Her plan was simple. Kaua‘i resident Irene Brackenridge wanted to educate and offer the residents of Kaua‘i the same lessons and opportunities that she made available to clients in Southern California. In 1997, the plan was set in motion and
Her plan was simple.
Kaua‘i resident Irene Brackenridge wanted to educate and offer the residents of Kaua‘i the same lessons and opportunities that she made available to clients in Southern California.
In 1997, the plan was set in motion and for the past six years, Brackenridge has helped many Kaua‘i families and individuals better “win the money game” through Primerica Financial Services, a subsidiary of Citigroup.
“I really saw a need in the state of Hawaii and in this local community,” said Brackenridge who is a regional vice president of Primerica. “I saw a huge need here for what Primerica does. So far, the people here have been so grateful for what we provide.” Primerica has been in existence for 26 years and has offices throughout North America, serving six million clients.
Among the duties that Brackenridge along with husband Lyle perform at the Elua Street office location is prepare a free Financial Needs Analysis (FNA) for its clients.
In addition, Primerica provides services in income protection, debt elimination, asset management and education savings.
Brackenridge has worked for Primerica for 15 years and began her career with the company in 1988.
She was born here on Kaua‘i (in a family of six kids) and attended Kaua‘i High School before moving on to Kaua‘i Community College.
After spending two years at KCC, Brackenridge worked in the dairy industry in several departments.
She left the dairy business in 1988 and looked to move on to the financial services industry. After interviewing at several financial companies, she chose Primerica and started her career in Pasadena, California and then Orange County.
“What I was so excited about with Primerica was the educational aspect of teaching families financial concepts and providing them with solutions and products,” she said.
“I also like the target market for the business which is middle-income families. When I grew up here, I was part of a middle-income family. It was paycheck to paycheck for us and I really saw the need for going out and helping families.
In 1997, she started the expansion back to Kaua‘i.
“For the first 10 years or so, we (Lyle and Irene) were fortunate to be able to fly back to Kaua‘i at least once a year. On those occasions, we talked with our families and I didn’t like what I heard. There were discussions about financial issues, having to live paycheck to paycheck. I immediately felt the need to bring the business back to my people.”
It wasn’t easy though.
Initially, Brackenridge had to fly back and forth from the mainland to Kaua‘i two weeks a month for two years in order to survey the financial situations on the island. In October of 2000, the Brackenridge family moved back to Kaua‘i full-time.
Brackenridge’s mission has always been simple.
“I want to deliver a complementary FNA to each family on Kaua‘i.”
She added, “It’s total gratification. You feel really good about being able to reposition a family’s income.
“One of my goals is to help educate them on how to win the money game. We want to keep it simple about what the rules are so that we can help them gain (financial) discipline and motivation and basically stay on target.
“For me it’s very gratifying to take a family living paycheck to paycheck where it looks very dark and leave them with so much light. In other words, I want to make it possible for them to send the kids to college or retire one day without having to go back to work.”
Brackenridge is a member of the Women in Primerica Advisory Board which celebrates the advancement of women in the Primerica work force.
Ascending to the advisory board is based on growth of business and leadership in the field. Also, Brackenridge’s region is in the process of expanding to O‘ahu.
Brackenridge, husband Lyle and children Brittany and Kalani live in Puhi.
For more information about Primerica, contact Irene at 246-8887.
Business Editor Barry Graham can be reached at 245-3681 Ext. 251 or mailto:bgraham@pulitzer.net
