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FA-IQ reached out to advisors to ask: Do you believe that cryptocurrencies are viable investments for your clients?

Michael Durso, founding partner and chief investment officer at ShoreHaven Wealth Partners. Red Bank, New Jersey-based Durso has been in the industry for 16 years and has around $360 million in client assets.

“Yes, we believe that cryptocurrencies/digital assets are a great way to diversify your portfolio and minimize overall risk by adding a non-correlated asset class to your traditional asset allocation.

In addition to the diversification benefits, there are potential tax savings to be had by utilizing tax loss harvesting strategies, especially with the volatile nature of coin prices.

There is also the potential return stream and long-term value creation by holding digital assets in your portfolio. 

Cryptocurrency investments are not suitable for all of our clients, and we consider each client’s risk tolerance before an allocation.

After evaluating a client’s goals and risk tolerance, we may recommend a 1-5% exposure of their investable net worth to Bitcoin and Ethereum for a client where cryptocurrency fits their overall asset allocation.”

Matt Celenza, founder and managing partner at Boulevard Family Wealth. Beverly Hills, California-based Celenza has been in the industry for more than 25 years and has around $1.5 billion in client assets. 

“No. No control of risk and reward.”

Brian Buckley, managing partner and chief investment partner at Buckley Wealth Management. Las Vegas-based Buckley has been in the industry for 43 years and has around $530 million in client assets. 

“No. The technology is too new, still untested and in the long run, too volatile, and ripe for fraud and theft.”

Summit Trail Advisors is making a play for ultra-high net worth clients.

The $12bn RIA disclosed in a recent Form ADV update with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has begun to offer ‘family office services.’ New offerings from the New York-based business include financial reporting, philanthropy and estate planning, among others listed in the filing.

The service expansion follows on Summit Trail’s latest hires, explained managing partner Jack Petersen (pictured). In February, Summit Trail added an 11-person team of estate planning specialists from Heritage Strategies, a family office which provides private placement life insurance and private placement variable annuities to ultra-wealthy families.

‘When we think about family office services, it’s a long list,’ Petersen said. ‘The obvious one is tax and estate planning, but for our clients, another really important family office service is financial reporting. We combine, tax, estate, financial planning and financial reporting into one major category of family office services.’

The new team worked with 40-50 families that have an average net worth of roughly $150m. Many of those clients used Heritage for financial planning, rather than for investment advice.
 
‘When we started Summit Trail, we built a lot of the investment services out first. That was kind of our core capability,’ said David Romhilt, Summit Trail’s CIO. ‘I think as we’ve grown up a little bit, frankly, we realized we had a wish list of services we could provide clients in addition to investments.’

That recognition led to the decision to pursue the Heritage Strategies team, Romhilt explained.

Summit Trail, which is part of the Dynasty Financial Partners network of RIAs, has offices in six cities around the country. The original partners broke away from Barclays in 2015.

Romhilt said Summit Trail is contemplating deals with third-party providers to further expand its suite of services.

‘Now it’s kind of a question of internal versus external,’ he said. ‘Having best-in-class providers that we vet, versus what should we be doing ourselves? That’s a lot of the discussions that we’re having.’

FA-IQ reached out to advisors to ask: What are the lessons you learned about running your practice because of the pandemic?


Brian Buckley, managing partner and chief investment partner at Buckley Wealth Management. Las Vegas-based Buckley has been in the industry for 43 years and has around $530 million in client assets.

“Do not skimp on technology. Provide up-to-date hardware and technology to your employees so that they can work from home or their cellphones on a moment’s notice.

Provide employees with a laptop just for home use. Prior to the pandemic, we functioned mostly on workstations in the office. However, at the beginning of March 2020, we went on a spending spree and outfitted all of our employees with high-end laptops and sent them home on St. Patrick’s Day with the laptops and all the accessories they would need to set up an office there. We continued to fully service our clients without skipping a beat.” 

Michael Durso, founding partner and chief investment officer at ShoreHaven Wealth Partners. Red Bank. N.J.-based Durso has been in the industry for 16 years and has around $360 million in client assets.

“We learned how important it was to be flexible in our business.

Historically, most of our meetings were in-person or phone calls. Once we went into lockdown, it was essential to find new ways to communicate with our clients. We began to schedule as many Zoom calls with clients as possible. This also meant teaching many of our clients how to get on Zoom and use the video function. The unintended consequence was that a typical phone call turned into a face-to-face interaction, creating a much deeper connection with each client. We will continue to utilize Zoom meetings over conference calls in the future. 

We learned the importance of being available for clients outside of regular business hours. Since everyone was working from home, the 9-to-5 went out the window, and everyone had additional responsibilities on their plate. We ended up having many calls at night once our children and our client’s children were sleeping.”

Advisors aged 60 and up say that their age, experience and own financial circumstances give their clients a sense of comfort.


They say that having decades of experience in investment allocations and knowing how to navigate market downturns, as well as being close to their clients’ age and having comparable financial status, give them an edge over younger advisors.

Advisors who are 55 or older make up 43% of the industry headcount, and the average age of an FA is 51, according to 2020 data from Cerulli Associates. On average, 52% of the advisors’ clients are 60 or older, Cerulli notes.

Already advisors during past market crises

There is “no question” that experience navigating market downturns is something clients look for, according to Blake Pratz, 60, founder and managing partner of registered investment advisor firm Icon Wealth Partners.

“They’re looking for someone that’s been through the market cycles, that’s been doing this through the different types of downturns in the market,” he said. 

A younger advisor who hadn’t been in the industry during the dot-com crash of 2001 or the 2008 financial crisis wouldn’t be able to answer client queries about allocations recommendations in response to those crises, Pratz says.

“Going through it and being able to relate exactly what you did during that time is huge,” Pratz said, referring to the advantage experience provides.

Clients of the Houston-based RIA firm also like to see that an advisor has “enough net worth to be aligned on investments,” according to Pratz.

“They can relate to somebody who has saved enough, has invested, has the same investments as them and knows what the ups and downs are on certain types of investments,” he said.

Pratz has been in the industry since 1984, when he registered with Dean Witter Reynolds, according to his BrokerCheck profile. He has been registered with seven firms over that 36-year period, including Citigroup Global Markets, Morgan Stanley and UBS Financial Services, according to BrokerCheck.

He says that Icon, where he has been registered since 2016, has $1.9 billion in client assets.

Clients want the gray hair

Ahmie Baum, 66, founder and chief executive officer of Interchange Capital Partners, says his clients — especially business owners — can relate to him.

The Pittsburgh-based RIA firm offers business owners services such as valuations, liability and debt management, and exit planning, according to its website. 

“Having me there at their age, it resonates versus a younger advisor who comes in and they say, ‘You really don’t know what I’m going through.’ There’s definitely a sense of comfort,” Baum said.

Although business owners are open to working with younger advisors at Baum’s firm, he said they will often request to work with him simultaneously because they “want that gray hair, that wisdom and that knowledge base.”

Baum echoes that younger advisors lack the experience to navigate market downturns.

“You can’t deny that these advisors who are in their 30s have never gone through a bear market. They haven’t experienced a lot of turmoil,” he said. “There is something very valuable from a client’s perspective in terms of comfort around having an advisor who has decades of experience.”

Baum has been in the industry since 1980, when he registered with E.F. Hutton, according to his BrokerCheck profile He has been registered with five firms over that 41-year period, including Lehman Brothers and UBS Financial Services, according to BrokerCheck.

He says that Interchange, where he has been registered since last year, has $400 million in client assets.

Disciplined enough to stand their ground

Having decades of experience is not just about having first-hand knowledge of past market crises, such as the Black Monday stock market crash of 1987, according to Sam Liebman, 77, founding partner and chairman of Amplius Wealth Advisors.

It’s also about understanding the “behavioral” responses to crises — both his clients’ and his own. 

“It’s good to have this experience,” he said. “You don’t do contrary things just for the sake of it, but you don’t follow everybody just for the sake of that either.”

Helping clients navigate market upheavals helps them develop “a discipline of risk control” he added.

The Blue Bell, Pennsylvania-based RIA firm has younger advisors, too, and Liebman says clients of those FAs tend to turn to him for advice amid market uncertainty.

“When times get rough, they know I’m there and they ask, ‘What does Sam say?’” he said.

Liebman has been in the industry since 1970, when he registered with Bache & Co., according to his BrokerCheck profile. He has been registered with firms including Prudential Securities, UBS Financial Services and Merrill Lynch over that 50-year period, according to BrokerCheck.

He says that Amplius, which was approved for registration in February this year, has slightly more than $1 billion in client assets.

The delta variant of the coronavirus is dominating headlines and disrupting markets. This makes finding promising spots to invest even trickier than usual. 
Investors face a dilemma. Should they wager on a recovering economy — or prepare for more fits, starts and maybe even lockdowns? Will they see a continued interest in suburban real estate, day trading and stay-at-home plays like Peloton Interactive and Zoom Video Communications? Or will travel stocks, office space and leisure firms rebound? 
To help you figure out where opportunities may lie in this shifting landscape, Bloomberg asked six investment experts where they would put $100,000 now. Their ideas range from Chinese companies in the battery and solar power markets to private commercial real estate funds to healthcare stocks and newly reopened hedge funds.
We also asked the experts where they would personally place a $100,000 windfall. While some mentioned investments in objects such as gemstones and high-performance electric motorcycles, others noted the importance of experiences to them, particularly given their new perspectives in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. One, for instance, said he would spend the money on a trip to a very remote part of the world.
For investors who want to invest in the themes mentioned below using exchange-traded funds, Bloomberg Intelligence senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas suggests candidates to consider.
Before making your choice, take a look at "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Investors." If you can check off most of those items, you're in good shape.

 
2021 Q3
Michael Faust, President, Bailard Wealth Management 
People who are diversified in stocks and bonds may have underrated the value of private commercial real estate. The headline news for commercial real estate is that no one is going back to the office. But the asset class is much more diverse than offices and offers other benefits.

Private real estate includes office space, apartments and industrial real estate. It’s a less volatile asset that moves differently than public real estate and stocks and bonds, to some degree. It also does quite well when stocks are falling and has a more attractive starting yield than bonds. The income component in the benchmark index for private real estate funds, the NCREIF Fund Index-Open-End Diversified Core Equity Index, has been about 4% in recent periods and nearly 7% since 1978. We think having some exposure to real estate all the time is good, and our clients typically have 10-15% in it.

The question you want to ask is: Are there times when you personally want to be long less-liquid assets — are you being paid to take on the less liquid nature of an investment? With private real estate I think you are. That said, of course all investments have the risk of loss.

Some people will say that they already have real estate investments. But these folks are typically talking about investing in their own backyards. When you go into one of these funds, you get national exposure. We have our own real estate fund for accredited investors and though we’re based in the Bay area, we have a lot of exposure in the Heartland.

Knowing the mix of real estate food groups in a fund is important. As an example of how these funds invest, Bailard’s fund is over 40% invested in multifamily properties, with about 20% each in office space and industrial property types and the remainder in retail, data center and development projects. By geography, the largest slices of the pie are in the Southeast, Pacific and the West North Central region, which includes cities like Minneapolis and St. Louis.
How to play it with ETFs: Bloomberg Intelligence’s Balchunas says while there is no way to invest in private investments via ETFs, for those looking for exposure to commercial real estate but who don’t want just the big, publicly traded real estate investment trusts (REITs), the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Real Estate ETF (EWRE)  could make sense. It assigns each real estate stock an equal weighting, which means it has more of a tilt to the smaller, less liquid names. EWRE has easily outperformed most market-cap weighted REIT benchmarks and comes with a fee of 0.40%.
Another way to play from Faust: I’m really interested in the Faroe Islands, which are due north of Scotland and halfway between Iceland and Norway. I’ve traveled there and it’s on my list to return to later this year. The population is about 50,000 and the islands are a part of Denmark but have their own language. It’s really interesting how they’ve kept their culture. The islands are famous for underground, underwater sea tunnels that connect the islands and there is really interesting artwork in there. You can hike, there’s good fishing, and it’s great landscape for photography.
Eric Branson, Director of Investments, Cyndeo Wealth Partners 
We’re putting client money in the Millennium USA HedgeFocus Fund, a multi-strategy fund of funds. Millennium Management has a very, very long and solid track record. Their annualized return since 1990 is 14% and the worst 12-month rolling net return was in 2008 and was -3.5%. You don’t see that very often, and this fund doesn’t open up very often. But it’s open right now.

Millennium has a very disciplined process of finding new talent and firing bad talent. It’s a constant process. It gets good talent and if they are good, they stay. If they lose ground to their peer group, they’re gone.

Millennium describes the fund as having “a market neutral, multi-disciplinary approach,” with strategies that include relative value fundamental equity, event-driven, statistical arbitrage, and quantitative strategies, fixed income and commodities. The largest percentage is in fixed-income now, at 31%.

The fund doesn’t move with the broad stock market. In March 2020, when the pandemic hit the globe, the fund was down 95 basis points. That was its only negative month in 2020. That’s what this fund is for — it’s your weathering-the-storm injection into your portfolio. It’s not going to be the home-run hitter when tech stocks are going through the roof, but you are not going to be sorry you owned this thing when the market takes a hit. We wouldn’t want to have this go above 10% of a client’s portfolio; typically it’s between 2-5%.
How to play it with ETFs: The closest thing to a multi-strategy hedge fund in the ETF world is the IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Tracker ETF (QAI) , said Balchunas of Bloomberg Intelligence. It uses other ETFs to replicate the returns of a multi-strategy hedge fund of funds, with strategies including global macro, long-short, fixed income and event-driven. The ETF is only partially hedged however, so may move a little more like the market than a typical hedge fund. The fee is 0.78%.
Another way to play from Branson: I don’t collect, but we’ve seen a significant increase in clients wanting to collect classic cars. Many of our clients travel to different auctions and some even race vintage cars. If done correctly, it can be a lucrative hobby. Personally, a few years ago my wife and I were encouraged by a guy who said not to be afraid of taking money from the savings bank to put in the memory bank. The two of us and our son love Disney cruises — we’ve gone on them all around Europe. Disney has new ships coming out and they’ll have cruises in Asia so we’re looking forward to that once the globe opens up.
Melissa Weisz, Wealth Advisor, RegentAtlantic
We have a large-cap portfolio of around 100 individual stocks that rank well among environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria relative to their peers. Climate change and movements for social justice, along with the proliferation of available ESG metrics, are raising the profile of companies that are good corporate citizens.

I like the intersection of cyclical stocks with strong ESG scores given the economic strength and robust corporate earnings expectations coming out of the pandemic. Bearing in mind uncertainty and changing expectations given delta variant news, Linde Plc (LIN) checks all of the boxes as a cyclical stock in the materials sector. Linde is a leader in industrial gases and in developing green hydrogen, which can produce energy with zero carbon emissions. This segment of the alternative renewable energy sector is poised to boom with President Joe Biden’s goal of decarbonizing the electric grid by 2035.

Toyota Motor, Honda Motor and Hyundai Motor have already begun developing hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles. The Toyota Mirai, currently available in California, can be charged in five minutes at a hydrogen pump with a range of 402 miles between refueling.

