Investment Adviser Joseph W. Lamberti

Community leader, ethnic activist, money manager, investment counselor, and Italophile — this month I introduce the readers to Joseph W. Lamberti.

Skilled, educated, trained and certified to provide financial planning management specifically for individuals and business owners in his capacity as wealth management advisor and vice president with Merrill Lynch, all Joe wanted to talk about in anticipation of writing this article were his Italian roots.

“My family is from the town of Piandelagotti in the Apennine Mountains of northern Italy. It is a quaint place with beautiful views. Along one main road there is a church, town square, restaurant, hotel, and a smattering of small shops.”

At Merrill Lynch, Joe was a founding member of Paxinos-Lamberti Wealth Management Group, which helps empower its clients to make some of life’s most important decisions: those surrounding retirement, education funding, legacy goals and business aspirations. He suggests that only after these critical steps to help clients determine their goals and priorities, his group then develops and delivers an investment plan — usually a plan with one simple philosophy — to meet each client’s personal return required to achieve their life goals while minimizing risk.

About his ancestry, Joe goes on to say:

“My grandfather, Franco Lamberti, and my grandmother, Giovanna Manattini, were born in Piandelagotti. My grandfather and his family operated a carpentry shop in town, and the farmhouse where they lived was known as Casa Pesci (House of Fish). As a young woman, my grandmother worked as a waitress in town and traveled to Florence to work in the summers. Her family resided in Casa Pellini (House of Pelts).”

Born in the mid-1970s in Evanston, Joseph W. Lamberti attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, receiving a bachelor of arts in finance degree with a minor in economics. As a foreshadowing in the development of his investing expertise, he studied at the Richard T. Farmer School of Business at MU. He studied abroad in London as well as in Moscow.

In describing his family’s immigration to America, he related:

“In 1937, my grandfather’s sister, Oliva Lamberti, became a U.S. citizen by marriage. At the time, my grandfather was in his late teens, unaware that Oliva’s citizenship would provide his family an alternative to life in Piandelagotti. Years later, the Second World War left the town in ruins after German occupation and an American air raid. Following the war, the rebuilding of Piandelagotti was expensive and slow. After a time of much apprehension, my grandparents decided to move the family to America.”

Throughout his career, Joe continued his quest for education, this time more specific to his practice providing financial advice, obtaining the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation in 2002. This designation is awarded to those who satisfy rigorous training in areas that include ethics, investment planning, retirement planning, tax planning, insurance and estate planning. In 2006 he completed a three-year program to attain the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, regarded by most to be the key certification for investment professionals, especially in the areas of research and portfolio management.

Joe continued:

“On Nov. 30, 1955, Franco, Giovanna, my aunt Eleonora, and my father Maurizio boarded a bus in Piandelagotti and headed for Pisa. From Pisa they took a train to Genoa where they spent the night. In the morning, they boarded a passenger ship called the Andrea Doria. That afternoon, my family embarked on the journey to New York. All they brought with them to the New World was contained in two suitcases and a small trunk.”

Joseph W. Lamberti has demonstrated he has stellar community involvement with his affiliations with St. Alphonsus Church (Chicago) and St. James Church (Highwood), as well as charitable and other altruistic efforts with Children’s Memorial Hospital.

Upon his family’s arrival in Highwood, Joe relates:

“New York City was like another world, but the Italian people in Highwood made the Chicago suburb feel more like home. Giovanna and Franco moved the family into a one-room coach house to begin anew. My grandfather found employment at Fort Sheridan and my grandmother went to work washing and ironing clothes. They were on their way to paying off the debts accumulated from the trip and building a life for themselves in a new country. Much of it made possible by the network of friends and family from Italy in Highwood.”

Joe, his wife Amanda and their two children, Jack and Lyla, currently live in Chicago.