The close-knit team of financial professionals at Cents & Sensibility focuses on providing lifetime financial guidance to individuals and families. Founded in 2000 by CEO Sharon Almeida, Cents & Sensibility offers its clients access to top-flight investment firms and in-house advisors with a warm, personal touch. The firm aims to provide clarity to clients and helps them simplify their finances by organizing everything in one place. Thanks to a customized technology platform, the Cents & Sensibility team can combine and curate different investment strategies within a single account and house each family's accounts under one login. The firm offers clients a personal information portal for monitoring finances, including investments, banking, and loans, along with access to key financial documents and more.

“Our company is an all-women team and small by design,” says Almeida. “We work with world-class investment companies but provide local, hands-on service. Clients contact us directly, not some eight-hundred number with a hope and a prayer someone will respond. In a world where customer service is at an all-time low, we pride ourselves on providing best-in-class service.”

Cents & Sensibility works to build long-term relationships with clients. That relationship is the foundation for helping clients manage their finances, according to Almeida. “We get to know what’s important to each client then tailor their personal plan to reflect their goals. Clients tell us that working together gives them confidence and peace of mind knowing someone they trust is handling their finances.”

The team enjoys helping multigenerational families as well as individuals. Clients may struggle with helping elderly family members deal with finances, health care issues, and daily tasks, for example. “We really love helping find solutions like account consolidation, bill monitoring, and reviewing cash flow, while helping people make hard decisions at sensitive, vulnerable times in their lives,” notes Almeida.

During hard times, clients especially appreciate the warm and personal approach that Cents & Sensibility provides as part of its financial services. “One of our clients recently inherited from both sides of their family and was overwhelmed with accounts scattered across multiple institutions,” she says. “We were able to help retitle and consolidate the accounts as well as better diversify, recalibrate risk, and reposition the assets more tax efficiently to create cash flow for the client’s recent early retirement.”

Almeida has a B.S. in Financial Services from San Diego State University. She is an Investment Advisory Representative with Duet Advisory Services, LLC, a California Registered Investment Advisor, and a Registered Representative with Private Client Services, a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority as well as the Securities Investor Protection Corporation.

Cents & Sensibility moved to Hacienda in 2002 because “the easy access for my clients coming from various parts of the Bay Area made it the perfect choice,” according to Almeida, who says she bought the firm’s office suite in 2011 because she loves Hacienda so much. “Needless to say, I’m here to stay.”

In addition to her professional duties, Almeida is an active volunteer in the Tri-Valley area. She has been a long-time Board member, corporate sponsor, and supporter of Tri-Valley REACH and its mission to create inclusive communities and independent living opportunities for adults with developmental disabilities. She also supports the Sandra J Wing Healing Therapies Foundation.

For more information about Cents & Sensibility, please visit www.centsinc.net and its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/people/Cents-Sensibility-Inc/100057402763129.