These stories describe our work on a variety of different engagements. Many clients come to us looking for solutions on a variety of issues. Our job is to listen and understand what you are trying to achieve and then develop solutions for you.
A common theme in the stories is that many of our clients had very experienced attorneys, accountants, investment advisors before engaging us. Yet, we were still able to develop productive suggestions. Occasionally, we also found mistakes, and not because their specialty advisors had given poor advice, but because they were working in silos without the benefit of the whole picture or the visibility to analyze the interactions among the different planning areas – investments, tax and estate planning, family dynamics.
Prior to our involvement, the individuals or families lacked a comprehensive strategy for managing their wealth. The planning that was done was a series of individual decisions that lacked a cohesive strategy and direction. In many cases, the families’ prior investment advisors were subject to conflicts of interest that affected the quality of advice that the family received—for example, the investment portfolios were heavily invested in proprietary products that were not performing well but generating extra fees for the advisor.