For those who can’t build a custom ESG portfolio, the iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF (ESGU) is the largest socially responsible ETF. The iShares U.S. Basic Materials ETF (IYM) provides more direct exposure to basic materials but lacks the focus on ESG issues.
How to play it with ETFs: Bloomberg Intelligence’s Balchunas said that while the iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF (ESGU)  is the biggest ESG ETF, be warned that it looks a lot like the S&P 500 Index and owns stocks such as Exxon Mobil, which some ESG investors may be surprised to see. It has a fee of 0.15%. For those looking for slightly more pure ESG exposure, the iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social ETF (DSI)  will eliminate many of those types of names without beefing up too much concentration in any one sector. DSI has a fee of 0.25%, Balchunas said.
Another way to play from Weisz: I appreciate beautiful jewelry and gemstones. Gemstones have historical and cultural significance, and I enjoy learning about the purported metaphysical properties of different stones. Sapphire, my birthstone, traditionally symbolizes nobility, truth, sincerity and faithfulness, according to the Gemological Institute of America. Gemstones and even lab-grown diamonds are garnering favor with millennials over concerns about the ethical sourcing of diamonds. Jewelry prices typically increase along with precious metals and stones long-term, and designers such as Cartier and Harry Winston, along with antique jewelry, tend to retain the most value.
Jennifer Foster, Co-Chief Investment Officer, Chilton Trust
One area we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about, largely because of the pandemic, is the healthcare space. We’ve seen engagement by consumers for information and access to vaccines. We’ve also seen a mobilization of healthcare services take place in a very local and convenient way.

We want to lean into healthcare services companies that are really focused on this point of convenience. That got us thinking about healthcare service insurance companies. One company we like is in the growth bucket, and the other is in value bucket.

The growth company is UnitedHealth Group. For a long time it’s demonstrated really strong execution and returns in its own business and in returns to shareholders. Part of the reason it’s been such a high-quality company is that almost 50% of its business is tied to healthcare information technology — they have data that comes from their Optum business, which consults with corporate clients on health-care costs. The other 50% of the firm’s business is healthcare insurance.

Technology and data are tools to help bring costs down, and UnitedHealth can make really well-informed decisions on their healthcare services products. Their price-earnings multiple is at the higher end of their valuation range, so the returns from here are more in the mid-teens, but it’s just a safe bet in many ways and they are leaning into telehealth.

A stock that’s more on value side with a lot more upside if it executes is CVS, which merged with Aetna almost three years ago. The two companies have a lot of digital knowhow, and they, too, are leaning into telehealth and finding how well it delivers for certain areas of care, specifically mental health care but also dermatology and other areas.

CVS is reentering the Affordable Care Act arena with a product at a low price point for the individual market, which is the hardest area to serve profitably. If it works, it’s an exciting testament to the idea of pulling digital capabilities, healthcare knowledge and reach into a consumer-convenience package. We like to look at average 10-year price-earnings multiples and the company is trading well below its 10-year multiple.
How to play it with ETFs: Bloomberg Intelligence’s Balchunas said the exchange-traded fund with the most exposure to health care providers and UnitedHealth is easily the iShares U.S. Healthcare Providers ETF (IHF) , which tracks companies engaged in health care, facilities and insurance. The ETF has 22% of its portfolio in UnitedHealth. The fee is 0.43%.
Another way to play from Foster: My comfort zone is to evaluate personal investments like I do professional ones. Because of the pandemic — and because I’m staring at the prospect of being an empty nester — I’m starting to think about investing differently. I focus on what I can do that’s going to bring some emotional return, some joy, because it’s been a tough year. So we’re going to buy a boat. It’s probably one of the worst things you can do with your money if you don’t have the overlay of an emotional return. But the purchase will bring us back to a hobby we enjoyed before we had kids.
Douglas McKeige, Tiger 21 member, private investor, editor-in-chief of CAPM2.0 (The Climate Asset Pricing Memo)
Climate change is slapping us in the face, and almost every element of the U.S. economy will need to be revamped. A starting point is the electrical grid. The solution seems to be solar power and wind power combined with batteries and a restructuring of the grid so we can pull power from where we have sun and wind to places we don’t.

I’ve thought about putting money into hedge funds that focus in this area. But they have to short something to dampen the volatility of their returns. When you’re trying to invest in this huge transition, you should just be long and suffer through the volatility, and not give up 35-40% or more of the overall return you could get by being long equities yourself.

Publicly traded clean energy stocks are expensive and in many cases quite frothy. But when you find a huge macro tailwind on an asset class like this it just tends to work and you make money. An area that’s a little less appreciated is the sector that will rebuild the grid in the U.S. This will create many opportunities and these companies aren’t as well known. They include MYR Group (MYRG), MasTec (MTZ), and Quanta Services (PWR).

When it comes to solar and batteries, the challenge is that most of these names are Chinese and aren’t easily traded through U.S. brokerage accounts. Therefore, my suggestion is the Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF (LIT) and VanEck Vectors Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF (REMX). I’m not an advocate of owning Chinese equities in general but because they are so far ahead in solar and battery manufacturing relative to anything you can access in the U.S., they’re a must-have.
How to play it with ETFs: Beyond McKeige’s ETF suggestions, which have fees of 0.75% (LIT)  and 0.60% (REMX) , respectively, Bloomberg Intelligence’s Balchunas points to the First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Smart Grid Infrastructure Index (GRID) , which is basically a theme ETF dedicated to making the grid smart and clean. It holds three of the stocks mentioned above and comes with a fee of 0.70%.
Another way to play from McKeige: I built a net negative-energy house and have an app that tells me how much power I’m producing at any minute of the day. I’m looking to take as many things as I can that run on fossil fuels and run them on electricity. That means an electric bicycle, electric weed whacker, electric chain saw and a robotic, electric lawn-mower. Consumers have been using robotic lawn mowers for years in Sweden. They mow the lawn almost every day so the grass they clip at every single swing is about a tenth of an inch and just drops to the ground, mulching immediately. I’ve thought about buying a high-performance electric motorcycle from Zero Motorcycles, but don’t tell my wife.
Michael Leverty, Founder, Leverty Financial Group
Although most of our clients’ capital is invested in public markets using low-cost mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, we see the private market, or non-publicly traded investments, as a compelling way to diversify. The number of U.S.-listed public companies has been cut in half over the last two decades, with over 95% of U.S. companies now controlled through private capital. More growth and value creation of a company is being captured by private investors, and those companies are staying private longer compared to early-stage initial public offerings.

We believe there are attractive opportunities in the triple-net-lease and private equity direct-lending space to help enhance the income component of a portfolio. (Triple net leases require a commercial tenant to pay rent, property tax, insurance premiums and maintenance on a property, usually in exchange for a lower rent.) However, diversification plays an important role in both public and private investments. Therefore, we prefer private equity funds with a basket of holdings versus a direct investment into a single company within the target sector.

We look for funds with seasoned management teams. It’s the skill of those key players that can have some of the greatest long-term impact on the underlying companies and ultimately the fund. Understanding a given fund’s redemption terms is also key to ensuring the opportunity is right for you. Investors can get hung up on liquidity risk, but when allocated appropriately in a portfolio the outcome can often be worth the wait.
How to play it with ETFs: While no ETF can capture the private markets since they only hold public equities, one that is in the spirit of this is the NETLease Corporate Real Estate ETF (NETL) , said Balchunas. It tracks companies that derive at least 85% of revenues from real estate operations in the net lease real estate sector. NETL’s fee is 0.60%. 
Another way to play from Leverty: As a hobby investment, I like farmland. Having grown up on a family Christmas tree farm, I have seen firsthand the potential of agricultural holdings. In addition to rental income, land can provide price appreciation without the day-to-day volatility of some other primary asset classes. As the global population continues to grow, productive farmland has the potential to become even more important to a productive economy. Also, taking a hands-on approach to an agricultural investment can provide the opportunity to teach children the valuable lessons of hard work and proprietorship as you maintain the properties.

2021 Q1
Patrick Fruzzetti, The Rosenau Group
We like multifamily real estate, and work with a partner that focuses on acquisition and development of multifamily properties. We structure the deals as limited liability corporations and our investors get direct exposure to a pool of six to seven properties. You get the beauty of direct exposure but don’t have to go through the underwriting of every deal every time.

There is still such undersupply in affordable housing for the so-called “missing middle.” This is firefighters, nurses and so on that have fixed salaries and have about 30% of their income going toward their housing budget and rental. The supply for these workers just doesn’t exist in many urban/suburban communities. Think primary, secondary and sometimes tertiary real estate markets where you won’t have a boom-bust cycle, so places like Montgomery, Alabama and Denver, Colorado that are growing fast and need the support of housing.

In part, we’re interested because of cash flow — we want cash flow coming from a majority of the properties, although when there is development involved there is obviously a lag. Unlike with traditional real estate funds, our investors get the benefit of depreciation. There’s also the opportunity for a future 1031 exchange if clients wish. [Investors that sell an investment property can avoid capital gains taxes if they reinvest the money in a similarly valued property or properties within a short period of time.]
How to play it with ETFs: While there is no pure-play multifamily REIT ETF, the Hoya Capital Housing ETF (HOMZ)  is composed of 100 companies that represent the performance of the U.S. residential housing industry, and includes some multi-family REITs, said Balchunas. It also holds homebuilders and retail stocks, however, so it isn’t just a REIT ETF. HOMZ, with $59 million in assets, has an expense ratio of 0.45%.
Another way to play from Fruzzetti: I like abstract art, particularly paintings. You have to really love a piece of art rather than simply look at it as an investment, though. I own works by Audrey Flack, a beautiful, accomplished artist. A documentary about her came out last year, called Queen of Hearts: Audrey Flack. When she was younger, her works were in the abstract expressionist movement. Elizabeth Cooper is another artist whose works I own and enjoy — she is abstract contemporary. All of the artists I’m collecting are living. 
Michael Forrester, High Note Wealth
Investing around the need for technology infrastructure became trendy in mid- to late 2020 and then faded away. It’s still as good an investment idea as it was. We need bigger server farms, and cybersecurity for those farms, and people want internet wherever they go. Even if prices don’t look like you’re buying at a discount, the total addressable market continues to get bigger and bigger.

As a play on that, we built a sort of real estate piece for client portfolios that’s about 6% of assets. Our real estate exposure is not commercial real estate, not office buildings, nothing like that — it’s the real estate of the Internet. It’s all 5G and data center-related names, and we mix and match ETFs and individual stocks. Part of the reason we built this slice is that it produces income. A lot of real estate investment trusts (REITs) produce income, but those of us with a real estate background know that’s only good until they can’t collect the rents.

For a passive investor, the Global X Data Center REITs & Digital Infrastructure (VPN) ETF has all the names in it, and if you want a pure data play, there’s Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (DLR). But if you have $100,000 to invest you can build nice positions in some big, liquid stocks. Our real estate piece consists of DLR, Lumen Technologies, Inc. (LUMN), CoreSite Realty Corp. (COR) and Crown Castle International Corp. (CCI).
How to play it with ETFs: VPN works as an ETF choice, as does the more established Pacer Benchmark Data & Infrastructure Real Estate SCTR ETF (SRVR) , which also tracks data center and cell tower REITs, said Balchunas. It has $1 billion in assets and charges 0.60% versus the $25 million in assets and 0.50% fee for VPN.
Another way to play from Forrester: I’m very much into streetwear, so I have a pretty good sneaker collection. Even in a pandemic year you saw Christian Dior do a collaboration with Jordan Brand. When they hit the street those sneakers were a couple thousand to buy, but on the secondary market they can go for $20,000 or more. eBay has its own authentication department, and StockX and GOAT will verify the authenticity of sneakers and streetwear. Now it’s moving into golf shoes — companies are releasing special edition pairs of golf shoes and they’re becoming very expensive and hard to get.
Andy Ferguson, Proquility Private Wealth Partners
We have an all-weather portfolio of 40 stocks designed to capture the value side of equity markets, with a focus on dividend growth. Within that portfolio, we like energy stocks quite a bit. Energy represents about 12% of the portfolio and oil stands out as a good value, along with the financial sector, particularly in an environment of rising interest rates and inflation.

There’s a play on stable to rising oil prices as it relates to a better economy. All this enthusiasm we see for the Teslas of the world, and with GM’s electric vehicle announcement—there will be a transition and the traditional fossil fuel companies will adjust, particularly if they have strong balance sheets. But things always move more slowly than we think, especially outside the U.S., in places like emerging markets.

I like the traditional oil sector and four companies, in no particular order — Exxon Mobil (XOM), which pays a dividend of more than 6% and has committed to stabilizing that dividend, Chevron (CVX), which has a great balance sheet and yields around 5%, Kinder Morgan (KMI), a natural gas play that yields about 6.3% and Enterprise Products Partners (EPD), which yields 8%.

It takes time to convert to electric vehicles and these stocks are somewhat undervalued for that reason. The opportunity here is cash flow. This is is a great way to own growth plus income, and a very good inflation hedge. For those who can’t adequately diversify with individual securities, there is a terrific ETF, Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE).  It yields about 5% and you’re basically owning the whole sector.
How to play it with ETFs: XLE  is a fine play if the goal is to get heavy exposure to Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Kinder Morgan, all of which together make up about 48% of XLE's entire portfolio weight, said Balchunas. Exxon Mobil and Chevron each have about a 22% weight in the ETF.
Another way to play from Ferguson: I am a big Beatles fan. I’ve acquired albums signed by them individually and as a group. These hold their value and are growing very rapidly in value. You’d pay $5,000 to $10,000 for an album with good quality signatures. A Sergeant Pepper album with all four signatures went for about $300,000 at auction. Most recently I bought John Lennon’s Imagine album, signed “Love, John Lennon” and he drew a caricature of his face. I’d love to own an original manuscript of lyrics for one of their songs — those are very hard to come by. The most popular songs go for seven figures.
Steve Schwarzbach, Icon Wealth Partners
Our primary focus is on alternative sources of income generation. An interesting area we’re looking at is private credit, in particular a fund offered by BlackRock. The funds get superior yields to the two-year Treasury and with a level of credit risk that we don’t see as a major issue in this economic recovery. You get income on a monthly basis and it has good liquidity so to an investor it can feel bond-like. Our expectation is that cash income will be between 7% and 8%.

We think BlackRock has great insight into the creditworthiness of companies they put into their debt product. There’s underwriting risk — you have to ask is BlackRock good at underwriting the risk of that particular credit, have they done a good job of analyzing the company’s ability to service debt. Then there are the general macroeconomic issues. That was why we were particularly interested in this fund during an economic recovery, because we don’t think that the credit risk is unduly high.

We also have an idea that’s a little contrarian. Our thesis is that if you are with the right commercial real estate providers there will be a good opportunity for current income and capital appreciation. Office buildings in areas people are moving out of isn’t a great idea, but industrial logistics warehouses in areas where people are moving is interesting.

We use two private REITs, the Hines Global Income Trust and the Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust. The funds have a cash yield of about 6%, most of which is tax-deferred. Both funds have the wherewithal to build big portfolios in areas where the risk is not as high, and they’ll only invest in areas where population growth exceeds the national average.
How to play it with ETFs: There is no ETF for private credit per se, but Balchunas notes that the Virtus Private Credit Strategy ETF (VPC)  indirectly tracks private credit via business development companies (BDCs) and closed-end funds. The ETF, with just $24 million in assets, yields 8.8%, but has to pay the fees of those underlying BDCs and funds, which brings its expense ratio to about 7.6%.
Another way to play from Schwarzbach: My family has a lot of history on Galveston Island on the Texas Gulf Coast. My family of German immigrants came through there and has a vacation home there. I’ve started to purchase vintage photos of the island. If I had $100,000 to spend, there are vintage photos and maps that I’d buy. I have one vintage map that I found in an antique shop that is from 1897, before the great storm of 1900, which wiped out almost the city.
Chuck Cooper, Strongbox Wealth
A theme we think is compelling is the continued convergence of technology into healthcare. There has been a massive convergence of the two, as so much innovation has been spawned in the Covid era. You have this incredible horsepower of what tech can provide in health-care analysis, in vaccines and other things. It’s an accelerant to medical discovery, with fascinating ramifications in immunotherapies, artificial intelligence, gene technology, robotics and much more.

