By: Melissa Phipps
A good wealth advisor can be banker, accountant, psychologist and family friend-and occasionally even listen to what we have to say. An outstanding advisor will know when not to.
Top View
An old proverb warns us about more tears being shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones. If we could assemble our own wealth advisors from a Chinese menu according to our whims, few of the resulting creatures would possess the objectivity, judgment, instincts and compassion to see our families through life's personal and financial struggles. Often, the qualities in an advisor that we do not notice or that we resent can become our salvation. The search for the ideal advisor is as complicated and trying as the search for a life partner; and the bond, once forged, can be as lasting. The 100 individuals listed here represent the cream of their profession. All of them have demonstrated a profound dedication to their clients' well-being-even when their clients failed to recognize it.
In the mid-1980s, when Myra Salzer's nascent financial planning practice happily served any willing clients, a young couple came in for an introductory appointment. The couple arrived late, and at the outset of conversation, the husband confessed that the termination of his income stream-the only he had ever known-had prompted them to seek financial advice. The two fidgeted and appeared generally uncomfortable, almost mournful, Salzer recalls, and she began to contemplate, as they talked, the thankless and unprofitable job of counseling the unemployed. She noticed the wife playing with a ring on her finger, turning the stone to the inside of her palm. Salzer casually asked why she kept the ring's face hidden. The young woman extended her hand. "She showed me the inside of her hand, and there was this huge emerald," says Salzer. "She said they had bought it on the way to the office, which was why they were late."
Salzer was aghast. "Your only source of income has dissipated, and you just bought a $20,000 ring?" she asked. "It was $60,000," corrected the husband. He then explained that the income stream emanated from a trust fund that had come to an end the week before, on his 35th birthday. That occasion, he said, marked his inheritance of $18 million, with which he had, he admitted, no idea what to do.
At this juncture, says Salzer, the woman burst into tears. "She cried, 'How can I go home and show this ring to my father when he can barely make his house payment?'"
Such are the trials of the nation's best personal financial advisors, all of whom could tell similar tales of clients who, having undergone significant or complex life changes, find themselves in search of someone to trust. Salzer proved to be that person for this particular couple, as well as for scores of others: She has since built her successful Boulder, Colo.-based practice, the Wealth Conservancy, into one of the pre-eminent advisory firms, specializing in helping individuals feel empowered by, rather than burdened with, their significant inherited wealth.
In setting out to uncover the country's very best financial advisors, the editors of Worth set out upon a similar search for talented and trustworthy professionals who specialize in the needs of the very wealthy. In a survey of almost 1,000 highly recommended individual financial advisors, the editors uncovered 100 standouts who have built impressive careers guiding sophisticated clients with substantial means. While some firms, such as Goldman Sachs, provide exceptional client service through the development of expert teams, others favor the impact of the gifted individual. The editors celebrate these unique achievers in the following pages.
Whether they work in independent financial planning practices, multi-client family offices, trust companies, private banks or the private wealth management arms of large financial institutions, these specialist share a common, yet decisive trait: the ability to blend technical financial expertise with integrity, empathy and a keen understanding of human behavior in order to provide a high level of service to their discriminating clientele. Their service, in other words, only begins with investment selection. The size and complexities of their clients' personal finances often resemble those of small corporations, and the advisors on this list serve as personal chief financial officers, overseeing-if not directly handling-all aspects of a client's wealth. According to the Merrill Lynch/Cap Gemini Ernst & Young World Wealth Report 2003, this is exactly what their clients expect.
With the past few years marked by corporate scandals, misleading equity research, accounting irregularities and mutual fund family opportunism, all of our needs, demands and attitudes toward investing have grown increasingly complex and more difficult to serve and satisfy. While the Merrill Lynch/Cap Gemini Ernst & Young report discovered that the likelihood of our making an investment-related decision without consulting a professional declined from 55 percent in 2000 to 45 percent in 2002, the study also found that a greater number of us are demanding comprehensive financial planning services with a "counselorlike" rather than an "Information-based" approach. We are looking for relationships characterized by a sense of collaboration, rapid task management, a transparency regarding fees and services, and high-touch personal service.
Nothing gauges a service better than the testimony of those being served. To find out just what clients expect and appreciate in the relationship with their advisor, the editors asked a handful of advisors to grant them access to their individual clients-including two billionaire businessmen, two entrepreneurial CEOs who have sold their companies, a former president of a large-cap mutual fund firm, a professional private equity investor, a one-time Internet marketing executive, an owner of an automotive parts manufacturer, a founder of a start-up record label, and a television personality. (Some chose to remain anonymous, others did not.)
All praised the services they received from their advisors. Surprisingly, however, sophisticated investment strategies were not what these clients valued most. Consolidation and simplification of financial matters, strength of focus on long-term goals, access to a network of quality professionals and services, and personal service that extends far beyond finances ranked much higher in their estimation.
Back to Latest Press & News.
For inheritors who want to develop life-summiting skills to achieve success and enjoy a sense of accomplishment.
