff finds it

effective when scheduling the week and meeting with everyone in the office.

Advisors at MassMutual

Each advisor at MassMutual does things a little differently and even advises a completely

different section sometimes. There are different specialists in which some advisors focus more
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on annuities and others on retirement accounts. This allows clients to sit down with a specific

advisor that specializes in the field that they would like to receive help. Within my time at

MassMutual, I have been able to sit and observe many different advisors to see how they operate

and what their roles are. After meeting with three advisors, I was able to see that each advisor

does something different, but their main task is to help the client become financially successful

and sell the product (retirement plans, their service, etc.). In an interview with Ed Tyng, I came

to the realization that the advisor always puts the client first. Mr. Tyng made sure that the client

received the services they needed and used personal connections to relate more with his clients.

Every advisor also has their own way of connecting with the clients. In multiple meetings

with Akeem Prosser, I realized that it is extremely important for advisors to take an extra step to

make and keep connections with new and existing clients. Mr. Prosser uses different methods to

constantly keep connections with his clients. He is thorough when communicating with new

people. After watching him, I have realized that it is always good to make phone calls to your

clients and address everything in the order that it is received. Making sure that every client is

addressed is an important step when you are trying to keep those connections. I also sent out a

questionnaire in which I received 26 responses from different advisors, representatives, etc. on

their methods of obtaining and keeping clients. The feedback from this questionnaire mainly

explained that, in order to obtain clients, advisors would mainly use referrals. However, there

were some unique answers such as “I would use social media to my advantage since everyone

basically uses some type of social media,” “phone calls, referrals, seminars, networking,” and

“asking current clients for referrals and working inherited book[s] of business,” (N. Roberson et

al., personal communication, April 22, 2021). Another question asked on the questionnaire was

“What steps do you take to keep existing clients?” Each adviser answered this in their own way,
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some of their responses follow. “[I] communicate with them often during good times and bad

times,” “[by] listening to the clients on a regular basis as to changes in their lives and goals [and]

providing ongoing advice and management of their individual plans,” “[I] call all my clients on

their birthday. Reach out annually at a minimum or more often when there are large market

changes,” and “regular communication, text message for birthdays, and follow through on

commitments” (T. Powers et al., personal communication, April 22, 2021). Being able to see the

importance of client relationships to each adviser is very important. From the client’s

perspective, knowing and having your adviser reach out to you every now and then is very

reassuring that they actually care about you, individually, and they are trying to form that

relationship. Without that relationship, the client may feel withdrawn from the advisor and/or

they are not valuable to the advisor.

Analysis & Conclusion

The learning experience at MassMutual has been phenomenal. Between the personal

connections and the face-to-face personal experiences, I have had the opportunity to further my

knowledge in the field of financial advising and planning. Being able to personally experience a

lot of the functionality of MassMutual has given me the ability to see the importance of client

relationships, including acquiring and maintaining clients, the effectiveness of leadership with

management, and goal fulfillment throughout the branch. Within my time at MassMutual I have

been able to meet with advisors and staff and even sit in on their weekly meetings to view more

of the functionality. Having the opportunity to sit with advisors and see their operations with

clients allowed me to realize the importance of client relationships in the advisor role: the client

is the most important factor for the success of the advisor and the firm. It was also beneficial to

sit in on the weekly management meetings because it gave me more of an insight on why it is
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important to have weekly check-ins and how that benefits the company overall. I was also able to

get a clear perspective of what their goals and commitments are, through experience and

interviews, and how they fulfill those goals on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. This has

helped me further my knowledge and understanding of financial management.

The past few months have been one of the most important and best learning experiences

that I have had. I have had the opportunity to learn more about what is involved in a financial

management firm and how all of the different careers connect with each other. After working

with my internship for approximately 4 months, I have found that it is crucial to have both staff

and advisors working together for that is what makes the entire firm. Knowing this will help me

in the future if I start working for or even own my own firm. Having the ability to experience

multiple different meetings and talk with many different people at MassMutual, has given me the

realization that working in the financial management field could be a big potential when looking

at my future career. Knowing what I know now from the experiences and interviews I have been

through within my internship, I can further my knowledge with more studies and internships, but

my experiences can also make it easier when I pursue my Bachelor’s and Master’s degree

because I have a little bit of a “head start” when it comes to in-person experience instead of just a

textbook. This will allow for easier content retention in college and, in turn, will help advance

my career performance and knowledge, no matter what exactly I decide to do. Taking what I

have learned about client relationships, goal fulfillment, and leadership and applying it to my

career can highly benefit me in any career, but especially in finance or financial management.
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References

Cottrell, D. (2002). Monday morning leadership: 8 mentoring sessions you can't afford to miss.

CornerStone Leadership Institute.

Dauer, P. (2021, March 23). [Personal interview by the author].

Empact Strategic Partners. (2020). Our commitment. Empact Strategic Partners. Retrieved March

18, 2021, from https://imagineprepareenjoy.com/our-commitment/.

Julien, S. (2021, March 22). [Personal interview by the author].

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. (2021). Our financial professionals.

MassMutual. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from

https://financialprofessionals.massmutual.com/us.

MassMutual Commonwealth. (n.d.). Our commitment. MassMutual Commonwealth. Retrieved

March 10, 2021, from https://commonwealth.massmutual.com/about-us/our-commitment.

MassMutual Life Insurance Company. (2021). About us - live mutual. MassMutual. Retrieved

March 10, 2021, from https://www.massmutual.com/about-us.

McKinney, J. G. (1986). Effective financial management in public and nonprofit agencies: A

practical and integrative approach. New York: Quorum Books.

Paasch, K. (2021, March 23). [Personal interview by the author].

Powers, T., Williams, R., Mick, M., & Pickett, R. (2021, April 22). [Questionnaire interview by

the author].

Prosser, A. (2021, March 29). [Personal interview by the author].

Roberson, N., Prosser, A., & Glaubke, M. (2021, April 22). [Questionnaire interview by the

author].

Tyng, E. (2021, March 22). [Personal interview by the author].

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Veland, B. (2021, March 22). [Personal interview by the author].

Wallace, J., Hartman, T., Moss, N., & Walker, L. (2021, April 22). [Questionnaire interview by

the author].