Along the same lines in healthcare, you have this totally separate parallel yet very powerful trend in telemedicine. Virtual care seems to have achieved escape velocity from concept to a bona fide long-term delivery model.

The medical device space is where I feel the convergence is most promising. As an example, and not necessarily a recommendation, what a firm like Dexcom is doing for diabetes monitoring is just life-changing. It basically designs, develops and commercializes continuous glucose monitoring systems, and it’s all pretty much application-based. Dexcom has a remote monitoring system, though wireless connections, and patients have a receiver. It’s an app on the patient’s iPhone to see where they are at any given moment, but as important is that it’s for the person who’s looking out for someone with diabetes, and you’re talking about millions of people.

There are number of sector ETFs in the medical device area. The iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF (IHI) is an established ETF I like, and there are a handful of more narrowly focused ETF strategies like the Global X Telemedicine & Digital Health ETF (EDOC) and ARK Genomic Revolution (ARKG).
How to play it with ETFs: The iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF (IHI)  is one of the most quietly popular ETFs out there, with $8.2 billion in assets while charging 0.43%. It is the best way to get just medical devices, Balchunas said. EDOC and ARKG have some medical device exposure but branch out into other industries as well, such as software and biotech.
Another way to play from Cooper: My best investment would be to take my family skiing. That’s the time we get to spend together and it’s literally priceless. We’ve been to most of the major places—Colorado, Deer Valley, Park City—but what we really want to do at some point is go to Banff, in Canada. That’s on our bucket list. Also maybe to Whistler, and one day skiing in Europe, in the Alps.

2020 Q4
Brian Katz, Chief Investment Officer, The Colony Group
The world is in desperate need of infrastructure investments. In addition to traditional maintenance on roads and bridges, our modern economy requires building and maintaining next-generation transportation and logistics, energy, and communications systems. One manager we like, Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners, puts money into a diverse subset of infrastructure sectors including power and utilities, transport and logistics, water, midstream energy, and communications.

We’re the most enthusiastic about their investments in communications and cold storage. The communications category includes wireless towers, data centers, and satellite networks to serve rural geographies.

Rural consumers rely on non-traditional internet providers, such as satellite networks, in the absence of robust cable and fiber infrastructure. The cost and economics to “wire” these individuals through traditional measures is prohibitive. The federal government, through the FCC’s Universal Service Fund (and other programs, such as the Connect America Fund) provide subsidies to satellite companies so these consumers have access to affordable internet, which helps to support demand.

Meanwhile, the cold storage industry, which maintains refrigerated warehouses and trucks, has showcased its resiliency during the recent economic downturn. We believe demand might accelerate as companies rethink their global supply chains and move more of the country’s mission-critical food and pharmaceutical supplies onshore.
How to play it with ETFs: Balchunas and Barna point to the Defiance Next Gen Connectivity ETF (FIVG) , which tracks an index of firms that make up the backbone of the country's communication infrastructure that are investing aggressively to expand connectivity. These firms include device manufacturers, chipmakers and content-delivery networks. The fund also includes major tower REITs American Tower Corp. and Crown Castle International Corp. alongside core services for telecommunications companies. The expense ratio is 0.30%.
Another way to play from Katz: I haven’t pulled the trigger on this yet, but I’d collect old stock certificates. A colleague has an old BMW stock certificate on his wall and there’s a really interesting industry around scripophily — collecting old bonds, stock certificates, old currencies. You can find stock certificates of Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey, of Apple, of Shearson Lehman. There’s a whole collecting area around the stock certificates of busted dotcoms.
Floyd Tyler, Chief Investment Officer, Preserver Partners
An alternative source of income we like is trade finance receivables. Say you have an exporter in India who wants to sell their goods to someone in the U.S. They agree on a price, but the exporter typically doesn’t want to ship goods until they are paid, and the U.S. firm doesn’t want to pay until they have the goods. There are intermediaries that step in to advance the majority of the payment to the exporter, and when the goods arrive they send the balance of the payment.

More and more fintech companies are doing this kind of finance. The one we use is called Drip Capital. You can get six-month and one-year notes backed by typically less than 90-day trade receivables across a wide range of commodities and exporters, and you can earn a 6% to 8% annualized return.

One risk is that something could happen to the commodity en route. They take out an insurance policy that covers 90% of the cost of the goods, and also take out insurance to mitigate the risk of credit losses. It’s a good source of income and it’s not necessarily correlated to the stock market or interest rates. There's not a lot of places where you can get 7% uncorrelated for six months.
How to play it with ETFs: While there is no corresponding ETF with this strategy, Balchunas and Barna say one relatively high-income fund with international exposure and lower correlation to the U.S. equity market is Vanguard Global ex-U.S. Real Estate ETF (VNQI) . The fund has a yield around 7% and a 0.78 correlation with price moves in U.S. equities. The expense ratio is 0.12%.
Another way to play from Tyler: I collect contemporary art portraying strong African American women, by African American artists. I was raised by a grandmother and aunt who were just phenomenal, and I am a big fan of women in leadership and what they bring. They’re so much smarter and committed and thoughtful than men are, generally. I’ve bought a couple of pieces from Memphis artists who are nationally known, and I’m trying to grow that collection.
Drew Nordlicht, Partner, Crest Capital Advisors
We’re allocating money to a private credit fund that’s looking to take advantage of opportunities in the private equity-backed company sector, for the lower middle-market segment — so companies with $25 million or less in earnings. There are nearly 200,000 companies in the U.S. middle market and over 500 middle-market PE firms.

These are high-quality businesses experiencing temporary financing needs. They’ve had interruptions in cash flows, and their debts have covenants and certain earnings targets they need to have in order to maintain their capital structure. Owl Rock Capital, which has a fund we’re using to invest in this area, estimates that 30% to 40% of these companies will need financing of some sort — restructuring, additional debt, an infusion of equity — because they’re close to tripping a debt covenant and need cash flow, or because they want to make an acquisition in their own space.

The fund we’re using can build creative structures and protections while generating good income and equity-like kickers. It lends money that is in most instances senior secured, on the top of the capital structure, so there is substantial risk mitigation. Also, the fund is uncorrelated to traditional fixed-income and equity markets. It aims for a conservative 10% to 13% net return, with current income accounting for much of the return.
How to play it with ETFs: Micro-cap stocks are sometimes cited as a proxy for middle- or late-stage private equity. iShares Micro-Cap ETF (IWC)  tracks an index of companies that don’t have as much access to bridge or intermediate-term financing during the pandemic as larger firms. Balchunas and Barna note that while the equity upside is intact, diversification across 1,260 holdings is the only protection against risk. The fund's holdings have an average market capitalization of $680 million. The expense ratio is 0.60%.
Another way to play from Nordlicht: I’ve always had a great interest in new technologies and have often been an early adopter. I’d use my network of angel investors/venture capital funds to make a few direct technology private company investments, or buy shares from existing investors. (SharesPost is a platform that helps to facilitate those types of transactions.) Our practice was built working with C-suite officers, entrepreneurs, and PE funds, so we’ve seen dozens of companies go from idea to maturation or liquidity event (IPO or M&A) and being a part of that company life cycle is exhilarating.
Kenneth Van Leeuwen, Founder, Van Leeuwen & Co.
You say commercial real estate now and everyone has a negative reaction, and we have a sort of counterintuitive idea there. It’s real estate companies that build data centers for big cloud computing companies such as Amazon.com, Alphabet, Microsoft, or that build for big biotech companies like Bristol-Myers Squibb, Sanofi-Aventis, and so on.

In the biotech area, there’s a real estate investment trust, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, which is the leading owner and operator of science real estate. It builds buildings with science labs in them already, and we know how prominent biotech and biomedical research is now. They build in metro areas, close to universities. Everyone is talking about how people are moving out of the cities, but when this calms down and you’re a recent graduate of MIT or Stanford, you will want to live where other young people are, where there is a social scene.

In the cloud computing area, we like Equinix (EQIX), which builds data centers worldwide to keep up with the growth of cloud computing. We consider it a company with a lot of growth potential, even though the stock has moved up a lot this year, and it pays you a dividend of 1.4%. Another company we like is Digital Realty Trust (DLR), which owns 275 data centers around the world and has a dividend of about 3%.
How to play it with ETFs: The Pacer Benchmark Data & Infrastructure Real Estate ETF (SRVR)  holds core companies developing and managing U.S. wireless communications infrastructure and server-warehousing REITs, including Equinix as its second largest position. The fund has a concentrated portfolio of 22 securities, over $1.1 billion in assets and charges 0.60%.
Another way to play from Van Leeuwen: I’d buy art or collectible baseball cards. My brother-in-law is a famous photographer, Tom Shillea, who makes platinum prints and he says to buy what you love, what resonates with you. So my wife and I visit local galleries in the Princeton, New Jersey, area or when we are traveling, and buy works that make us happy. I’m also a sports nut. I love the New York Yankees and have a small collection of Mickey Mantle cards. I have to love the player to buy the card, and I’d buy Derek Jeter or Bernie Williams.
Craig Findley, Chief Executive Officer, Venture Visionary Partners
There is a real need for a fixed-income alternative because interest rates are so low — people are starved for income. We have been creating structured income notes for our clients. It’s a way you can build something that will generate income that actually has downside protection, and you can achieve higher yields at a time when the 10-year Treasury is just around 0.89%.

Depending on how much downside protection you want to build in and the maturity, the yield can be from 2% to 8%. We recently created an S&P 500 note with 40% downside protection for a two-year term. That yielded roughly 5% in annual income. The index doesn’t have to go up, you just don’t want it to go down more than 40% at maturity. We design the note and bid it out to other banks and issuers.

You need at least $100,000 to put into these notes, because we tend to not put more than 20% of structured notes in any one portfolio. So you’d have to have at least a million, because we want to make sure people are diversified.
How to play it with ETFs: Balchunas and Barna point to the Overlay Shares Large Cap Equity ETF (OVL) , which offers investors exposure to large-cap U.S. equity beta with put-spread options for incremental income and some protection against initial market decline. The fund has a net indicated yield near 3.5%, a 0.76% expense ratio and no investment minimum.
Another way to play from Findley: My passion is family travel. I tell my four girls that nobody can take experiences away from you. I’d rather take my kids to Europe, and do an active trip with family, than buy fine wines or things. I had planned for years a family bike trip in Italy around the Amalfi coast, but our flights were canceled [due to Covid]. We’ll do it one day.

"Clear Vision. Smart Solutions." That's the slogan of Venture Visionary Partners, a wealth management firm with a beautiful new space in Sylvania, OH - a space in which that slogan shines inside and out! The number of smart solutions and integrated technology is unparalleled, with glass walls that become opaque with the flip of a switch to top-notch teleconferencing equipment and screens galore. With modern, ergonomic furniture and gorgeous branding in nearly every room, Venture Visionary Partners is able to have their space tell their story in an environment that's as comfortable and purposeful as it is beautiful.

We were eager to help create this space for them, joined by Craig Pickerel of PMBA Architects and Buffy McConnell Interior Design. Check out the photos below to take your own tour through this space, and see some of the amazing technology, furniture, branding, and impeccable design throughout to get some inspiration for your space!

Summit Trail Advisors, an investment-focused independent wealth management firm, will hold the ribbon-cutting ceremony for its Harrisburg office on Wednesday.

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse and state Sen. John DiSanto (R- (Dauphin/Perry) are scheduled to attend.

“Particularly given the difficult economic environment of the past eight months with the COVID-19 mitigation measures in place, it’s a pleasure to welcome Summit Trail Advisors to the City of Harrisburg,” DiSanto said.

The office will manage more than $1 billion in client assets. Jon Williams, partner and advisor; Kevin Curtis, partner and advisor; and Emily Trang, associate relationship manager, will work out of the office.

“We launched with Summit Trail Advisors about 14 months ago and have seen significant growth in the Harrisburg market working with entrepreneurs and business owners in commercial real estate, public company executives, private equity partners, and industry disrupting founders,” Williams said. “We have strong ties to the Harrisburg community and are deeply committed to serving our clients in Central Pennsylvania.”

Summit Trail Advisors manages $10 billion in client assets nationwide. It also has offices in Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle.

The firm is a member of the Dynasty Network of advisory firms and provides highly specialized investments, credit solutions, and other professional services.

JACK PETERSEN HAS THREE ROLES at Summit Trail Advisors, and two of them are working out splendidly. As an advisor to the ultrahigh-net-worth set, Petersen is successfully helping his clients navigate 2020’s turbulence. As the firm’s managing partner, he’s got the business running smoothly in the midst of a pandemic. But as Summit Trail’s M&A point man, Petersen has struggled to execute an ambitious plan for nonorganic growth. “Growing through acquisition is far more difficult than I expected,” he says.

Speaking with Barron’s Advisor from his second home near Hilton Head, S.C., Petersen explains why it’s been so tricky for $8.8 billion-asset Summit Trail, Barron’s 45th-ranked RIA, to find merger matches. He projects that working from home will outlive the pandemic. And he reveals how the New York-based firm’s multigenerational clients are finding common ground in environmental, social and governance investing.

Q: Where are your roots and how did you get into wealth management?

A: I grew up just outside Minneapolis, graduated from the University of Minnesota with a finance degree and went to work for IBM. I spent three years at IBM, and realized that while I enjoyed sales and marketing, I was not too passionate about computers. I applied to business school, and ended up going to the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire.


Q: Were you parents in the finance or business worlds?

A: I grew up with very modest means, with two working parents: My dad was a community banker for a while, and then got into the car business. My mom was a schoolteacher, and then after raising us she got into real estate. They’re 84 and 82 today, and they both still work, my dad as a driver for a wholesale auto auction business and my mother as a Realtor. So they were great role models from a values and work perspective.

I decided on my own to get out of Minneapolis and kind of figure stuff out. That move to Tuck, which I think is one of the best business schools in the country, really opened my eyes to something much bigger than Minneapolis, and that’s how I ended up getting into wealth management.

Q: You spent 10 years at Morgan Stanley before moving to Lehman Brothers, where you were global head of wealth management. Then you wound up as head of Barclays Wealth and Investment Management for the Americas. How’d you decide to break away from the major firms?


A: Lehman went bankrupt in September of ’08, which was an incredibly painful but very valuable learning experience. We ended up doing a quick deal with Barclays and I stayed on in a management role for about another year and a half to integrate the Lehman business into Barclays. And then I found myself totally burned out and needing a change. I stayed at Barclays but went back to my roots as an advisor. And then as we got into 2012, 2013, 2014, I started thinking about whether there was a better way to serve ultrahigh-net-worth clients. A U.S. business owned by a foreign bank was a fairly challenging business model. And so six of us, including my five co-founders, launched Summit Trail in July of 2015.

Q: You were quoted last year saying you wanted Summit Trail to add one office and one or two advisor teams per year over the coming five years. Has Covid thrown a wrench into your plans?

