|
|
 |
|
| Advisory Jungle |
Emerging from the Thicket
Suzanne McGee
01/01/2006
|
Retired commodities firm executive.
Need: A highly skilled wealth advisor who could work on a more personal level
with his entire family.
Strategy: Numerous in-depth interviews to determine
compatibility with his stated goals. Using references from friends and
associates, Strongin held repeated discussions with short-list candidates about
needs and objectives. Through interviews, he was able to find a team of
financial experts who could work on a much more personal level and act as family
advisors.
“I didn’t realize that it was possible to have someone be a family advisor and
not just an investment advisor.”
–Phil Strongin |
When Phil Strongin retired from his senior executive post early in 2005, he
realized that his current financial advisor, a broker in the asset management
division of a retail bank, was not going to be up to the task of managing all
the money that would soon arrive in his account. “A number of my investments
were cashing out, and I had to make some fast decisions about how to invest that
capital,” he says.
His former advisor had not been doing anything wrong.
Rather, Strongin’s needs were growing and changing, and he wanted an advisor
with whom he could have a closer working relationship. “I needed to feel that I
was an individual and not just an account number or statistic,” he recalls.
“That was the most important thing when I started looking for a new
advisor.”
Strongin began his search by asking for suggestions from his
friends. He then pared their recommendations to a short list of four or five
firms, which he examined and interviewed. “Without question, the strongest
positive recommendation that I got was about the Moneta folks,” Strongin says.
“Then I interviewed them over the phone, sat down with them and received a
presentation about how they would deal with my account, and looked for
reassurance that they were going to invest wisely.”
Strongin says that on
paper there probably was not much difference between the qualifications of his
old and new advisors. Both, for instance, have the certified financial planner
credential. But at Moneta Group, Strongin would have access not just to an
individual advisor, but to the team of specialists working with that advisor,
both inside and outside the firm. (Moneta claims to have 130 employees who
collectively hold about 100 professional designations.) An in-house attorney
counsels clients at no extra cost to the client, and other experts offer advice
on taxes, estate planning, insurance and real estate. Former Moneta principals
have established a handful of affiliated firms, including tax preparation and
retirement planning. “I can call and get advice on pretty much any strange
question I have,” Strongin says. This has included advice on how his daughter
should handle switching her health insurance when she changed
jobs.
Personality issues were also vitally important to Strongin, who says he
did not want to mediate between his attorney or his accountant and his financial
advisors. “It turns out they work with a wide network of other professionals on
their clients’ behalf, who spoke highly of Moneta,” he says. Even better, they
came to his house (“My prior advisor had never done that.”) and spent an entire
afternoon and evening reviewing their suggested changes to his portfolio. They
introduced him to a number of new stock funds that had impressive long-term
track records, such as the Third Avenue Value Fund and the Earnest Partners
small cap value fund. “They just had a more sophisticated and comprehensive
grasp of the world, and that was something I valued,” Strongin says.
Most of
all, Strongin says that he is discovering that it is possible to have a team of
advisors that serves his entire family and all their needs. In the past, Moneta
has helped parents teach children to manage their money and assisted clients in
caring for aging parents, going as far as finding in-home help. “I didn’t
realize that it was possible to have someone be a family advisor and not just an
investment advisor,” he says.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
