GUILDERLAND — At her newly opened financial consulting office in Guilderland, Gini Iarusso specializes in helping individual clients reach their long-term financial goals.

Her business, Edward Jones Investments, located at 1971 Western Ave., takes a “holistic” and very individualized approach, she said. “You don’t have to have a lot of money to come up with a long-term goal and set out toward it.”

Iarusso works with clients to determine the best tools for them to save for retirement or education, do estate planning, take out life insurance, or plan for the unexpected.

“You wouldn’t believe how many people come to me and think they can’t save enough money,” Iarusso said. “But as we talk, they realize that if they set some long-term goals, they can achieve them.”

It’s important for clients to set a schedule to come back in, Iarusso said, at least once or twice a year to check on their progress.

Iarusso spent more than four years working at a nearby Edward Jones Investments office before branching out on her own in May.

The sooner people get started investing, the better, she said. Iarusso likes seeing young people come through the door. They may not have a lot of assets, but even if they start to put aside $25 or $50 a month, she knows what a difference that can make down the line, she said.

Raised in the Altamont area, Iarusso attended the Guilderland schools. Her family, the Stewarts, trace their roots in Altamont back hundreds of years, she said. Her father and brother, both named Charlie Stewart, are well known locally for their contracting work.

She now lives in Knox and has three sons, ages 16, 14, and 11.

On Monday, June 12, Iarusso will hold an open house and ribbon cutting at her new office, from 9:30 a.m. until 1 p.m.

— Elizabeth Floyd Mair