Keeping Business in the Borough: Fort Lee MetLife Office Moves to Fletcher

The office in Fort Lee held a ribbon cutting ceremony at its new office in the CNBC Building on Fletcher Avenue Tuesday morning, where Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich and other local dignitaries officially “welcomed” the company—a company that never actually left, at least not for the past seven years—to the borough.

But certified financial planner and manager of the Fort Lee MetLife office Paul Lee said that when the company’s lease at Parker Plaza expired, they had a chance to leave; they just decided not to.

“We had different opportunities to move to different locations, but we decided to stay in Fort Lee—not just because of the town, but because we have a very good relationship with the town as well,” Lee said. “And we want to make sure that we continue that existing relationship.”

Lee added, “We are known as the MetLife office in Fort Lee so we just wanted to stick with it.”

Sokolich said that whenever a business “decides to stay” and “establish its roots” in the borough, he takes it as a compliment.

“Because it would indicate that we’re business-friendly, and we are,” Sokolich said. “And it’s great because we’ve got a lot of locals in this business.”

The mayor also said the locals who work for the company have been very involved in the community, doing things like volunteering their time in youth sports leagues and with Fort Lee’s schools.

“And you know that’s going to come back to you tenfold because that’s a lot of goodwill there,” Sokolich said. “You don’t do it for business, but you do it because you want to be a part of the community. And in my opinion, in order to be a successful business, you need to be part of a community.”

He singled out financial services representative Paul Leale, who works in the MetLife office, as an example, saying, “Nobody’s keeping up with this guy’s volunteer hours; I can tell you that right now.”

“I’ve never seen anybody who’s spent more time doing it,” Sokolich said of Leale.

In addition to insurance planning and strategic retirement planning, the company also provides investment planning, estate planning, wealth management and college education planning, Lee explained.

He also said the company, which currently has nine employees working in its Fort Lee office is “always looking to expand.”

“We’re looking for both people with and without experience,” Lee said, adding, “We have an extensive training program to educate people; we are all about education. We are trying to position ourselves as a financial resource for education so that we could be able to help people make smart decisions about their money. That’s basically what we are about.”

Lee said the company does a lot of in-house training to equip its employees with the skills to “go out and train other people about their finances.”

“Everybody knows about IRAs, but how do you strategically invest your money toward your retirement plan?” he said. “That’s a key—not just knowing what it is, but knowing inside and outside how to do it smartly.”

He estimated that more than 65 percent of Americans are “not ready for retirement” because they’re not “fully educated about the whole program.”

“They know it’s out there, but they don’t know how to utilize it,” Lee said. “That’s where we step in.”

Of the new office, Lee said, “Oh, it’s beautiful,” noting the “much nicer building” with a much better view—the office features a pretty good view of the George Washington Bridge through seventh-floor windows.

“It’s a good change because for seven years, we were staying [at Parker Plaza], and this change re-motivates people in a nice, different environment.”

The Fort Lee MetLife office is now located on the seventh floor of the CNBC Building at 2200 Fletcher Ave.