Name: Leon Baburov
Major at Baruch College: Finance & Investments
Company: Northwestern Mutual
Title: Financial Advisor / College Unit Director
Graduation Year(s): 2013
School (if applicable) within Baruch College: Macaulay Honors
Please briefly describe your current profession in-detail including your responsibilities and tasks.
As a financial advisor, I create financial plans for professionals and business owners. Planning means something different for everyone – for some individuals it has to do with retirement or education planning, and for others it has to do with insurance and investments. My responsibility is to learn what is important for them to achieve financially, analyze their current plan/situation, expose any gaps or shortages in their plans, and structure recommendations to fill those gaps.
Please briefly describe your career path to-date, including the reasons behind job changes you made since graduating from Baruch College.
I first started working at Northwestern Mutual in 2011, as a junior at Baruch. After about a year, I started acquiring my own clients, and continued pursuing this career upon graduation. I’ve been doing it ever since, and recently took (and passed) the CFP® exam. I see myself helping people in this business for a long time!
How did your experiences at Baruch College (e.g., academic studies, extra-curricular activities, student groups) prepare you for your career?
Aside from the education, which has helped tremendously in an applicable manner to the day-to-day work that I do, the extracurricular activities have shaped me as a leader and allowed me to grow in a leadership role here. I wear two hats here at NM – one as a Financial Advisor, helping my own clients, and another as a director of the internship program, helping interns start their own practices for the very first time.
What job resources (e.g., internships, work-study jobs, summer and/or other work opportunities, etc.) have influenced your career choice(s)?
I spent some time here at Northwestern in various roles before deciding to pursue this full-time, and they gave me a pretty comprehensive picture of what things would look like in the future. I enjoyed the work, the people here in this office, and the growth opportunities in the career. I’ve done a lot outside of schoolwork while at Baruch – study abroad, leading the Honors Student Council, and volunteering at the GO Project, but nothing influenced my career choice as much as the actual experience here.
Today, what advice would you give to an undergraduate or graduate Baruch student interested in your field?
Build your communication and networking skills as early as possible, and focus on the really long-term goals. This business will disappoint you if you choose to pursue it for a year or two, but it will open many doors for you if you think of it as a long-term career and treat it as such.
How can an interested person contact you?

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