Kjersten C. Lazar,
CFP®
First Vice President, Investments
Kjersten Lazar is passionate about helping people find enlightened answers to their financial questions and concerns. For more than 28 years, she has found great fulfillment in empowering and educating clients about financial matters, and providing thoughtful one on-one guidance that can truly make a difference in their lives.
Her clients rely on her to be a financial concierge for all money-related matters, from helping prepare for the sale of a business to helping compare competing job offers.
She’ll collaborate with clients’ attorneys and accountants on these crucial milestones to ensure a unified approach. Through the responsive service, wealth management resources and personalized strategies she provides, long-lasting relationships naturally take root.
As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional, Kjersten believes in ongoing education and is committed to upholding high ethical standards.
After working for several other major wire houses, she joined Raymond James in 2007, where she now serves on the Women Advisory Council, the Private Client Banking Advisory Council as well as the Longevity Advisory Board. Women’s Advisory Council (WAC) - represents the best of the best among advisors at Raymond James, not just women advisors. These dynamic and inspirational women take their roles as mentors seriously because they understand that strong leadership will pave the way for women advisors who come after them. Kjersten is currently a mentor for two other female financial advisors.
Longevity Advisory Board (LAB) - Longevity Advisory Board members are chosen based on their focus on retirement and longevity planning. They provide feedback on Longevity Planning initiatives, impacting the creation of useful resources for all advisors and their clients.
She is also a member and occasional speaker for the Network for Women Advisors. Her insight has also been featured in Financial Planning magazine, Financial Advisor IQ and more recently Barron’s. In 2019 and 2021 she was named in Working Mothers Magazine Top Wealth Advisor Moms and in the 2020 edition of the Forbes List of America's Top 1000 Women Wealth Advisors.
Kjersten has earned the Private Wealth Advisor designation from Raymond James. This designation reflects her experience in managing the financial concerns of families, individuals and organizations of significant wealth, and her mastery of methods and resources necessary to support their expansive financial interests.
Originally from Midland, Texas, she lived in Sao Paulo, Brazil, before moving to Carmel, New York, where she now lives with her husband, Robert, and their daughters, Monika and Rebekah. She and her family are avid boaters and have taken their boat on trips up the Hudson River to Lake Champlain and all around Long Island Sound. She also enjoys hiking with her rescue mixed mutt and fly fishing.
† The Forbes ranking of Top Women Wealth Advisors Best-In-State, developed by SHOOK Research, is based on an algorithm of qualitative and quantitative data, rating thousands of wealth advisors with a minimum of seven years of experience and weighing factors like revenue trends, assets under management, compliance records, industry experience and best practices learned through telephone and in-person interviews. Portfolio performance is not a criteria due to varying client objectives and lack of audited data. This ranking is based upon the period from 9/30/23 to 9/30/24 and was released on 02/11/2025. Research Summary (as of February 2025): 48,220 nominations were received and 2,436 women won. This ranking is not indicative of an advisor's future performance, is not an endorsement, and may not be representative of individual clients' experience. Neither Raymond James nor any of its financial advisors or RIA firms pay a fee in exchange for this award/rating. Compensation provided for using the ranking. Raymond James is not affiliated with Forbes or Shook Research, LLC. Please visit https://www.forbes.com/lists/best-in-state-women-advisors/?sh=64b505e81d11 for more info.
SHOOK™ Research considered Wealth Advisors who are mothers with children living at home and under the age of 21. Ranking algorithm is based on qualitative measures derived from telephone and in-person interviews and surveys: service models, investing process, client retention, industry experience, review of compliance records, firm nominations, etc.; and quantitative criteria, such as assets under management and revenue generated for their firms. Investment performance is not a criterion because client objectives and risk tolerances vary, and advisors rarely have audited performance reports. Rankings are based on the opinions of SHOOK Research, LLC. For more information see www.SHOOKresearch.com. Data as of 3/31/2019. From a total universe of 300,000 advisors, based on our thresholds we received 30,691 nominations, of which approximately 20% (6,000) were women and less than half (< 3,000) at the time were mothers with children under the age of 21 and living at home. A final list of the top 400 advisors was then compiled based upon the quantitative criteria. Raymond James is not affiliated with Working Mother or Shook Research, LLC. This ranking is not indicative of an advisor's future performance, is not an endorsement, and may not be representative of individual clients' experience. Neither Raymond James nor any of its Financial Advisors or RIA firms pay a fee in exchange for this award/rating.Ð'dThe Forbes ranking of America's Top 1,000 Women Wealth Advisors, developed by SHOOK Research, is based on an algorithm of qualitative and quantitative data, rating thousands of wealth advisors with a minimum of 7 years of experience and weighing factors like revenue trends, AUM, compliance records, industry experience and best practices learned through telephone and in-person interviews. Portfolio performance is not a criteria due to varying client objectives and lack of audited data. Research Summary (as of April 2019): 32,000 nominations were received based on thresholds (9,654 women) and 1,000 won. This ranking is not indicative of an advisor's future performance, is not an endorsement, and may not be representative of individual clients' experience. Neither Forbes nor SHOOK receive a fee in exchange for rankings. Raymond James is not affiliated with Forbes or Shook Research, LLC. Please visit https://www.forbes.com/top-women-advisors/#28abc5bd51f4 for more info.
Outstanding Adult Volunteer Award: This ranking is not based in anyway on the individual's abilities in regards to providing investment advice or management. This ranking is not indicative of advisor's future performance, is not an endorsement, and may not be representative of individual clients' experience. Raymond James is not affiliated with the City of Stamford.
Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Center for Financial Planning, Inc. owns and licenses the certification marks CFP®, Certified Financial Planner®, and CFP® (with plaque design) in the United States to Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc., which authorizes individuals who successfully complete the organization's initial and ongoing certification requirements to use the certification marks.
Raymond James is not affiliated with the above organizations and/or charitable causes.
