Meet an Advisor: Maureen Donahue

Evan Harp: When and how did your practice begin?

Maureen Donahue: My practice began around 10 years ago. I started in the brokerage world, so instead of independent advisory, I worked at one of the larger firms. It began with just a partnership with another advisor who had a lot of accounts and needed some help. Unfortunately, the mix between personalities wasn’t perfect, so I moved on to independent advisory at Rockwood in New Hope. I’ve been an independent advisor ever since.

Evan Harp: What is your investment philosophy?

Maureen Donahue: I like to use this quote that I picked up in the industry: “Portfolios are very similar to bars of soap. The more you use them, the smaller they get.” So, the idea is to think about how you want your portfolio designed and be disciplined in staying in that allocation. We only make changes when necessary because the market has a dramatic change. A lot of times people think the change would be to equities, but actually it isn’t. The fixed income portion can have more substantial changes based on government policy.

Evan Harp: What’s the biggest obstacle you had to overcome, and how did you do it?

Maureen Donahue: That’s such a good question. I hate to use this exact cliche, because I am a female in finance, but one of the biggest obstacles has been being a female and I think making a really hard choice. I switched firms to now be a part of Yardley last October, so almost a year ago. And it was a month after I found out that I was pregnant. 

I fought this battle that I never really understood, as a woman who’s starting a family, how do you change jobs? A man would be able to do it no problem. But for me, I had this morning sickness during interviews (super fun). I had to think about, if I get hired, I have to tell this boss in about six months that I need to take three months off for maternity leave. 

This was definitely a very big obstacle in my mind, an obstacle to my career overall. I felt like this is going to block me from doing what I want to do to progress forward in my career and make the best choice. But luckily I found Yardley, and Mike, and he was such a family person. It was the right fit and I couldn’t be happier. But I remember that last October just being so scared. Such an obstacle

Evan Harp: It would be nice if we had a society that was built to take care of people.

Maureen Donahue: Exactly. Just thinking about it. .. You’re like, why couldn’t I find this new job a year before, a year after. Why now? And that timing does matter when you’re starting a family as a female. Luckily, it didn’t affect me, in the end.

Evan Harp: What’s something that’s happening in the market right now that you think not enough people are paying attention to?

Maureen Donahue: With elections coming up, I think people are paying too much attention to that and not enough to what actually is happening, which one thing is interest rate changes. Again, we go back to bonds, (a boring area) and interest rates have been everyone’s topic as they look at buying houses and as younger people or boomers are moving into the smaller houses and downsizing. 

Interest rates really haven’t shifted a lot this year, which is actually news. So no change is a kind of change in this sense as we’ve seen interest rates continue to rise in prior years and there is potential for rate cuts in the future [note that two days after this interview, the Fed cut interest rates].

When people are looking at it, I think people sometimes forget, again, about the bond side of the market. It affects your daily life and it affects inflation and it affects how much you can borrow for if you’re gonna make a housing change or home renovation with your home equity line of credit. I think it’s a part that’s getting downplayed with the crazy markets ahead of the election and new campaign candidates coming in. So, I like to just bring it up.

Evan Harp: Who is another financial advisor that inspires you, and why?

Maureen Donahue: Another financial advisor that inspires me was my old colleague at Rockwood, Renee. I got to see her, as a working mom, start the process of having a child and going through everything, and how she handled it. I still lean on her for professional support and personal support. It’s great to have a friend in the industry who’s done this and you’re able to learn from. She was a rock star. Sometimes I’m like, “Why does it feel hard for me?” But it’s great to have that resource.

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