Barbara Ludlow Taussig

Vice President-Wealth Management
Financial Advisor

Barbara’s financial services career spans more than 38 years. It couldn’t have begun at a worse time – a recessionary period in the 1980s – but Barbara soon realized that clients were more willing to seek advice in difficult market environments. What’s more, she has retained many of these clients over the years and now advises their children and grandchildren.

Born and raised in Port Huron, Michigan, Barbara graduated Michigan State University with a BA in Political Science and a desire to enter the telecommunications industry. She interned at CBS and later worked at WTIC in Hartford but found that her true passion was helping people. Her telecommunications background, however, has proven invaluable in enhancing her ability to understand the current events that influence financial markets and the machinations of companies seeking to grow their market share in a global economy.

Throughout her eleven years at Kidder Peabody and more than two decades at Morgan Stanley and its predecessor firms, Barbara had been a sole practitioner, providing clients with advice that encompasses not only investments, but other dimensions of their financial lives. Recently, she invited her son Matthew to join forces with her and offer clients additional assistance in pursuing their financial goals.

Barbara gives back to her community through her involvement in numerous charities, including the Village for Children and Families, Farmington Land Trust and the Stanley Whitman Museum. She and her husband reside in Farmington, Connecticut.

Many of my clients have been with me for as long as I’ve been in practice. I take great pride in the depth and longevity of these relationships and in the fact that many of them have extended from generation to generation. Indeed, I feel it is critical to get my clients’ families involved in the process as soon as possible. I’ve seen too many instances of children not knowing where their aging parents keep their assets or, for that matter, their wills and other important documents. In addition, family involvement enables me to educate children and grandchildren on financial basics and prepare them for the responsibilities that come with the inheritance they will receive someday.

I tell my clients that “I get involved in people’s lives and I don’t leave.” That’s my way of saying they can always depend on me for empathetic advice given with their needs first and foremost in mind.

My financial planning approach is deeply personal and highly interactive. Some people aren’t comfortable with the level of intimacy required, but for me to help you avoid mistakes that can impede your financial progress, I have no choice but to ask you questions you might not feel comfortable about answering. For example:
You own a successful business, but you wonder if your children are up to the task of running it when you eventually make your exit
You’re in the early stages of a divorce and you can’t help but wonder if your spouse is trying to hide certain assets
Your aging parents will soon not be able to live on their own, but you haven’t come to terms with it or thought about the ramifications
We’ll also take inventory of your current assets and liabilities and if necessary, we will contact banks, insurance companies and other financial providers to make certain we understand every detail about your holdings. I can’t tell you how often I’ve found 401(k) plans with no beneficiary on file, trusts with no successor trustee named or bank accounts that charge excessive fees my clients didn’t realize they were paying. My objective here is to help you know what you don’t know and rectify errors that could jeopardize your financial future.

Once we create your actual plan, we implement it in a number of different ways. For your investments, we help you create an asset allocation for each of the goals we identified together. We then construct your portfolio with carefully selected exchange-traded funds and mutual funds or other vehicles managed by third party investment managers with a strong history of performance, consistency and organizational excellence. If you have highly appreciated securities that you don’t wish to sell, we will integrate them into your overall allocation and investment plan. Throughout this process, we take a tax-conscious approach that considers your tax bracket and cost basis for each of your holdings before we make changes that could trigger unnecessary tax liability.

Beyond your portfolio, we work with your attorney and accountant to create or refine your estate plan as necessary. Or we can refer you to experienced professionals with whom we’ve collaborated in the past. In addition, Morgan Stanley offers extensive resources that are available to you as a value-added benefit in such disciplines as lending, trusts and philanthropy.

Asset allocation does not guarantee a profit or protect against a loss in a declining financial market.