Long before Veronica Karas would enjoy her current life and status as a certified financial planner (CFP®), she and her family came to the United States as refugees from Belarus. Her grandfather, Boris, was able to bring just enough money to try and secure the financial future of his family by putting it into annuity products at a local bank branch. Even with his efforts, a very young Ms. Karas had to begin working to support her college ambitions, as her family did not have the means to fund her education.
When she was a teenager, Ms. Karas was asked by her grandfather to examine his financial records, which she brought to her social studies teacher, who revealed that the patriarch was being victimized by the bank’s predatory practices. Ms. Karas was outraged, as her grandfather was then forced to work into his 80s because of the poor financial advice he received. With encouragement from her grandfather, she was moved to ensure that the same thing did not happen to other people, motivating her to pursue a career in financial planning. Today, with more than a decade of invaluable experience in the field, Ms. Karas has been thriving as the principal, financial advisor, and FA team manager with CAPTRUST in Lake Success, New York, since 2023. Parallel to this role, she is a member of the Estate Planning Council for Long Island and the Financial Planning Association. Moreover, Ms. Karas was named a Top 100 Advisor by Investopedia in 2013.
Among Ms. Karas’ steady stream of accomplishments, seeing her clients succeed and achieve their financial goals remains the most rewarding aspect of her profession. She is grateful for the opportunity to help others secure their financial futures and watch her clients reach the goals of enjoying comfortable retirements, supporting their children through college, and much more. Ms. Karas began her tenure with CAPTRIST in 2018 and has been the co-president of the CAPTRUST Community Foundation since 2022. She started her career in 2011 as a marketing associate with Geller & Company, after which she was a financial planner and the director of marketing and business development with Circle Advisers, Inc. Further, from 2015 to 2016, she garnered key experience as a client associate at Merrill Lynch before working as a senior financial planner with FCE Group, Inc., from 2016 to 2018.
In vital preparation for her career, Ms. Karas was a marketing intern with Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company. She attended Baruch College, graduating in 2011 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in international marketing, psychology, and finance. Following this achievement, she attended the Pace University Lubin School of Business and earned a Master of Business Administration in marketing in 2015. Ms. Karas remains committed to her professional development and is pursuing a Master of Science in taxation at her alma mater, Pace University. Alongside her degrees, she holds numerous credentials in her field, including certification as an elder planning specialist with the Financial Planning Association, which she earned in 2023. Having earned the CFP® designation, she is also a certified financial counselor through the Financial Counseling Institute and a certified divorce financial analyst with the Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts.
Ms. Karas has found added success through her written works, authoring and self-publishing three titles on financial literacy. In 2021, she released “Money Matters: Avoid Getting ‘Sandwiched’ Out of Retirement” and “Money Matters: Merging Lives, Merging Finances.” She authored the first of this three-volume series in 2019, publishing “Money Matters: Everything You Should Have Learned in School, But Didn’t.” Ms. Karas finds sharing her knowledge as a financial advisor and mentor to other professionals to be one of the most fulfilling aspects of her career. Since joining the primarily male industry in 2008, she has taken great pride in being part of the growing 15% of female financial advisors. Many of the women advisors she has mentored are now independently successful, as she encourages others to hold themselves to a higher standard than anyone else would reasonably expect. As a result of following her own advice, in 2021 and 2022, Ms. Karas was recognized with inclusion in the Nassau County Women of Distinction.
Ms. Karas relishes the opportunity to teach others to be competent and trustworthy stewards of wealth. As a financial advisor, she works hard to retain all her clients and ensure they are happy with her services. Never taking her role lightly, Ms. Karas is proud to have become the principal of her firm at age 33 and looks forward to continuing to mentor as many emerging, young financial advisors as possible.