Biography

Susan Priem, CFP^®, founded Priem Financial Group in 2002. She is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and has been an active member of the Financial Planning Association since 1986. After beginning her career at The Vanguard Group, Susan identified that individuals needed a trusted advisor who could guide them through the complexities of the financial planning process. For more than 30 years, she has helped hundreds of clients fulfill their lifelong dreams while advising them through a variety of life circumstances. She has the keen ability to help clients develop their personal goals while teaching them how to block out all the economic noise that complicates the financial planning process. Susan’s commitment to excellence has allowed her practice to grow strategically from year to year strictly by word-of-mouth referrals. Priem Financial Group has experienced very little attrition since its inception.

Susan attributes her business success to the financial astuteness of her mother, who, when alive, demonstrated keen financial planning principles, which allowed her to live fully, generously gift to each of her six children, and travel the world (while living on a very modest monthly income).

Philosophy
Building long-term relationships with each client is Susan’s philosophical approach to the financial planning process. Together with each client, she carefully charts a course to pursue financial success through the use of prudent investment strategies. Susan is dedicated to maintaining the "small-firm setting" within Priem Financial Group.

Personal Interests
One of Susan’s prize possessions is the four hydrangea bushes that grew around her childhood home, which now surround her family’s historic home on Keuka Lake. She looks forward to counting the blossoms on each bush every summer. The bushes are more than 50 years old and still bloom that gorgeous blue flower! Susan also enjoys reading the biographies of individuals whose simple lives prove great success through perseverance. In her opinion, Booker T. Washington’s biography, Up from Slavery, is a must-read for all, as is the courageous story of Emma Gatewood, the first woman to walk the Appalachian Trail. For her greatest personal achievement, Susan counts the successful launching of her children into adulthood and marriage to her husband, Sam, for more than three decades.

Community Involvement

Being an active member of the community in which she lives and work, Sue played an active role in the first-ever Commonwealth Financial Network’s Women’s Conference in 2019 serving as a presenter on the topic Corporate and Firm Culture. It gives her great pleasure helping the next generation of female Financial Planners establish their business and provide support as they grow in this profession. Additionally, she was recently selected to serve as a member of the Commonwealth Advisory Council, an unique opportunity to add value to future advisors and senior management.

Sue plays a role in her local community by serving as a Board member of the Yates Community Foundation and serving as an active member in ministry at Penn Yan Bible Church.

 Susan Zimmerman-Priem is proud to have been recognized as a Founder’s Club advisor for 2022—a distinction based on annual production that places her among the top 35 percent of advisors affiliated with Commonwealth Financial Network. 

Each year, Commonwealth, the broker/dealer–RIA that helps us process investment transactions on your behalf, recognizes Founder’s Club advisors by inviting them to an exclusive gathering of their peers, leading industry experts, and Commonwealth home office staff. Founder’s Club advisors benefit from an intensive learning and networking experience designed to help them hone their expertise, share best practices, and provide ever-higher levels of service, education, and leadership.