A: Covid has definitely slowed me down. If you think about Jack Petersen at Summit Trail, I’m a part-time managing partner and that’s a good part of my day today; I work on a team with a small group of clients and that’s a good part of my day; and then M&A, what I think of as partnership expansion, is something I focus on exclusively at the firm.


Covid hasn’t stopped me, but anytime you have a market disruption, it causes everybody to pause. Clients pause. Advisors who may be moving pause. Transitioning from one firm to another is highly disruptive: It’s stressful, it’s very unproductive, you don’t want to do it often because it’s not a good client experience.


And so I found at the end of March, April and even into May that clients and advisors were, generally speaking, focused on sitting tight, better understanding the landscape, trying to put their plan in place for going forward, but not really looking to make any major moves. But by June or July, we were back engaged, and we continue to be focused on a couple of opportunities. I have found it to be very hard though. Growing through acquisition is far more difficult than I expected. And part of that I think is our own fault. We have a very narrow filter. Our typical client is about $30 million, and we average less than 20 clients per advisor.

The custom work we do on the investment side, along with the family office services and planning, that’s not a very scalable business. So we need to work with larger clients. I meet a lot of great advisors. They are hardworking, they put their clients first, they are growing. They check all the boxes, except they have got a more traditional mix of small, medium and large, and that business just doesn’t transfer.

So I’ve not been doing an office a year and a team or two a year. Last year we did. Last year we opened two offices and bought in two teams, in Seattle and Harrisburg, Pa. (Summit Trail’s offices, in addition to New York, are in Chicago, San Francisco and Boston—Ed.) They’ve been fantastic additions to the firm. But nothing so far this year.

Q: How are your deals typically structured?


A: There are two components to our deals. There’s upfront cash, based on a percentage of trailing-12-month revenue, and then 12 months after they join us, there’s a process where they receive equity in Summit Trail in exchange for the transition of their business. We have 22 equity-owning partners, and every advisor at Summit Trail is an equity-owning partner.

On an after-tax basis it’s very competitive with the big bulge-bracket firms that are doing two or three times trailing-12 revenue. It’s competitive. But we’re also looking for the advisor who wants to make one move, their last move, and who wants to be with us through retirement. We have a very structured operating agreement that allows for and makes it financially attractive for partners to retire. We have an agreed-upon equity buyout model combined with an advisor payout sunset plan.

Q: You’re a partner on the Dynasty Financial Partners platform. How have they helped you fund your M&A deals?

A: We leveraged Dynasty pretty heavily early on in arranging for a credit facility. Dynasty is able to leverage their buying power and industry network to facilitate what I think of as competitive terms. We have a line of credit that we can tap when we need to, and when we fund a new acquisition, we either will draw it down or use free cash flow, depending on the size of the deal and the timing.


Q: Moving to the asset management aspect of your firm’s work, what is your post-election outlook?

A: The election outcome, combined with Pfizer’s great news, has pretty substantially changed the outlook for the markets. There are a number of positives out there, so we are comfortable thinking about risk-on as opposed to risk-off. Senate control needs to be resolved—we’ve got runoffs that are going to take place in January. But assuming a split House and Senate, the markets like balance. And so do we.

Q: And where are you seeing investment opportunities?

A: Our clients are incredibly successful and very wealthy; our job is to protect their capital and then find attractive ways to grow it. So we have been more balanced, if not tilted toward value. We have made adjustments through the year, and now you saw this massive reversion trade (on Monday). It’s hard to say if that’s going to continue. (Since Monday, it hasn’t.—Ed.) But it certainly feels like that momentum trade in U.S. large-cap growth and tech stocks, which had been incredibly successful, is going to face some headwinds.


Clients want to be involved in interesting, exciting investments, and in 2020 that’s been growth, and to some degree health care, biotech and the Covid stocks. That’s probably not going to be as exciting in 2021. Tech is going to play a role, and it’s got to be part of the portfolio. But it’s going to be a more balanced market. Small-cap, non-U.S. and a lot of the less-expensive, value- and core-oriented stocks and strategies are long overdue.

Q: How have Summit Trail portfolios performed relative to the market in 2020?

A: We build custom allocations for each client or entity, which makes benchmarking across all client portfolios difficult. However, individual strategies and our multimanager funds have had strong relative performance in 2020. Tactical allocations to a custom technology portfolio, distressed debt and closed-end muni funds have all been strong performers.

Q: How much interest are you seeing in ESG investing?


A: ESG is definitely front of mind for our clients. We’re talking about it with a growing percentage of them, and we are spending a considerable amount of time on the manager research side.

The values within ESG are resonating with the next gen, and they are really pushing it as a purpose for the family. Our clients are always looking for opportunities to get next gen involved in the family wealth and the legacy planning, and ESG is probably one of the best ways to do that. It’s important, and it’s going to get more important over time.

Q: Do clients like what they’re seeing in terms of returns from your ESG strategies?

A: Finding a manager or a strategy that does really good things with the capital and delivers competitive returns has proven to be difficult. Earning a competitive rate of return relative to peer groups and benchmarks is important, period. But what our families are saying is, “Listen, it’s more important that we as a family come together and agree on what our capital is going to be doing, and we want to do some good things with it.”


Q: If wealth preservation is top of mind in the UHNW space, where are you turning to for fixed income, since negative returns must be a real concern?

A: We have found attractive yields and total return in structured credit, mortgages, and private credit. We have long had an allocation to arbitrage strategies, which have attractive uncorrelated returns to complement our client’s fixed-income exposure.

Q: How has that changed the equation in terms of tax and estate planning?

A: Based on the expected election outcome, we think the policy change is actually relatively benign until at least 2022. There would be the potential for significant tax planning, capital gains realization and further estate planning if there was a Democratic sweep.


Q: I know Summit Trail, as a firm, has been focused on addressing social problems. Can you tell us more?

A: We went through a whole diversity and awareness training this year in light of everything that’s been going on. We’ve spent a lot of time on it, and it’s been well received internally. One of the areas we’ve focused on is what we can do as a firm on the investment side to make a difference. And we actually did something very interesting with cash in the past year, through Dynasty and another industry partner, StoneCastle. We identified an FDIC sweep vehicle—StoneCastle FICA Impact—that focuses on putting capital to work in economically disadvantaged communities. And the yield is reasonable. We’ve (deposited) a lot of the firm’s excess cash, and we’ve opened it up to clients.

Given what we have all lived through in 2020, we need to do more. And that money market sweep is a very small example, but I think every little bit helps. If we all take small steps, I think we are actually going to make change.

Q: How do you think Summit Trail as a business will look different after Covid?


A: Here is my best guess. I think the five-day commute, working from centralized offices, is going to be adjusted. The professional pressure to go to the office and be productive is being repriced as we speak.

One of the reasons we started Summit Trail was to be able to listen to our employees and accommodate them. And so far there is no interest in coming back to the office. At the same time, the benefits coming from face-to-face—training and culture and best practices, all of that—still need to be captured. We’re going to have to accommodate our employees to make sure we are providing them with a safe workplace in the office and an easy, stable, productive tech platform to work from home. Whether it’s one day a week or three days a week, I think many people are going to make that adjustment and not commute five days a week.

We’ve also learned with our clients that the face-to-face meeting in their kitchen that you do quarterly or semiannually has also lost some value. What’s replacing it is a high-quality video call that is more frequent, more productive, safer and easier to schedule.

Our clients have multiple family members, generations and locations. Getting everyone together for a family meeting in our business is very difficult. With (videoconferencing platforms) BlueJeans, Zoom or Webex, it becomes much easier. We have had far more, shorter communications than multi-hour meetings. And everybody is saying, “I like that, it feels more productive.” I don’t think that’s going to go away. The ability to stay closer to clients remotely is going to survive.

Q: How do you blow off steam?

A: If I’m not inside working in front of my screen, I’m outside. I hike, I play golf, I hunt, I fish. I like any opportunity to be outside, year-round. I still mow my own lawn. I love to get my hands dirty. I’m very much white collar from 6 or 7 in the morning, and then at some point the day is over and I get outside and I go from white collar to blue collar pretty quickly.

Q: Thanks, Jack.

Venture Visionary Partners today announced that the firm is expanding through the addition of a team of 12 professionals including five advisors who previously managed $1.8 billion AUM. Based in Toledo, Ohio, Venture Visionary Partners (VVP) will now have a total staff of 28 professionals and a total of $3.7 billion in client assets.

The following professionals are joining Venture Visionary Partners from UBS:

Robert S. Loeb, CFP®, CPWA®, Partner. Previously, he was a Senior Vice President - Wealth Management at UBS.
James J. Porea, Partner. Prior to joining VVP, Mr. Porea was a Senior Vice President - Wealth Management at UBS.
John D. Spengler, Partner. Previously, he was a Senior Vice President-Wealth Management at UBS.
Bradford G. Dolgin, Partner. Prior to joining VVP, he was a Senior Vice President - Investments, Senior Portfolio Manager at UBS.
Craig A. Warnimont, CFA® Chief Investment Officer, Partner. Previously, he was a First Vice President - Wealth Management at UBS.
Sarah Wodarski FPQP™, Relationship Manager.
Amy J. Amos, Relationship Manager.
Alexa M. Laberdee, Relationship Manager.
Diana S. Gibson, Relationship Manager.
Karyn Keilholz, Relationship Manager.
Kelly Arndt CRPC®, Relationship Manager.
Travis N. Maas, Financial Analyst.
Based in Toledo, Ohio, Craig Findley is the Chairman/CEO of Venture Visionary Partners. Mr. Findley launched VVP on June 21, 2019 in partnership with Charles Schwab and Dynasty Financial Partners.

“We are excited to expand Venture Visionary Partners and to welcome our new team members to independence,” said Mr. Findley. “Just last month we were celebrating Paul Abendroth, Ryan Borucki, and Lisa Dantzer joining our team, and now today - to reunite with these amazing and talented people is humbling, and one of the most rewarding days of my entire career. It is an honor to work with them again. Each of them brings with them rich experiences and a passion for serving clients, in addition to having a personal value system that aligns with that of VVP.”

Venture Visionary Partners is strongly rooted in the Toledo community - the team members grew up in the area and have raised their families there. The firm plans to continue to expand their footprint in the future via future strategic acquisitions with like-minded advisors in Ohio and the Midwest.

“Venture Visionary Partners shares our passion for strong and deep client relationships. After more than three decades in the brokerage world, the opportunity to join VVP as independent investment advisors proved to be irresistible to all of us. It is clearly the direction in which the most successful advisors and their clients are trending towards,” said Jim Porea, Partner, Venture Visionary Partners.

“We are continuously thinking of our clients and the best ways to serve them. As we expanded on this - it became clear to us that joining Venture Visionary Partners was the answer, for our clients, and for us. We are thrilled to join the VVP team,” said Rob Loeb, Partner, Venture Visionary Partners.

“We are happy to support Craig and the entire VVP team on their remarkable growth in such a short period of time,” said John Sullivan, Dynasty Financial Partners’ Head of Network Development. “We are confident that this is just the beginning for VVP and feel they will be one of the largest RIAs in the Midwest in short order and are honored to be their partner on this journey.”

“It’s amazing how far the RIA space has come over the last ten years since we founded Dynasty Financial Partners,” said Dynasty CEO Shirl Penney. “Here you have a billion-dollar successful breakaway team that founded VVP, and then in a little over a year, and in the middle of a pandemic, nonetheless, adding another billion-dollar breakaway to their firm! This is a testament to the evolution, innovation, leadership, and tremendous entrepreneurship that is on display in the RIA space today. I have never been more bullish on the future of the RIA segment then I am today thanks in large part to firms like VVP,” added Penney.

In addition, VVP has made significant investments in providing a safe working environment during the pandemic for employees, clients, and prospects. The firm has installed hospital grade UV light ActivePure Air Scrubbers in the ductwork and High Efficiency Polarized-Media air filters used in clean rooms and labs. “This is one of the most advanced systems available,” said Will Garcia, Commercial Manager of M&M Heating and Cooling.

About Venture Visionary Partners

Ohio-based Venture Visionary Partners is a registered independent advisory firm that works with high net worth families and business owners. The firm operates under the Fiduciary standard and provides its clients with a comprehensive array of services from Financial Planning, Wealth Management, Family Office Services and Corporate Services.

Venture Visionary Partners is a member of the Dynasty Financial Partners’ Network of financial advisory firms. For more information, please visit www.venturevp.com

Five UBS Wealth Management advisors in Ohio left on Wednesday to join a $3.7 billon-asset registered investment advisory firm founded last year by Craig Findley, a former colleague.

The advisers and seven associates were overseeing $1.8 billion in client assets at UBS,  according to Dynasty Financial Partners, which helped Findley create his Toledo-area RIA after UBS ousted him for alleged nonclient-related policy violations. 

Since registering his new firm, Venture Visionary Partners (VVP), Findley has attracted more than 80% of the 36-person, three-state team he co-led at UBS. Last year, 11 members of the team known as Touchstone Wealth Partners joined within three months of his departure.

“Craig plowed the runway for us,” said John D. Spengler, who followed this week with fellow UBS advisors Robert S. Loeb, James J. Porea, Bradford G. Dolgin and Craig A. Warnimont.

Reuniting with Findlley was part a succession plan that will allow him to more easily transition his book and, in the shorter term, hire junior team members, said Spengler, who began his brokerage career more than 33 years ago at Prudential-Bache Securities.

Findley, a former co-chair of UBS advisors’ committee to senior management and a nine-year Barron’s Top 1200 Advisor, had personally managed around $1 billion of customer assets and was producing $6.5 million in revenue when he left the wirehouse in April 2019. He acknowledged that he inadvertently allowed an assistant to complete a required training module, according to his BrokerCheck record.

In a regulatory filing, UBS said his trespasses involved “training, outside activities and reporting of business travel.

Touchstone Wealth, which Findley founded with Kenneth J. Wise, his longtime partner, currently has one advisor in Sylvania, OH, two in New York City and three in Florida—in addition to Wise and his son, Kenneth II, who are listed as working in both Ohio and Florida on the team website. The senior Wise did not immediately return a call for comment about the departures.

Findley said he is now in a hiring hiatus as his new team members strive to transition several hundred clients from UBS.

“We’re always looking for great people, but right now we’re going to take some time to digest,” he said.

Spengler, 61, had been with UBS and regional predecessor McDonald Investments since 2002.  Loeb, 58, is a 30-year veteran of UBS and McDonald, where he began his career.

Porea, 61, worked at the two firms for 29 years of his 37-year brokerage career, which began at regional firm Butler, Wick.

Dolgin, a 36-year industry veteran, joined UBS in 2003 from Prudential Securities, while Warnimont registered with UBS in 2016 and has worked intermittently in the securities industry since 1998, according to his BrokerCheck history.

The new arrivals bring to 37 the number of advisors that Dynasty has helped move this year to new or existing RIAs that contract with it for platform and other services, said Shirl Penney, the firm’s CEO. The advisors were cumulatively managing $7.1 billion at their former firms.

Dynasty last year facilitated moves by 40 advisors managing $10.6 billion.

“We will end the year very close to last year, which will be ahead of budget and a bit Herculean in this environment,” said Penney.

The St. Petersburg, Florida-based firm earlier this week appointed John Sullivan, who had worked with Penney at Smith Barney as a regional manager, as head of “network development” to recruit new advisors and teams. Sullivan had run recruiting in Dynasty’s central division.

 

$500m team breaks away to launch RIA with Dynasty
A pair of financial advisors who oversee $500 million in client assets has left Northwestern Mutual to set up an independent RIA with the support of Dynasty Financial Partners. 

