Rhonda Singer remembers the moment she walked onto a Goldman Sachs trading floor wearing a pair of rainbow Valentino heels. The shoes broke an unspoken dress code of navy suits and dark skirts. But this is only one fact of many from her story.
Colleagues stared, deals continued, and a lesson formed: style can sit beside skill without apology.
The beginnings
Singer grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, graduated from Penn, and planned on law school. A dare led her to apply for an internship at Goldman. She deferred law school, found energy in capital markets, and stayed. Posts at Alliance Bernstein and J.P. Morgan Private Bank followed.
Over three decades she helped families move wealth through mergers, divorces, births, and deaths. She also trademarked “Financially Blonde,” signaling that personal image and market insight can share one stage.
Facing Life Shifts
When clients face change, Singer maps four lists: assets, income, spending, goals. She asks what to keep, what to adjust, what to drop, and what new line to add. The exercise forces clarity before lawyers, brokers, or courts enter the scene. “Change can be a great time for reflection and re-underwriting your choices” she says. She reminds clients that one choice, like selling a house, buying a policy, or pausing work can reset a decade of hard and unforgiving work.
Clothes as Strategy
Singer treats dress as a signal to clients and peers. Black ruled her New York years; white jeans and cowboy boots fit her Miami base now. On Zoom she focuses on jackets and jewelry visible in frame. The right outfit, she says, “changes posture and voice.” No spreadsheet does that.
She also says, that the fashion can also be seen as an investment. A Birkin bag can show 14 percent annual rise, yet Singer still advises caution. Buy pieces you will use; view jewelry as portable bullion. Understand resale markets before chasing a wait-list. Most wardrobes serve mood, not yield. “Other than the Birkin, I wouldn’t buy pieces for investment; I’d rather see people buy jewelry” she comments.
Work, Home, and the Code in Between
Singer once flew to London seventeen times in one year. During the pandemic she stayed home with adult children and saw a model for balance: remote calls, fewer flights, more daylight tasks. She is “bullish” on women in finance because leave policies, hybrid teams, and data tools now support longer careers. AI handles research and portfolio screens; human advisers keep the trust.
The rainbow heels came from a Milan trip after client meetings with Italian retailers. They rest in her closet next to a small matching bag, worn rarely but seen daily. Objects can store memory better than cloud files.
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