Who Are Our Clients?
Our clients are aware that their “assets” are not just financial; they are human, intellectual, and financial.
They are also aware that their financial assets are only durably grown and maintained through able management of the human and intellectual capital; the capital that both creates and is supported by financial assets.
One thing in common among our clients is that they have come to a point in their life where the stakes are high. The decisions they make and the skill with which their assets are managed and protected have a life changing impact. They have come to realize that what is important in life is the time to live it, that their time is spent better at the avocations, relationships, and activities which give their life meaning.
Our clients are entrepreneurs in spirit.
Be they employees of larger corporations, owners of their own firm(s), or managers of family assets. They manage their “assets” with an understanding of profit and loss. They strive to be aware of and understand the risks that they accept and reject. However, they are also aware of the impossibility of avoiding all risks. They are cognizant of the huge risks and costs accepted when “too good to be true” promises are accepted.
Our clients expect competence.
Oxford defines competence as “having adequate ability, knowledge or authority.” Because we assist our clients as a fiduciary, with the authority to execute at least some financial transactions for them, “adequate” is an exceptionally high bar.
Our definition and expectation of competence includes knowing the:
- whole extent of our responsibility (accountability),
- various ways by which we may meet those responsibilities (technical mastery),
- operational steps required to meet those responsibilities without exception (systematic and sound operational implementation),
- limits to our operational capabilities and ensuring that our clients do as well (empirical),
- areas of our aptitude and acting only within them (wisdom).
This characterization of competence would, in any profession, be considered a Standard of Excellence.
Our clients understand that one way or another, they leave a legacy; that being the case, they work hard to craft that legacy.
For business owners, the legacy is driven by the business and its impact on the family, employees, industry, and even the economy. The legacy will be defined by the operation of the business, profits, management, the treatment of employees and ultimately by the nature and effectiveness of the transfer of the business to new owners. While, the transfer of a family business can be a tremendous opportunity for profit, our clients understand that an effective transition is presupposed by years of appropriate planning and consideration.
For individuals, the legacy is actually transferred in three parts; human, intellectual, and financial capital. Although it may be difficult to consider human and intellectual capital as important regarding retirement and legacy planning, in reality they are the most important facets of the transfer. They are the foundation upon which future caretakers and heirs will build the implementation of future care in advanced years. It is upon this foundation that heirs begin their own “Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness” and subsequently define their own legacy.