Sister and brother Katherine Forrester Schneewind and Michael Forrester have launched Minnetonka, Minnesota-based High Note Wealth, which has a total of six employees.

Forrester Schneewind is the firm's chief executive and Forrester its president and chief investment officer.

High Note Wealth’s clients include high net worth individuals, families and business owners. It works with women-owned businesses and women going through significant life changes. 

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Leading wealth advisors Katherine Forrester Schneewind and Michael Forrester today announced that they have partnered with Dynasty Financial Partners to form an independent wealth management firm called High Note Wealth based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Both Ms. Schneewind and Mr. Forrester previously worked at Northwestern Mutual in the Minneapolis area.

High Note Wealth has a total of six professionals including two advisors:

Founder and CEO of High Note Wealth, Katherine Forrester Schneewind served as a Wealth Management Advisor at Northwestern Mutual. She was a recipient of the 2016 Top 50 Women in Business Award (Minneapolis Business Journal) and the 2017 and 2011 Top Women in Finance Award (Finance & Commerce magazine). Ms. Schneewind earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in music therapy from the University of Minnesota and holds the Chartered Financial Consultant designation.
Michael Forrester, Founder, President and Chief Investment Officer of High Note Wealth, has deep experience working with high net worth clients for nine years in Wealth Management at Northwestern Mutual. He is a holder of the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional. Additionally, he holds the Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) designation. Mr. Forrester earned a Bachelor's Degree in history from the University of Minnesota and a Culinary Arts degree from Le Cordon Bleu.
“With High Note Wealth, my brother Michael and I are achieving our dreams of owning and running our own company. High Note will be a fully independent RIA business. It’s not well known that Minnesota has a significant number of female owned businesses, and I’m personally excited to be adding to the ranks of women led firms in the North Star State. In addition, 17 Fortune 500 companies are based here so we see a lot of potential to expand our business by continuing to grow our high net worth comprehensive wealth management business given our expanded platform and capabilities to service our growing client base as an RIA powered by Dynasty,” said Ms. Schneewind. “We did serious due diligence for over a year and selected Dynasty to be our strategic partner. Their platform, technology, industry connectivity, and most importantly their people really understood our wealth management platform needs. We are excited to partner with them on our next chapter of our careers with High Note Wealth.”

“Both Katherine and I are very appreciative of our time at Northwestern Mutual and will miss our old friends and colleagues. The idea of owning our own family business together and being able to grow our wealth management business with more high net worth clients is really exciting to us and our team. We also feel that over time there will be an opportunity for us to selectively grow inorganically by adding advisors who fit the culture of firm we are building. We could not be more thrilled to be living our American Dream with High Note Wealth,” said Michael Forrester.

“We are proud to welcome Katherine and Michael to our industry leading network of independent advisors,” said Shirl Penney, CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners. “Their client advocacy, team-based approach to wealth management, and integrity are very inspiring. More and more family advisory teams are coming to us to explore the potential of building a firm together, and we are excited to partner with High Note Wealth to help them fulfill their dream of owning their own family business.”

“Katherine and Michael, as siblings and highly credentialed financial advisors, bring a unique perspective to the individuals and families they serve,” said John Sullivan, Dynasty’s Director of Network Development, Central Division. “Their planning-based practice will thrive as they transition to the fully independent model supported by Dynasty, and we expect to see significant growth of their business. We are thrilled to welcome the High Note Wealth team to the Dynasty Network!”

High Note Wealth has partnered with Dynasty Financial Partners to leverage Dynasty’s wealth management services, people, business analytics, leading technology, client and prospect assistance. The firm will be using Dynasty’s award-winning integrated Core Services platform for independent advisors and the firm’s turnkey asset management platform (TAMP). They will have access to leading technology, including Dynasty’s proprietary advisor desktop, in-house specialists, home office support, and will benefit from the firm’s significant scale in the industry.

Among its other resource partners, High Note Wealth has selected Schwab to provide custody services.

High Note Wealth’s clients include high net worth individuals, families and business owners. The firm works with women-owned businesses and family businesses, corporate executives, and women in transition -- clients going through life and career transitions – career change, company change, death, disability or divorce. For more information, please visit www.highnotewealth.com.

About Dynasty Financial Partners

Dynasty Financial Partners is known for assisting advisors of integrity to better service their clients, run their businesses more profitably, grow faster, and enhance the enterprise value of their firms. Dynasty does this by providing wealth management and technology platforms for select independent financial advisory firms. Dynasty creates access to valuable resources and industry-leading capabilities through an open architecture platform, enabling advisors to address their clients’ needs and to protect and grow their wealth. Dynasty supports independent advisors and their teams in being independent, but not alone, by creating exclusive community events and experiences. Dynasty also offers access to flexible capital solutions to help advisors expand, scale, and grow their business and provides M&A support to firms looking to grow inorganically or to plan for succession. Dynasty’s core principle is “objectivity without compromise,” and the firm is committed to developing solutions that allow investment advisors to act as true fiduciaries to their clients. Dynasty has a leading network of RIAs who leverage its integrated platform and Dynasty’s growing Enterprise Services Group supports larger institutional clients who often have multiple advisors in multiple cities by delivering Dynasty’s platform at the home office and firm level. Dynasty has helped to level the playing field for advisors and firms looking to deliver Private Wealth Management capabilities to their UHNW clients vs many of the larger Wall Street firms in providing a robust suite of capabilities, products, and services when combined with Dynasty’s support offers independent advisors the ability to compete at the highest levels of wealth management client opportunities.

(Bloomberg) --

Sister-Brother Wealth Managers to Open Minneapolis Advisory Firm

The pair oversaw $500 million at unit of Northwestern Mutual Clients include female business owners, Fortune 500 executives

By Suzanne Woolley

Siblings Katherine Forrester Schneewind and Michael Forrester are leaving Northwestern Mutual’s wealth-management unit with four members of their team and starting an independent advisory firm near Minneapolis.

Schneewind, 46, will be chief executive officer of Minnetonka-based High Note Wealth, while her 43-year-old brother will be president and chief investment officer. The pair, who managed $500 million at Northwestern Mutual, will partner with Dynasty Financial Partners in the new venture.

 “We get to be entrepreneurs, like many of our clients, and wear the hat they wear,” said Schneewind, who spent 23 years at Northwestern Mutual. “We can relate to a lot of issues they have, and that family businesses have.” High Notes’ clients are about evenly split between men and women and many relationships go back two decades, she said. Female clients are primarily corporate executives, business owners and women going through transitions such as divorce or the death of a spouse. Networking with the Women Presidents’ Organization has led to more female business owners as customers, she said.

Wealth managers are increasingly focusing on women, who tend to live longer than men and hold increasing

assets. The number of women making $1 million or more rose to 17,609 in 2016 from 6,597 in 2009, according to Internal Revenue Service data compiled by Bloomberg.

“A lot of our clients started at Fortune 500 companies,” said Forrester, who holds a culinary arts degree from Le

Cordon Bleu in addition to being a Chartered Financial Analyst. “They become breeding grounds for people that want to start their own business.” Target Corp., Best Buy Co., General Mills Inc., U.S. Bancorp, Xcel Energy Inc. and UnitedHealth Group Inc. are among the large corporations headquartered in the Minneapolis area.

At least nine billionaires have homes in Minnesota, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, including members of the Cargill family, whose wealth stems from Minneapolis-based commodities giant Cargill Inc. International travel and hospitality business Carlson Cos. is based in Minnetonka, where billionaire sisters and coowners

Barbara Carlson Gage and Marilyn Carlson Nelson have residences.

 

Expect the RIA channel to start aggressively promoting and expanding a “supermarket” of lending options for their clients, according to the bosses from Dynasty Financial Partners and Sanctuary Wealth.

 

The two RIA businesses want to attract breakaways from the wirehouses — Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and UBS — by convincing them that any loans their clients have can easily be replaced in the transition from wirehouse rep to RIA.

Wirehouse advisors increasingly have client loans tied to their wirehouse’s bank as reps are encouraged to get their clients to borrow money. The increased lending to clients offers dual advantages to the wirehouses: it both boosts their revenues and maximizes the stickiness of FAs’ clients to their institutions rather than to their advisors.

But prospective breakaways can overcome that stickiness much more effectively than many wirehouse FAs assume by mapping replacement lending solutions for clients prior to splitting from their old firms, Dynasty and Sanctuary claim.

“The reality is now, it’s very rare that we would find the lending scenario that we haven’t been able to match. We’ve had scenarios where we’ve had large wirehouse teams coming from private wealth management divisions in the wirehouse where they may have hundreds of billions of dollars in loans for clients and we’ve mapped them all, and seamlessly moved them over,” says Shirl Penney, CEO of St. Petersburg, Fla.-based RIA network Dynasty.

Scroll down to see interactive chart of wirehouse lending penetration

“I think it’s going to continue to make it easier and easier to go independent, when advisors have the ability to conduct the business that their clients need and that there are more choices, it’s easier to do. It’s less cumbersome and it’s less bureaucratic on the independent side. It will continue to encourage more advisors. I mean, success breeds success. The more large advisory teams map credit books over, the more that happens, the more others are going to be encouraged to do it,” Penney adds.

“You’re starting to see providers come to the table and offer a supermarket of solutions,” says Jim Dickson, CEO of Sanctuary. Dickson quit Merrill Lynch two years ago and since starting Sanctuary has acquired enough breakaway advisory teams from wirehhouses — including from his former employer — that Sanctuary’s assets under management have reached more than $9 billion. Sanctuary has added at least eight breakaway teams since June, primarily from Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch.

Loan transfers: Perception versus reality

The perception of wirehouse breakaways has not kept pace with the reality of what can happen to their clients’ borrowing if their FAs go independent, Dickson says.

“Their perception is that it’s a lot harder to do than what it really is,” Dickson says. “Once we walk through it and show them the historical success we’ve had — getting better rates and facility structures from various custodians than the wirehouses offered — then we move on."

But it’s certainly an extra conversation "or two,” he admits.

Wirehouses have encouraged FAs to believe the clients will never move if they have loans, he says.

In addition to RIA channel leaders, custodians too want to emphasize that they are widening the availability of lending options for independent FA clients. The giant discount brokerage and custodian Charles Schwabannounced earlier this month it will make more lending products available to financial advisor clients, financial advisors and firms.

The company’s commitment to an effective bank build-out came as a pledge by a trio of Charles Schwab execs to an audience of more than 4,000 advisors attending the company’s annual conference in San Diego earlier this month.

The executives also acknowledged, while making that promise, that they are tardy in adopting more robust lending strategies and are now developing the products and services to better compete with the traditional major and independent broker-dealer companies — includingBank of America’s Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and UBS — all which have expanded aggressively their borrowing options and have historically lent to FAs.

“Traditional thinking is ’This is their spot,’” Bernie Clark, head of advisor services, told the audience, as previously reported in FA-IQ. Schwab initially didn’t jump into the lending space, conceded CEO and presidentWalt Bettinger. But now that’s changed, he said.

Opening the floodgates

Individual FAs who have bolted from wirehouses corroborate Penney and Dickson’s claims about the ease of moving client borrowings to the independent world.

“At first we thought it was going to be a challenge. Once we saw the options of what was out there, we realized quickly any challenges were easily overcome. We were not only able to match every loan rate but most clients got substantial cuts,” says Jonathan Trusty, whose firm Southern Oak Wealth Group is a partner with Sanctuary. Earlier this year, Trusty’s Nashville, Tenn.-based roughly $200 million AUM team moved from Merrill Lynch to independence.

Matt Celenza of Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Boulevard Family Wealthtook his $1 billion team from Merrill Lynch to go independent and partner with Dynasty two years ago. His team shifted about $350 million of its clients’ borrowing to new lenders as part of the move.

“We figured out everything before we came,” Celenza recalls, noting that the loan prices they offered clients beat what Merrill Lynch’s parent BofA had been offering and, as a result, 100% of his clients moved. Celenza, whose prior experience includes long stints at then Citi-owned Smith Barney, has a background in customized and private equity lending, so, unlike many other FAs, he worried less about his clients’ loans when he made the move.

If the RIA channel competes effectively in offering clients all types of loans, such success will probably not curb the wirehouses' persistent push to get more lending revenues squeezed out of their wealth management units.

Morgan Stanley’s CEO James Gorman underlined his wirehouse’s zeal for lending in comments after the company’s third quarter earnings in October. “Continued growth of our loan portfolios are many exciting opportunities that remain in this business,” he told analysts.

Similarly, Bank of America’s CFO Paul Donofrio touted his firm's lending prowess after its earnings for the same quarter were released: “Average loans were 5% higher year to year, reflecting strong growth in mortgage and customer lending.”

SACRAMENTO, CA ——Towerpoint Wealth is pleased to announce that the firm has added James Keefe as Director of Client Experience, a new position.   Mr. Keefe joins the firm from Genovese Burford & Brothers where he was a Wealth Advisor.   He will report to Joseph Eschleman, President of Towerpoint Wealth.

Based in Sacramento, CA, Towerpoint Wealth was launched in July 2017 by financial advisor Joseph Eschleman. Towerpoint Wealth is a member of the Dynasty Network of Advisory firms. 

Prior to Polaris Greystone, Mr. Keefe worked for Balanced Rock Investment Advisors.  He earned his B.A. in American Studies from Providence College.

In this new role, Mr. Keefe will manage and coordinating all firm social media, digital marketing, advertising, corporate sponsorships and charitable events.

Towerpoint Wealth is an independent financial advisory firm with a client focus on retirees, business owners, corporate executives, technology industry professionals, and individuals who have recently experienced a significant life event, such as the death of a spouse, a divorce, or a job or career change.

Optimizing Year-End Charitable Strategies in New Tax Law

By Michael J. Henley, CFP®, CPWA®, CRPC®
Founder & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) | Private Wealth Advisor
Brandywine Oak Private Wealth
Certified Financial Planner™ | Certified Private Wealth Advisor®
CFP® certfication awarded by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc.
| www.BrandywineOak.com

500 Old Forge Lane, Suite 501 | Kennett Square, PA 19348

Approaching tax and charitable planning should be viewed through a different lens for Delaware and Pennsylvania residents as we approach yearend.  Taxpayers should consult with a tax advisor before implementing any tax or charitable strategies, as the rules that govern these strategies can be complex. 

In late-2017 Congress passed the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act (TCJA), the most significant overhaul of the Federal income tax system since the Tax Reform Act of 1986.  One of the more significant aspects of the new tax law is the limited ability of taxpayers to itemize their tax deductions because of the increased standard deduction which is $12,000 for a single filer and $24,000 for a joint filer. 

Along with the higher standard deduction came a significant reduction in what items could in fact be itemized.  Delaware residents often have higher income taxes and less property tax deductions, while neighboring Pennsylvania residents generally have higher property taxes and less income deductions.  Nonetheless, Congress implemented a $10,000 cap or ceiling on the state and local tax deduction (referred to as the ‘SALT’ deduction) for both individual and joint filers. 

How does this impact charitable giving?  By using an example of a married couple who gives $5,000 per year to charity in the new tax law we can evaluate the impact as well as strategies to overcome the limitations of the new tax law.  This couple who earns $200,000 per year and lives in Delaware or Pennsylvania and will likely be capped at $10,000 on the state and local tax deduction.  They also have $7,000 in mortgage interest deduction (notably not home equity line interest which is no longer deductible).  Adding together the $10k SALT deduction, the $7k of mortgage interest, and the $5k of charitable donation brings this couple to a total of $22,000 in itemized deductions.  In this scenario the couple would take the standard deduction rather than itemize; effectively giving them $0 tax savings for the $5,000 they donated to charity!


