Mater Filia Financial & Insurance Services
Karen Irene Schmidt
Estate & Business Planning Specialist|ChFC®, CLU®, CASL®, CLTC®
Forbes Best-in-State Top Financial Security Professional, 2023
Get to know Karen
Karen Dry is perhaps one of the most approachable and knowledgeable advisors you will encounter. Her focus is solely on the client’s best interest in their financial planning. She has spent the last 15 years as a Financial Advisor at the Northwestern Mutual, a consistent industry leader not only at Top of the Table with MDRT but in the company nationwide as well. Her accolades are numerous, but she centers only on the team’s mission: develop enduring relationships with clients by providing expert guidance for a lifetime of financial security.
Clientele
Her clients are individuals, families, business owners and retired executives. She has a large constituency of working with pension-focused individuals such as the Lineman, Longshoreman, Electrical, Plumbing and Federal Employees unions. Her expertise centers first on risk management such as life, disability, long term care and health medical insurance. She then expands to wholistic financial planning, specializing in creating a well-thought-out financial plan, customized to each of her clients’ individualized needs. Whether a client is looking to focus on managing current financial success or on protecting and preserving assets over the long term, Karen can help find your solution.
Years of Experience
Representing Northwestern Mutual since 2009.
Awards and Recognition
- Northwestern Mutual National Top 20 – 2019, 2020, 2021
- Northwestern Mutual #1 Financial Advisor – Western Region - 2021
- NAIFA National Association of Insurance & Financial Advisors Quality Award – 2012 to present
- Award recognizing commitment to excellence in service to clients and industry
- MDRT Million Dollar Round Table Qualifying Member – 2011 to 2019
- MDRT Million Dollar Round Table “Top of the Table” Qualifying Member – 2019 to present
- MDRT is the premier association of financial professionals. MDRT status designation is granted for one year and members must apply every year to continue their affiliation with MDRT.
Credentials
Karen has been named a top representative for the Northwestern Mutual 2010, 2011, and 2015 through to 2022. Initially starting her college experience in Electrical Engineering and Physics, Karen has continued a path of owning multiple businesses, as well as working and selling for varied companies over the past 25 years. It is this experience as a multi-faceted business owner that brings Karen’s uniqueness to her planning for business owners and C-suite executives.
She has been in the top 50 nominated for “Executive of the Year” the Los Angeles Business Journal every year since 2010. Belonging to over 12 associations, including NAIFA, she is a Million Dollar Roundtable qualifier since 2011. She spends most of her free time traveling and vacationing with her family, consisting now of her three children, their spouses and her grandchildren.
Karen Dry has her Series 6, Series 63, ChFC (Chartered Financial Consultant), CLU (Chartered Life Underwriter), CASL (Chartered Advisor for Senior Living), and CLTC (Certification for Long Term Care) designations. She is an active member of the following professional associations:
- National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA)
- Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT)
- Finesca – a Foundation that elevates the financial services industry by protecting the dreams and promote financial wellbeing for all.
Here are my areas of expertise
Financial Planning
Retirement Planning & Income Strategies
Business Planning & Succession
Business Employee & Executive Benefits Planning
Investment Planning & Strategies
Insurance Protection Strategies
Multigenerational Planning
Estate Planning
Lending a hand in my community.
As part of Northwestern Mutual, I'm proud to help accelerate the search for better childhood cancer treatments while supporting families undergoing treatment, and survivors from late effects. Here are some of the organizations we partner with:
Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer (ALSF)
ALSF funds cancer research, raises awareness, and supports the families of children with cancer. Since 2012, Northwestern Mutual, its employees, and financial professionals like me have donated more than $20 million to support ALSF and fund over 400,000 research hours.
Beads of Courage
Beads of Courage is an art-in-medicine program that helps kids with cancer tell their unique treatment story through colorful beads that are symbols of their courage.
How Northwestern Mutual helps you live the life you want.
When people feel better about their money, good things happen—they become more confident and feel more secure. For more than 160 years, Northwestern Mutual has helped people achieve the financial flexibility they need to live more and worry less.
Being a mutual company means Northwestern Mutual reports to its clients, not Wall Street. They don't believe in chasing fads or taking undue risk for short-term gains. Instead, they take a long-term approach—both in the way we help people plan to reach their goals, and in the way they do business. This has served their clients (and mine) well through all kinds of economic ups and downs, including wars, recessions, even the recent pandemic.
It's why I'm happy to be part of a company that's in it for the long-haul and prioritizes clients over profit.
