Financial expert Sherry Bryant emphasizes that saving for a rainy day is not just a cliché. A CPA and certified broker, Bryant believes educating clients is first and foremost in financial management. With 18 years of finance and accounting experience, the CEO of Sherry Bryant & Associates stepped out on faith when she launched her business nine years ago. Gleaning experience from her previous jobs at the FDIC and Federal Home Loan Bank as a federal home loan examiner and a senior financial real estate analyst, respectively, Bryant shares, “I decided to start a company that would educate people financially so they could get things right from a personal level and on a business level. A lot of people go into business for only one year [because they lack the proper guidance].”
Although Bryant has relied on word of mouth to generate business, she’s decided to expand her services by having a free wealth and financial empowerment networking event to offer her expertise to the nouveau riche and individuals earning six-figures and up. “We are doing a big marketing campaign to push our services,” she shares.
Those services include wealth management and development, tax services, accounting services, business development, and nonprofit organizations. SBA’s client roster includes individuals, independent record labels, churches and youth organizations.
Bryant offers an example of the scope of their services, “Take athletes, for example. We try to educate them when they first get their contract or when they are at the height of their career. We encourage them to start thinking about planning for their future. Then, we advise them to immediately put some money [into a savings account]. Let’s say you have a contract. First, I say take $200,000 and … [buy a home, etc]. Next, let’s put maybe $300,000 in a savings [account]. Last, we see how to make the remaining half million dollars work for them, by developing multiple streams of income.”
Bryant’s professional memberships include the Atlanta Business League, the Atlanta Chapter of the National Black MBA Association, and various accounting organizations. –yvette caslin