How are we advising our clients donate to their favorite charities to ensure they still receive Federal income tax savings?  With a strategy called charitable “lumping” or charitable “bunching” using a vehicle called a donor-advised fund or charitable fund.  With a donor-advised or charitable fund, taxpayers are able to “lump” or “bunch” together a number of years worth of charitable gifts in one year in a lump-sum into their charitable fund. 

Continuing with the prior married couple example, what this couple could do is fund a charitable fund with 10 years worth of donations or $50,000.  By making a large lump-sum donation of $50,000, they would absolutely itemize their deductions in 2018 and receive a fairly substantial Federal income tax savings in the year they fund the charitable fund.  They could then subsequently distribute the $50,000 charitable fund to their favorite charities the way they had been previously at $5,000 per year.  This strategy creates a true win-win for both the taxpayer and the charities alike.    

The charitable fund can be funded with $50,000 of cash, but cash is often shockingly the most tax-inefficient asset to donate to charity.  Many of our clients are active employees or retirees of local corporate conglomerate DuPont Corporation, and often have shares of DuPont stock with a very low purchase price and significant negative capital gain consequences if they sell the shares.  In this scenario, making a $50,000 donation to the charitable fund of appreciated DuPont stock can provide the family a triple benefit.  First, the $50,000 tax deduction in 2018; second, the capital gain on the DuPont stock is evaporated tax-free; and third reducing company concentration risk.  Notably, since this couple would itemize their deductions in 2018—to the extent they give clothing or furniture donations to local charities, 2018 would be the opportune year to donate these items and actually receive a tax benefit for doing so. 

At the end of the day there are many great ways to donate to charities in 2018 while time lasts. 

When my two boys were toddlers, they were diagnosed with autism. Raising them — along with my daughter — has not only made me grow as parent, but has also made me a better financial advisor. Over the last 19 years I’ve learned some important lessons from parenting that have also benefited my business.

Find Your Why 
In our jobs as planners, we ask clients about their “Why.” My own why became crystal clear when my triplets were born. Planning was no longer just about accumulating wealth; it was about accumulating wealth for a very specific reason. I needed to make sure my children would be cared for, even when I was no longer there. When I help my clients focus on their top priorities, instead of market ups and downs, they know exactly what their planning stands for and sleep better at night.

Focus On What You Can Control
I could not control that I was suddenly responsible for not one — but three — babies. I could not control that my boys were diagnosed with autism. I could not control that there was no cure. But I could control how I reacted to these circumstances. Today, I talk to my clients about how no one can forecast or control what the market will do, but we can control how we react to it. Instead of focusing on unpredictable market changes, we home in on their specific goals.

Let Go and Live in the Moment
For some, putting their trust in others is not something that comes naturally. I had to learn to put my faith in others so that my boys could go away to school, and that my daughter could go away to college. I had to entrust their well-being to others and learn to let go.

Charles Massimo is the president and founder of CJM Wealth Management and the father of triplets.
It can be difficult for investors to put their trust in an advisor and let go, but I urge investors to partner with an advisor they trust and let the advisor’s expertise and knowledge carry them during the rough times. Let go of your concerns, and live your best life without too many worries. Trust me — 19 years went by in a flash — so make sure you take the time to enjoy the people around you and live in the moment.

As a business owner and a parent, I’m still learning. There’s no handbook for either of these parts of my life. But understanding my why, focusing on what I can control and putting my faith in others to lend a helping hand when I need it has made all the difference.

Ins and outs of seniors donating to their favorite charities under the New Tax Law

ByDelaware Business Now -

November 26, 2018
 

By Alison C. D. Brooks, CFP, CRPC

Brooks is Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer | Private Wealth Advisor at Brandywine Oak Private Wealth, Kennett Square

The new 2018 tax law has left many Delaware and Pennsylvania residents uneasy about their previous charitable donation strategy as many taxpayers will no longer itemize their deductions. Taxpayers who are over age 65 receive an extra standard deduction of $1,300 per spouse, resulting in a married couple who is in their 70’s with a whopping $26,600 standard deduction. This makes itemizing deductions even more unlikely and many clients are asking us why bother giving to charity anymore at all?

                                      UNICEF USA Official Site - Make a Tax-Deductible Donation

                                        Be a Beacon of Hope in a Child's Life. Make a Tax-Deductible Donation Today. donate.unicefusa.org/Donation

Many of our Delaware and Pennsylvania clients regularly donate to local charities such as the United Way of Delaware or Southern Chester County, the American Red Cross in Wilmington, or the Brandywine or Kennett Area YMCA and would like to continue donating to these organizations while still receiving a tax benefit.

A tax strategy that was made permanent under President Obama in 2016 was the Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) strategy. This strategy applies to those taxpayers who are over age 70½ and have required minimum distribution obligations (RMDs) from their retirement plans. The QCD strategy only applies to required minimum distributions from IRAs and does not apply to RMD obligations from employer-sponsored retirement plans such as 401(k) or 403(b) plans. The QCD technique involves a taxpayer donating up to a maximum of $100,000 from their IRA to their favorite charity or charities and avoiding all Federal income taxation on what is distributed to charity.Regardless of whether this taxpayer itemizes their deductions, the QCD provides a hard dollar Federal tax savings and a compelling above-the-line tax deduction.

Many of our clients are retirees of local corporate conglomerate DuPont Corporation, who after age 70½ have sizable required distributions from their pre-tax IRAs. The required distributions are often in excess of what the client needs for lifestyle and the taxable RMDs often result in a higher marginal tax bracket and an increased cost of Medicare Part B and D due to their increased income.

Medicare Part B and D premiums are based on a taxpayer’s modified adjusted gross income (i.e., their adjusted gross income plus any tax-free bond interest from municipal bonds) from two years prior. If a taxpayer was previously making $10,000 in charitable donations from cash and itemizing under the old tax law, it might be tax-advantageous for him or her to make the same $10,000 charitable donation from his or her IRA directly to charity.This would in effect reduce the taxpayer’s adjusted gross income and thereby reduce the amount of income subject to the calculation for Medicare Part B and D premiums.

In addition to Medicare Part B and D, a taxpayer’s adjusted gross income also determines how much of their Social Security benefit is taxable, as well as how much out-of-pocket medical expenses he or she can deduct as the itemized medical deduction is over and an above an adjusted gross income hurdle.

Retirees of DuPont and other large corporations often have a limited ability to reduce their adjusted gross income because their pension is fixed, Social Security increases marginally each year, and they have very little in the way of above-the-line tax deductions. Herein lies the value of the QCD strategy which is one of the most attractive strategies that exists in the tax code at reducing a taxpayer’s adjusted gross income.

Of course, before implementing tax and charitable strategies one should consult with a tax advisor first as the rules can be

The end of the year is creeping closer, taking us to the single biggest fundraising opportunity for all nonprofits. Understanding the spike in both donations and volunteer time that typically occurs between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve, Sacramento charities are focusing on year-end fundraising campaigns.

And for donors, in addition to general goodwill, giving in the 4th quarter of the year is also typically motivated by those looking to maximize end-of-year income tax deduction opportunities. In lieu of making outright cash gifts, many tax and financial advisors suggest clients engage in end-of-year gifting of appreciated stocks, bonds or mutual funds, as donors typically are able to avoid paying the capital gains tax associated with an outright sale of a security that has grown in value.

If you are looking to make a donation, nonprofits are expanding the timeline for their final fundraising campaigns, bolstered by the addition of the now annual #GivingTuesday on November 27. In fact, according to the Network For Good, in 2014, 31 percent of annual giving occurred just in December, and 12 percent occurred in the last three days of the year.

Things are no different for some of the more popular nonprofits in the greater Sacramento area, with specific end-of-year initiatives beginning to roll out now.

On the Sacramento Children’s Home (SCH) homepage, a targeted holiday giving campaign is already up and running, as potential donors are immediately greeted with the message “Help Make Holiday Dreams a Reality.” SCH has also created a YouTube video focused on this year-end giving theme, and in addition to directly soliciting cash donations, has also implemented two additional ideas for this end-of-year push. The Grab a Wish Star focuses on the direct emotional connection felt by a donor in donating a specific gift requested by an actual SCH child, helping to directly fulfill the holiday wishes of real children served by SCH. At holiday time, this directly benefits approximately 1,500 children, as donated gifts are typically the only gifts children at SCH receive.


Additionally, the Sacramento Children’s Home has an Adopt a Family program, aimed at families, coworkers, or groups looking to take care of more than just one SCH child this holiday season. Meant to focus on the growing need to provide further support to families served by their community programs, SCH’s Adopt a Family program supports those living in some of the highest risk areas of Sacramento and often lack the resources to provide for themselves or their children during the holiday season.

The Sacramento SPCA creatively leverages the end-of-year giving season by sponsoring a Jingle Bell “Pup Crawl” in early December that brings together donors, volunteers and, of course, dogs! Funds are raised through ticket sales for the event, as participants and their furry friends enjoy food and drink specials at a number of local Sacramento eateries and craft breweries. Understanding the popularity of craft beer in and around the city, as well as the continued momentum of Sacramento’s farm-to-fork movement, the Pup Crawl idea does an excellent job of tying together popular local themes to make end-of-year giving both easy and fun.

The holiday season is always an enjoyable but frenetic time of year. And for local charities, it is the time of maximum fundraising opportunity. All charities benefit from our general proclivity to give in both November and December, but additional economic and organizational benefits are gained by those who are creative and intelligent in how they cultivate this philanthropic spirit.

Joseph F. Eschleman is president of Sacramento-based Towerpoint Wealth.

As a 23-year-old millennial with a certified financial planner designation, I can say that many in my generation don’t feel they can connect with advisers who aren’t able to speak to what matters most to us: a detailed but easy-to-understand roadmap for financial success.

The millennial generation has been shaped by events like the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the U.S., the deepest recession since the Depression and the Bernie Madoff scandal. Many of us are wary of the establishment and lack trust in markets. So a focus of my work as a young adviser is helping reduce the disconnect between younger individuals and the wealth-advisory profession.

As I’ve gotten started in this profession, the managing partner of my firm has been a major role model. He showed faith in my abilities by letting me have direct contact with clients early on. We’ve developed a work relationship where we operate in tandem serving clients and their families. The perspective I bring allows us to better engage and communicate with young clients or clients’ children in layman’s terms.

For example, millennials aren’t looking for an adviser to talk about beta and Sharpe ratios. So when I speak to clients’ children, my goal is to educate them in a casual, comfortable setting about key investing strategies and how to budget for expenses from rent to Netflix. That connection helps deliver more overall value to clients’ families, but it also allows us to stay a step ahead on retention, since it makes clients’ children more prone to being comfortable working with us in the future.

Advisers who want to engage the younger generation better should know that millennials’ priorities often differ from those of their parents. The current version of the American dream isn’t just living in a nice area with a white picket fence. Many people now plan to rent longer, to have both partners work while they’re married, and to retire at a later age. So advisers need to address and accommodate the fact that younger people have much more varied notions of what the long-term course will be.

I also recommend advisers make sure they’re able to connect with younger people through digital client experiences. One program we find useful at my firm is TimeTrade. Although it’s not a financial tool, TimeTrade creates efficiency in our office by letting clients view our schedule and book meetings with us instantly, rather than the traditional mode of calling, chasing and waiting.

 

We have also developed a mobile application that allows clients to view their portfolio, chat with their adviser and read news tailored to their interests. We’ve found that the most valuable real estate in the world is in the palm of a person’s hand.

Speaking in millennials’ language, addressing financial matters within the context of their worldviews and leveraging technology that enables clients to instantly access you, your company and their financial world are the keys to successfully working with the younger generations.

Pre-nup popularity increasing to protect wealth

Pre-nuptial agreements are on the rise among ultra-wealthy individuals and families, especially among people aged under 30 getting married for the first time, a new study finds.

Two-thirds of the 25 English and Welsh law firms surveyed by Forsters’ family team said they had advised their ultra-wealthy and high net worth clients on a greater number of nuptial agreements since 2010.

Almost all (98%) of lawyers surveyed said they have been instructed on new nuptial agreement cases in the past 12 months. Of those, 44% have been instructed on six or more new nuptial agreement cases in the past 12 months and 13% had advised on 16 or more.

Forsters said the main driver for people entering nuptial agreements was wealth protection, including the protection of assets acquired pre-marriage and assets inherited from family. In the event of divorce, with over two-thirds (68%) cited this as the main rationale for those agreements they had advised on. Almost one-third (32%) cited other drivers including minimising the risk of adverse outcomes on divorce/providing more certainty (15%), pressure/encouragement from third parties i.e. parents/children/trustees (9%) and 8% citing other reasons, such as protection of business interests.

Jo Edwards (pictured above), head of family at Forsters, said while the perception may have been pre-nups were the preserve of older or wealthier generations, results showed the most common age bracket for those entering a nuptial agreement was 31-45.

“This reflects the average age of marriage (now 37 for men and 34.6 for women), as well as an increased awareness among that age group of the importance of nuptial agreements in the context of wider wealth planning and a desire to protect, as far as possible, current and future wealth on divorce,” Edwards said.

“The increase in nuptial agreements within this age group may also reflect ageing society and the fact that their parents may be leaving them inheritances/making lifetime gifts which there is a desire to protect on divorce.”

Billionaires return to growth globally, with Asia outpacing the US for the first time

Asian billionaires now outnumber their counterparts in the United States for the first time but the US still retains the greatest concentration of wealth while European growth is static.

The total wealth of Asian billionaires will overtake that of their peers in the US in just four years, if the trend continues, the new joint UBS/PwC Billionaires Report 2017 added.

The combined wealth of Asian billionaires grew by almost a third from $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion but still lagged behind the US, which maintained the largest concentration of billionaire wealth. In 2016, US billionaires saw their wealth increase from $2.4 trillion to $2.8 trillion, driven by technological innovation, financial services and materials, the study of 1,542 billionaires found.

There were 342 billionaires in Europe by the end of last year but growth remained stagnant in comparison. Overall wealth grew modestly by 5% to just over $1.3 trillion, with 24 new billionaires and 21 dropping off, a third of them due to death. This corresponded with previous findings that Europe had the highest number of multi-generational billionaires.

The total wealth of billionaires rose by 17% in 2016 to $6 trillion, double the rate of the MSCI World Index.

“Whereas last year we were concerned about issues such as regulatory upheaval and currency fluctuations, this year's return to growth and change in demographics shifts the focus to idealism, philanthropy and impact investing,” Dr Marcel Widrig, partner and private wealth leader at PwC, said.

“It’s not enough anymore to just preserve and grow wealth. Today's billionaires also feel a responsibility to drive social and economic impact—whether that means creating a private museum to promote the arts or buying a professional sports team to promote a passion.

“This will be even more important when an estimated $2.4 trillion of billionaire wealth is expected to be transferred in the next two decades. Technology, the creation of social networks and high-profile examples of philanthropic peers have all had an impact on this exclusive group.”

How to avoid “Sudden Wealth Syndrome”

A Florida multi family office has offered its advice to prevent wealthy families from contracting “Sudden Wealth Syndrome” and suffering “massive wealth destruction”.

