The Palisades Hudson Story: Then and Now
Larry Elkin, 2001
Photo Credit: Jessica Elkin
At the end of 1992, Larry Elkin decided to take his professional life into his own hands. He left his position as a senior manager at mega-accounting firm Arthur Andersen and opened his own office. After others joined him it was known as Larry M. Elkin & Co., the enterprise that would eventually become Palisades Hudson Financial Group.
For the first year, Larry worked alone in a small office in a converted movie house in Hastings on Hudson, New York. Having very few clients at first left him with a lot of time, so he started a newsletter and wrote a book: Financial Self-Defense for Unmarried Couples, the first book to specifically address that topic. An executive at Bankers Trust noticed the newsletter, and hired Larry for a series of consulting projects. That kept him busy until a large paper company retained him to help its senior executives manage their personal financial matters. Those early projects led to more business, and Palisades Hudson was on its way.
Shomari Hearn (front), Eric Meermann (back), 2001
Photo Credit: Jessica Elkin
It was right around that time that Larry hired his first employees. From the beginning, most of Palisades Hudson’s staff have joined us early in their careers, often straight out of school. Our goal, for those staff members who prove to be a good fit, is to keep them as long as possible. In those early years, everyone worked within arm’s reach; today, our staff is still close-knit, but we work out of offices in five states and travel to see clients across the country and abroad, wherever they choose to live and work.
Palisades Hudson is now truly a national firm. Even so, our staff maintains an integrated approach to our work and an authentic interest in one another’s accomplishments, both professional and personal. Similarly, we take a genuine interest in the lives of our clients, well beyond their personal finances. Our clients, in turn, regularly refer their friends and relatives to us, which is the highest compliment anyone can pay a professional adviser. Today, those clients include children and grandchildren of people whom Larry first counseled 20 or even 25 years ago, prior to setting out on his own.
Larry Elkin, 2001
Photo Credit: Jessica Elkin
There are some great-grandchildren on our client list, too. They are still young enough that the majority of our service consists of buying an occasional toy or book to amuse them when we pay their parents a visit. But children grow. And Palisades Hudson has every intention of growing right along with them.
