Cindy M. never imagined herself in financial services. In fact, coming from the hospitality industry, she thought it sounded hideous. “I thought you stared at a computer all day,” she explains. “But in real life, you talk to people all day and find out what they need and how to help them.”

It aligns with both Cindy’s hospitality experience and personality to talk all day and help people.  Her daughter, Randi M., explains that her mom can become friends with anyone, anywhere. “One time we were at a store in Arkansas, and within seven minutes, this woman was telling my mom her whole life story,” laughs Randi.

Cindy’s been working in financial services for 24 years now, officially joining Schwab in May of 2020 after Schwab acquired USAA’s investing business. She’s a financial consultant for the national branch located inside Schwab’s headquarters in Westlake, Texas, and she says she loves that her job includes active listening to understand client’s needs, wants and resources, and then offering advice and solutions.

 In fact, Schwab has been such a good fit, that a little over two years ago, Cindy encouraged her daughter Randi to join the firm as well. At the time, Randi was working in Arkansas, recruiting for the poultry industry, and loved it. But with the birth of her niece, she was feeling the pull back to Texas to be closer to family. Not sure about taking on a new industry, she took the leap and applied for a role in client service and support at Schwab, launching her own financial services career.

“I told her that there are so many people that don’t always work in the field that their degree is in,” explains Cindy. “And as a mother I thought, well, she might hate it or she might love it, but it’s a good opportunity to find out.”

Turns out, Randi loves it. She’s been with Schwab for two-and-a-half years, and she’s now working in a career building opportunity with the learning and development. She’ll be returning to the Pinnacle High Net Worth team this summer, where she’s looking forward to serving more clients.

“My mom knew me enough to be able to say, ‘I know you will like this,’ and she knows me really well,” explains Randi. “And she was just so involved in every part of Schwab, that I just got a really holistic view of the company, and I knew that it wasn’t just the job, it’s the personal connections you make here.”

A mother’s influence, and a daughter’s independence

Cindy didn’t just have an influence Randi’s career, she also influenced Randi’s financial know-how. Randi would listen about what her mom did day-to-day—talk to clients about their financial situation and help them put a plan in place to achieve their goals—and it taught her how important financial literacy was in life. “Because of my mom, I knew what to do with my money,” explains Randi. “And I wanted to be able to do that too.”

Talking to Cindy and Randi, the similarities are obvious—both have infectious personalities that can draw anyone in—but at the same time, they have their unique differences. While Cindy loves to go into the office every day, Randi prefers to take advantage of Schwab’s Workplace Flexibility program and work from home some days. And while Cindy is involved with multiple employee resource groups—Randi jokes that her mother is in all 10 of them—Randi tries to pace herself a little more.

“As her mom, I try not to say the ‘you should’ stuff too much—'You should use your education benefit,’ ‘You should find a mentor,’” she explains. “We try to keep work talk to a minimum when we aren’t here. It would be easy to bore the family with Schwab-talk since my son-in-law also works for the firm.”

However, while at work, they do like to connect when they can. In fact, Cindy and Randi volunteered together for Schwab Volunteer week, where they taught financial literacy to youth with Schwab’s Moneywise America™ program. And this Mother’s Day, they of course plan to spend the day together sharing a big family dinner prepared by Cindy’s husband, and Randi’s dad, who is a chef.

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