Omnia Family Wealth said its advisers often saw the aftermath of heirs who were unprepared to manage wealth while guiding large multigenerational families. Family fortunes gradually deteriorated after wealth was unexpectedly transferred from one generation to the next.

Omnia announced its three approaches to help families prevent Sudden Wealth Syndrome:

1 Encourage families to engage in structured family meetings where the second and third generation heirs have a forum, with sufficient advanced time, to ask questions and learn about the patriarch’s guiding values and establish long-term goals

2 Provide educational opportunities for second and third generation heirs. A finance or investment educational course can help prepare heirs by giving them a basic understanding

3 Establish a purpose for the family’s wealth. Engaging heirs to continue a family legacy is a great way to give the wealth deep and long-lasting meaning

“Sudden Wealth Syndrome is preventable with family meetings, next generation education [and] family governance strategy,” Steven Wagner, Omnia co-founder and chief executive said.

“It all boils down to opening the doors of communication and talking to your heirs about the legacy you want to leave.”

For couples planning to get married, a meeting with a financial professional is an increasingly important step along the way, advisers say.

It’s a “function of the fact that people are accumulating assets before marriage, getting married later in life, and seeing more and more people getting divorced,” says Lawrence D. Mandelker, a trusts and estates attorney with Seyfarth Shaw LLP in New York who has been referring more clients to financial advisers for these services.

Financial professionals who offer premarital financial planning say they work with couples beyond the nitty-gritty details, such as who is going to pay the bills and whether the couple will pool their money or keep their accounts separate. They’re taking on a counseling role to help couples deal with the emotions that can complicate financial decisions—for instance, the stress that can strain a relationship when one partner tries to exercise too much monetary control.

“We’re more psychologists in this position than we are financial planners,” says Matthew Celenza, managing partner at Boulevard Family Wealth, an investment advisory firm in Beverly Hills, Calif., who has helped couples with premarital financial planning.

“It’s the root of so many problems in couples’ relationships,” says Jeremy S. Office, founder of Maclendon Wealth Management in Delray Beach, Fla., who regularly counsels clients on premarital financial issues.

Some professionals bill an hourly rate for these services, while others don’t charge separately for the premarital financial planning they do for existing clients or children of clients. Some don’t charge prospective clients, while others base their fees on the complexity of the situation. Couples generally meet with their advisers anywhere from one to five times, though it depends largely on what the issues are.

No secrets
For the process to work, couples should be willing to openly discuss their spending habits, assets, liabilities and financial goals, says Laurie Boore-Clor, a 37-year-old doctor in Ann Arbor, Mich., who went through premarital financial counseling with her fiancé, now husband, about two years ago.

“If you have secrets in a marriage, that doesn’t help your marriage,” she says. “If you’re willing to hide your money, what else are you hiding?”

Only when people are open about how they feel can inevitable differences be addressed. About a year ago, Renée Kwok, a certified financial planner and president of TFC Financial Management Inc. in Boston, worked with a young couple who planned to buy a house but had very different views on how much to spend.

The future bride was much more frugal than her fiancé, and it was an emotional sticking point, says Ms. Kwok. She talked the couple through different scenarios and ran financial projections. She asked the young man to consider how spending less would be more prudent and how it would help to ease his fiancée’s anxiety.

The couple ultimately decided to take a more-conservative approach based on the future bride’s concerns, Ms. Kwok says. These meetings are “a forum for creating compromise because you see [people’s] emotional reactions,” she says.

Encouraging communication
Tiffany Welka, vice president of VFG Associates, a registered investment adviser in Livonia, Mich., is part of the premarital counseling board at her church. Couples who want to get married at the church are required to meet with various social-services professionals, and they go to her for financial counseling. She doesn’t charge for these services.

Ms. Welka says she helps engaged couples create a budget, determine common financial goals and set a financial plan. She also encourages them to communicate about financial issues. On average, roughly three of the five young couples she counsels each week on premarital financial planning issues haven’t talked about their finances previously, Ms. Welka says.

They have no idea how much the other person spends or how much credit-card debt he or she is carrying—and they are surprised when the information comes out during discussions.

Derek Gauci, age 28, says the premarital financial-planning process got him and his now-wife, Lauren, also 28, started on the right financial footing. Before going through the process, the couple, who live in Plymouth, Mich., hadn’t given saving for retirement or life insurance a second thought, he says. Also, Mr. Gauci had been putting all his money into his wedding-photography business and didn’t know how much of a profit he was making, how to calculate monthly costs or how to budget appropriately. He feels premarital financial planning is so important that he has encouraged several employees to do it. “I think you’d be a fool not to,” he says. “You just don’t want to have any big financial surprises.”

Like a business deal
In some cases, premarital financial planning with older couples ends up being much like a “business negotiation”—trying to determine who is paying for what and how much, says Mela Garber, a tax principal at New York-based accounting firm Anchin, Block & Anchin and chairwoman of the firm’s trust and estates services group.

Ms. Garber has worked with several older couples where one person makes significantly more money than the other. During the dating phase, the wealthier person often covers the tab for dinners and vacations, but he or she may expect the partner to chip in more substantially after the marriage. If those expectations aren’t discussed up front, problems can arise. “Misunderstandings happen when people assume things that aren’t reality,” Ms. Garber says.

To be sure, not everyone needs a professional’s help with premarital financial planning. Several years ago, Saramaya Penacho, a publicist in San Diego, and her then-fiancé, management consultant Zach Penacho, instituted an annual financial-planning retreat where they go away for a weekend and discuss their past year’s finances and set a road map for the year ahead. At last year’s getaway, they discussed things like how much they could afford for a down payment on a home and brainstormed ways to trim expenses.

It has been an effective way for the couple to gain a shared understanding of their individual and mutual financial goals and save for their future, Ms. Penacho says.

Direct lending is still the hot ticket for private fund managers, dominating credit product launches and fundraising targets. But managers diving into the segment are likely to feel more pressure as competition heats up – making lending deals harder to find, loan terms looser, and expectations from experienced investors a greater hurdle, market observers say. 

Direct lending strategies dominated the private debt segment in the third quarter, according to Preqin data, with the most funds closed at 10 and most capital raised at $6.7 billion. Direct lending also remains the busiest private credit segment by far with 155 funds currently seeking $67 billion, including five of the 10 products with the largest fundraising targets, according to Preqin.

Interest remains strong among managers to launch new direct lending funds, says Jessica O’Mary, partner and attorney at Ropes & Gray. “The funds with successful track records are getting bigger, and there’s definitely more capital being raised,” she says. 

The wave of product development continues, with a string of first-time direct lending funds this year – including $500 million or larger entries from Capital Dynamics, Stone Mountain Capital, Adams Street Partners, and TIAA’s Churchill Asset Management. Siguler Guf, a $12.6 billion private equity manager, just this month closed its first small business direct lending strategy, with $300 million in a fund and related separate accounts. 

More are on the way: The $257.5 billion Brookfield Asset Management is aiming to build out its first direct lending business, CEO Bruce Flatt said at a recent investor presentation. And the $116 billion First Eagle Investment Management last week announced it is acquiring NewStar Financial, a middle market commercial lending company with $7.3 billion in credit fund assets, to become its new private credit asset management arm.

Those new entrants are hurtling into a market with a core of established players that are growing, O’Mary says. “We’re seeing multi-billion-dollar [successor] funds from managers that have good track records,” she says. “Almost everyone is raising a larger subsequent fund.”

All that activity adds up to a more difficult path for managers than a few years ago, especially to find deals, O’Mary says. “It’s a challenging environment – a number of managers are worried they won’t be able to deploy capital quickly,” she says.

Managers raising bigger successor products in particular will face a challenge if they are still aiming for middle-market loans, because they’ll have to find more deals to fully invest their funds, says Tom Draper, partner and attorney at Ropes & Gray. 

“With the same middle-market orientation, it will take a lot longer and more personnel to deploy those commitments, when each investment is relatively small,” he says. 

Direct lending managers are already seeing rivals step up activity in the search for deals, O’Mary says. “Even if you have target borrowers, they’re [getting more loan offers] than before,” she says. 

Developing networks of potential borrowers is not an overnight exercise, with managers needing years to form relationships with private equity firms that need financing for deals or with other corporate borrowers, says Tom Palecek, a founding partner at Summit Trail Advisors, a $5.1 billion independent advisor.
 
“We like the managers that have good networks and are able to stick to their knitting,” says Palecek, whose firm vets private credit managers with its own manager due diligence team as well as the Dynasty Financial Partners platform. “For a lot of [borrowers], you’ve got to get them a much better deal to change the manager they’ve been working with for the last five to 10 years. It’s something to be wary of about first-time funds.”

But Summit Trail also sees larger successor funds as a potential red flag, Palecek says. His firm put client capital in three direct lending funds that closed at $400 million, $700 million, and $800 million several years ago, but only has re-signed with one that kept its successor vehicle in the same size range – passing on two others that went for multi-billion dollar funds. 

“Both had great returns, but their opportunity set is the same and the teams had not gotten bigger,” he says. “That exposes a business model problem. That kind of manager may have to get through deals faster – maybe skimping on internal due diligence – or go after bigger [borrowers] or maybe have terms and covenants get looser.”

Indeed, loan covenants for borrowers have become a point of distinction in the market, with some established direct lending firms sticking to stricter terms, but other newer entrants – or managers seeking to grow faster – offering lighter provisions, says Randy Schwimmer, senior managing director at Churchill.

“Covenant-lite” loans emerged early last decade when banks began to package senior loans with high yield bonds and used the lighter leverage tests applying to bonds as part of the lending terms, typically for bigger-dollar borrowers, Schwimmer says. Those practices began to spread to smaller borrowers just before the 2008 crash, but then went away as banks shrank back from commercial loans in the post-crisis era – at around the same time direct lending managers stepped up in the market and sparked the senior loan fund wave still rolling today, he says.

But some banks have tried to make a comeback in commercial lending, and one of their tactics has been to reintroduce lighter covenant terms – a phenomenon that has led to greater competition in loan offers, with even some fund managers taking up these practices, Schwimmer says. Such looser terms are also going to smaller borrowers, he adds. 

“There are some [fund managers] hanging in there with [stricter] terms,” he says. “We’re worried about the effect of this down the road.”

The impact of such practices are likely to surface in a downturn, Palecek says. “Those will have a light shined upon them,” he says. “As an investor, you have to be willing to walk away from managers that change their models.”

While it is arguably the best time to be on the east end of Long Island with the sun still shining brightly and the local farms bursting with their harvest, our attention begins to refocus away from the joys of a glorious summer. The traffic has given way to yellow school buses as our children return to their classrooms. This is the perfect reminder to parents about the need to plan for the costs of higher education. 

According to a recent study conducted by the US Department of Education, the average cost (tuition/ room & board) of one year at a public university is north of $30,000 and a private institution is approximately $45,000. Consider also that these costs have grown over the last decade at an average annual rate of 5%, far outpacing both inflation and wage growth. This means that for my twin boys entering Second Grade this year, when they reach college age it is likely that the cost of one year at public school will be over $57,000. One year of tuition at a private university may reach close to $75,000. These are daunting figures. 


The costs associated with obtaining a college degree might seem discouraging, but they are important to know and understand. Regardless of one’s financial condition, the best results are often achieved when a plan is initiated at the earliest possible stage. With that said, it is never too late to start planning. 


For parents of young children, 529 plans have become popular tools to save for education. These state sponsored plans offer tax advantages and are even transferrable among family members. Education Saving Accounts also offer certain tax benefits, but differ from 529 plans in their contribution limits. Student loans too, are an important tool, but come with a cost. The burden of carrying debt for a young adult entering the work force handicaps their path toward financial independence, a goal every parent has for their children. Merit and performance based scholarships and financial aid packages may also play a role in covering some of the costs of college, but cannot be guaranteed and should not be fully relied upon. Other strategies to set aside money for education exist and vary in their complexity and have benefits and limitations all their own. 

Because every family and every child is unique, with their own set of values, expectations and objectives; it is crucial to take an honest and thoughtful approach to saving for higher education. Starting early may ease the burden as parents can take advantage of opportunities and programs specifically designed for this purpose. Parents and others who are thinking about funding education expenses should try to be as informed as possible and carefully consider both their options and their own financial situation and future objectives when deciding on appropriate levels to set aside for education costs. 


Watching my kids paddle out to the lineup at Ditch Plains with the warmth of summer still lingering in the air, it is fun to dream about one of them getting a full ride to college on a surfing scholarship, if there even is such a thing. I think instead I will add a little money to their 529 plans and make sure they do their homework.

 

For a financial advisor at a small firm, David Steele gets a lot of press. 

In the year or so since he launched San Francisco-based RIA One Wealth Advisors with his brother Jonathan Steele, he’s been written up in the Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle and other publications — in addition to being featured in a video interview in FA-IQ.

But then Steele isn’t just a financial advisor. Besides running and co-owning One Wealth, which manages $300 million, the ex-JPMorgan Securities broker owns half a dozen eating establishments in the Bay Area, works as a restaurant consultant, promotes concerts and festivals, and owns a chain of yoga studios.

As though that weren’t enough, he’s also a visual artist with several gallery shows under his belt and a creative writer whose first play premieres next summer at San Francisco’s prestigious PlayGround studio.

From Steele’s perspective, however, all these pursuits are rooted in two things: hard work and precise planning.

“It’s all the same,” says Steele. “People tend to dwell on the differentiators.”

Instead of seeing the processes involved in establishing a successful eatery as radically different from those related to helping a client devise a thoughtful, resilient and detailed financial plan, Steele contends they’re identical — at least in outline.

Similarly, just as producing a music festival involves coordination with artists and their management as well as facility staff, unions and a slew of vendors, being at the center of a client’s financial life means close and careful coordination with accountants, attorneys and other trusted professionals.

“Everything I do is the same,” Steele emphasizes. “I mean that as a positive: I find these processes very interesting and enjoyable.”

Even Steele’s artistic endeavors call for something in common with his other businesses.

“It’s just work,” he says. “Writing the play was work — sitting and typing — not, for me at least, a spiritual undertaking.”

In addition to seeing a clear throughline in a diverse portfolio of interests and business activities, Steele keeps things straight in his mind by putting One Wealth Advisors firmly at the center of his work life.

“I spend the most time on my financial business,” Steele says. In this sense, he adds, his work as a financial advisor is the hub of his professional interests, and the rest — from restaurants and music festivals to yoga studios and his own art — “are the spokes.”

With functional similarities clear in his mind, and a sense of centeredness around financial planning keeping things stable, Steele can reap the benefits of having other activities feed into his wealth management practice.

Among One Wealth Advisors’ clients are music-group managers, musicians, restaurant owners, writers and others connected to Steele’s non-financial business interests.

Without really trying — One Wealth Advisors isn’t in full-bore business-development mode — Steele says his client roster has gone “from zero to 20% or 25%” creative types in the last five or six years.

It helps that so many of his clients — especially the artists among them — are themselves multitaskers who don’t mind tackling new challenges.

“It all works together,” says Steele. “I’m not making a direct analogy with my own work here, but the artists I know who work in different disciplines do it with a sense of universal principles.”

Adds Steele: "Like my work with clients, their work is based on setting and achieving goals and on discipline and focus.”

The holiday season provides advisers with a great opportunity to show clients how much their business is appreciated. Gifts can say something special: From books and documentaries to picnic blankets and pecans, we've assembled some great ideas from advisers.

Click through to read how advisers selected, sent and packaged these holiday goodies for their clients.

