Originally posted on WealthManagement.com -> Listen Here
To an outsider, advisor Cary Carbonaro looked like a strong, successful woman. But behind closed doors, she faced physical, mental, and verbal abuse on a daily basis in a toxic relationship.
When financial advisor Cary Carbonaro met her first husband, she thought she had it all. She had a great upbringing in New York, wonderful family and friends. She was very successful. And while her fiancé looked very good on paper, the relationship turned out to be toxic.
Behind closed doors, the marriage was a nightmare, with Cary facing physical, mental and verbal abuse from this man on a daily basis.
She got the courage to leave him in 2009, but then endured a lengthy and painful divorce process. Getting out of that relationship set her free in a lot of ways, and then in 2019 she found herself in another bad relationship—this time with her firm, Goldman Sachs. She became a Goldman Sachs advisor when the Wall Street firm acquired United Capital that year. (Goldman recently announced plans to sell the business to Creative Planning.)
In this episode, Diana Britton, managing editor at WealthManagement.com, speaks with Cary Carbonaro, senior vice president and director of women and wealth at ACM Wealth, about her personal experiences of being in an abusive relationship and the challenges she faced with her previous employer.
Cary has been married to her second husband, Stephen Leeds, since 2014.
Cary discusses:
- How she connected with her first husband and why she chose to marry him
- The abuse and manipulation she faced while living with her ex-husband
- How she compartmentalized her work life and home life
- How she got the courage to leave the relationship
- Her journey to help others facing the same struggle
- Her experience at Goldman Sachs