From the expert: Spotting trends in Portland holiday charitable giving

From tapping IRA accounts to donating to under-funded schools, local wealth advisor Brett Davis takes note of some of the current trends in holiday giving.

Read the full story: http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/feature/donating-to-schools-kids-and-other-trends-in.html

At SevenBridge Financial Group, an independent financial advisory firm based in Harrisburg, we work with a number of high-net-worth clients in the community – both corporate clients and entrepreneurs. We also work with a number of privately held businesses. And because many business owners are asked to give, we assist with an overall gifting plan.

This is the time of year for year-end planning and the discussions often focus on charitable giving. At SevenBridge, we are proponents of donor-advised funds. Donor-advised funds are the fastest-growing charitable giving vehicle in the U.S. because they are one of the easiest and most tax-advantageous ways to give to charity, and they are of no cost to set up. Yet, when we recommend donor-advised funds to our Pennsylvania clients, most have never heard of them.

People in our community have traditionally given to their churches or other local charities. However, we have found that when we set up a donor-advised fund for them, their giving is taken to a different level. Charitable giving becomes more of a plan and is incorporated into taxes, estate planning, investment strategies and appreciated securities. As a result, we work with clients on long-term giving strategies and, consequently, their donations tend to be larger.

We have found that, when our business-owner clients are in the preparation phase of selling their closely-held business, we raise the topic of charitable donations and we discuss the option of donating shares of their private business into a donor-advised fund. We are currently working with several clients in this situation and they end up saving on taxes and reducing capital gains while supporting their favorite charities.

We recommend that people in our area take a more strategic look at their charitable giving. At SevenBridge, we recommend that our clients have a short- and longer-term goal of giving. We encourage clients to continue to donate to their local community nonprofits. But it’s also a good idea to take time to consider the possibility of endowing a scholarship or making a significant donation to a college or national nonprofit. We work with clients to develop a donation timeline often based on pay-outs or liquidity from the sale of a business.

In addition, we urge clients to consider the best donation vehicles. In the past, family foundations were very popular – but today, it’s hard to justify the cost and complexity of family foundations when there are simpler and cheaper options.

Charles Eberly is managing partner of SevenBridge Financial Group, a wealth management firm in Harrisburg.

As Pennsylvania investors take stock in their overall financial picture at the end of the year, it is a great time to assess which charities they'd like to contribute to. You will need to determine the best ways to pay for these contributions while considering their tax and income benefits.

Gifting can be a great way to offset a year with expected or unexpected high earnings or to address the tax implications of added income such as year-end bonuses. Generally, if you itemize your deductions, making charitable contributions can decrease your tax bill, and with higher tax rates for high-income earners, there is an even greater tax benefit.

It is important to consider that charitable giving also involves identifying the charity or charities that are a good fit for your gifting desires. It goes beyond establishing the amount that you would like or can afford to give. It's also about establishing the worthiness of the charity for your gift.

I recommend doing some research - either on your own or through reputable third-party resources to determine factors such as how top heavy an organization is. In other words, how much of your donation will go toward salaries, overhead, etc. as opposed to actual use by the charity.

I've used sites such as Charity Navigator, Guide Star and the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, which are all closely monitored and managed. They can help you learn more specifics on the charities as well as rankings that could be useful in choosing a charity that fits your requirements.

Once you've established the charities that fit your desired preferences, you have several options on how that gift can be structured. For example, you can create a donor-advised fund, in which the donor can make recommendations to an organization and their board members about how the money is to be used. You can make deductible donations of cash contributions or appreciated stock. Assets in the fund are not subject to federal estate taxes or state inheritance taxes. 

A donor-advised fund allows you to make contributions to the charity while becoming eligible to take an immediate tax deduction. In addition you can then make recommendations on your desired timetable for distributing the funds to qualified charitable organizations.

There are a number of public charities to choose from that sponsor DAFs. In Pennsylvania, these could include Vanguard in Valley Forge (national reach), The Pittsburgh Foundation (regional reach) and in my own community, The Mt. Lebanon Community Foundation. Once you make your choice, you can then recommend grants from your DAF to other eligible charities, which could include IRS-qualified 501(c)(3) public charities.

Establishing a DAF can be a particularly useful strategy at year-end because it allows you to make a gift and take the tax deduction immediately but doesn't require you to decide on the charities to support with grant recommendations.

Before undertaking any giving strategies, you should consult your legal, tax, or financial adviser. But, properly employed, each of the strategies represents a tax-advantaged way for you to give more to your favorite charities. And giving is what this time of year is all about.

A lifelong career may be a relic of the twentieth century. 

So it’s likely financial advisors will find themselves with clients who are considering major career transitions. Such moves can have a significant impact on retirement planning, earnings and benefits. To help clients navigate zigs and zags in their career paths, advisors need to take a big picture view, and help their clients do so as well.

Before a client switches jobs, it’s important to ensure they’re on solid financial footing, says Preal Haley, a Greenbelt, Md.-based advisor with  Ameriprise. 

“A job transition can be an uncertain time, particularly if the client is leaving behind the corporate world for something more entrepreneurial,” says Haley. With this in mind, she focuses on ensuring the client has enough to cover three years’ of essential expenses as well as a substantial emergency fund in case the unexpected arises.

Sometimes clients may not realize how much they should be setting aside to ensure they’re fully protected during transitions. “Health insurance, life insurance and disability insurance might have been part of their benefits package, and now they’ll have to cover those costs themselves,” says Haley. “Doing so can help you prepare for the certainty of uncertainty.”

If the idea of saving up for three years of expenses is daunting to a client, Haley suggests they begin working part-time on their new venture before making a complete switch.

In addition to preparing clients for actual career shifts, advisors can use transitions to delve deeper and strengthen relationships, says Michael Rose of Rose Capital Advisors in Miami Beach, Fla. “When you change careers, it’s no different from having a child, getting married or getting divorced,” he says. “The implications affect your entire financial plan.”

Earlier this year, Rose, whose firm manages $250 million, helped a client transition from a high-level and longstanding position at a bank to a more entrepreneurial role at a hedge fund. While the client had previously always put off estate-plan updates, Rose persuaded him to use a six-week “garden leave” between positions to conduct the long-overdue review, going over “absolutely everything from beneficiaries to changes in estate tax laws to insurance coverage, to ensure everything was up-to-date,” the FA says.

When switching jobs, clients often focus on their salary and bonus, says Stacy Lewis, an advisor with TrueWealth in Atlanta. “But it’s usually not an apples-to-apples comparison,” says Lewis, who works primarily with corporate executives. “And it’s the advisor’s role to help a client understand that.” 

Differences in pensions, retirement benefits and stock options can make certain offers more or less attractive than they may seem at first. Executives who have to relocate for a new position often neglect to take cost-of-living changes and state-by-state tax differences into their calculations. “Someone who’s used to making $250,000 base pay plus bonuses in Atlanta needs to understand that that salary is not going to give them the same lifestyle in New York,” Lewis says, whose employer manages about $1 billion. 

But at the end of the day, clients often make their decisions based on emotion. “Typically, someone isn’t going to entertain an outside offer unless they’re not happy — they feel stifled, or they want a change,” says Lewis. “And so even if the new position isn’t as lucrative, the emotional factors make it worthwhile.”

NOVEMBER 30, 2015. Point Bridge Capital, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, announced today that it is celebrating its two year anniversary with a move to new larger office space at One City Place in Downtown Fort Worth.

Point Bridge Capital’s new offices on the 15th floor were custom built over the past few months with a modern design to complement the modern concept of One City Place.

The company was founded by Hal Lambert in 2013 as a continuation of his business established with investors over the past 15 years. Point Bridge manages assets for ultra high net worth families and foundations across the United States. Mr. Lambert previously managed assets at Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, and Taylor & Company within the Bass family organization.

According to Mr. Lambert, “At Point Bridge, we have had tremendous momentum over the last two years as an independent investment management and capital advisory firm. Our extensive portfolio management experience has had good traction among institutions, business owners and high net worth clients across Texas, the Southwest and the U.S.”

Point Bridge Capital is a member of the Dynasty Network of leading independent advisors in the U.S.


About Point Bridge Capital

Point Bridge is an investment management and capital advisory firm that advises across a broad spectrum of asset classes including private equity, alternative assets, and corporate advisory. With offices in Dallas and Fort Worth, TX, Point Bridge Capital provides unparalleled, institutional-quality capital advisory services to the ultra high net worth, family office, and institutional clients. Point Bridge specializes in investment management, manager search/advisory, lending, and M&A advisory. The firm offers its clients true open architecture, where everything from asset custody to execution is tailored to the client’s specific needs, requests and risk tolerance, with competitive pricing unavailable through normal channels.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dynasty Financial Partners today announced its partnership with Cardan Capital Partners, the most recent independent advisory firm to leverage Dynasty Financial Partners’ industry-leading platform of integrated wealth management services and technology.

Founding Partners Ross Fox, Matthew Papazian, Marti Awad and Sarah Keys launched Cardan Capital Partners as an independent advisory firm after leaving Merrill Lynch. With client assets more than $700 million, Cardan Capital Partners immediately becomes one of the largest independent advisory firms in Colorado.

Based in Denver, Colorado, the firm works with corporate executives, professionals, business owners and entrepreneurs in Denver, Vail and Aspen as well in major markets nationwide. Cardan Capital Partners collaborates with attorneys, accountants and other advisors to understand their clients’ full financial picture and works with the children of their clients to educate them on investments, financial management and charitable giving.

The team chose the name ‘Cardan’ to reflect their approach to wealth management. The name comes from the ‘cardan’ suspension, a navigational tool used in sailing to ensure a ship’s stability and balance in both calm and rough waters.

“We have always strived for excellence by embracing the most innovative and progressive trends in the financial services industry. The continued evolution of technology and strategic partners in the independent space have made the independent model compelling for our clients and for us,” said Mr. Fox, Managing Partner at Cardan Capital. “Many of our clients appreciate being in the mountains and have vacation homes in ski resorts. We have a passion for serving clients both in the state and those who may be at a distance but who have a deep connection with Colorado.”

"The Cardan Capital Partners team is poised for expansion – both by adding advisors and expanding their geographic footprint," said Shirl Penney, President and CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners. "We look forward to partnering with them as they build their business and we are proud to add them to our Network of truly independent advisors.”

According to Tim Bello, Partner and Head of Network Development at Dynasty, “With their newly launched independent firm, we expect that the Cardan Capital team will have even greater success building out their business and will become the firm that successful advisors in Colorado and other independent minded advisors in the region will seek to join.”

Cardan Capital Partners will be utilizing Dynasty’s financial services platform of integrated wealth management services and technology. Dynasty's groundbreaking investment platform integrates industry-leading proprietary technology, research access, analytical tools, and the support of Dynasty’s home office investment team members. Cardan will also leverage Tamarac’s and Envestnet's state-of-the-art portfolio tools and reporting technology. Schwab will provide custody services with Market Counsel providing ongoing compliance support.

For more information, please visit www.CardanCapital.com.

After seven years at Barclays in New York, advisor Jerry Lucas left Oct. 9 to join an independent RIA, Summit Trail Advisors. Joining him were three partners in a practice that managed $1 billion as part of the British bank’s U.S. wealth-management unit.

Q: Did the recent decision by Barclays to sell its advisory business in the U.S. to Stifel Financial play a role in your decision to break away?

A: The decision by Barclays was a catalyst for our team to undertake a serious review of the best options for our clients going forward. In a rapidly changing wealth-management industry, we felt like it was a good time to reassess our business and objectively look at all of the possibilities in the market today.

Q: Did you consider moving to a wirehouse or other large global bank?

A: Yes, that was a natural first step for us to consider. We also took a close look at staying with Stifel. But our journey in evaluating different options led us to consider the independent space. In fact, once Barclays’ decision was announced in early June, our clients started asking how the Stifel deal would affect their situations. We realized that change could be very unsettling, so we let them know right away that we were in the midst of an in-depth review of our options.

Q: Did your past relationship with Jack Petersen, another ex-Barclays advisor and cofounder of Summit Trail, make the process easier?

A: Yes, our team had a long-term relationship working with Jack’s team at Barclays. Our teams also worked closely together at Lehman Brothers for years, when Jack served as Lehman’s global head of private wealth management. So the launching of his independent firm with several of his partners was a natural point of interest for us in reviewing all of our options. Our final analysis was that the way Summit Trail was going about building its business would provide the best outcome for our clients.

Q: How so?

A: The independence of Summit Trail coupled with the partnership for front-, back- and middle-office support from Dynasty Financial Partners made for a very compelling combination. In particular, bringing access to our advisors to best-in-breed technologies that aren’t constrained by legacy infrastructure systems was a huge selling point.


Q: Did you see any other advantages?

A: Now, we’re able to offer our clients more choices in custodians. Before, their only option was Pershing. On the investment side, we really thought that Barclays had provided our clients with a good platform. But as an independent, we’re finding even more freedom of choice. That’s particularly true for ideas that are proprietary in nature and would never scale at the bigger firms.

Q: Could you provide an example?

A: When a client comes to us with a problem like owning a concentrated multi-million dollar position in a private-equity venture, we now have the ability to fully evaluate the best options for reducing such a risk. At a large global bank, that type of a portfolio analysis might be too small for their specialists to get involved in.

Q: How do you see joining Summit Trail as helping your team’s future growth prospects?

A: Working in an RIA that is providing unconflicted advice is a very powerful tool for growth. We believe that our team will have more opportunities to serve more sophisticated investors by having available a broader menu of products and services.

Q: Do you expect that to result in lower fees for your clients?

A: We expect they’ll pay roughly in line with what they had been paying in the past, but with far greater transparency in terms of costs. With that transparency, we think our clients will benefit from gaining much greater insights into all of their investment choices.

Q: How will your compensation be affected?

A: We had two choices. One was to accept a traditional type of offer with significant up-front payments. However, we’ve chosen to take the path of becoming an equity partner in Summit Trail. We believe that is the best way to align our business interests with making sure that we’re doing right by our clients.

Q: What advice would you give someone else going through this decision process?

A: If you’re mainly a transactional-based broker, then a wirehouse might be a good choice. But if your business is primarily based on advisory fees, then it’s going to make a lot of sense to thoroughly examine all your options — in both the traditional and the independent advisory channels.

New Program Is Being Rolled Out Nationally at Financial Planning Magazine Women’s Advisor Forum in Chicago on October 21, 2014
New York, NY. October 21, 2014. Leading advisor and entrepreneur Michelle Smith, CEO and co-founder of Source Financial Advisors, is launching her proprietary coaching program for advisors, ‘Anatomy of a Specialist’, at the Financial Planning Magazine Women’s Advisor Forum in Chicago on October 21, 2014.

The genesis of the coaching program is Michelle Smith’s nationally recognized status as one of North America’s top specialists in divorce financial planning. After a decade of specialized business planning, proprietary strategy, and execution of her divorce specialization, Ms. Smith has been a mentor and a coach for hundreds of advisors in helping them build and expand their business by ‘finding their inner specialist and niche’.

“If you have a medical issue, you Google a specialist, not a generalist. In order to grow your practice exponentially, you must find your niche and specialty,” said Ms. Smith. “Using the system I cultivated and created to become a top national thought leader in the divorce financial specialty space, my coaching program, ‘Anatomy of a Specialist,’ delivers the same process and strategy to help other firms and advisors stand out and become the go-to expert in their unique space.”

Source Financial was founded in New York City in 2012 and built for financial advisors who want a home for themselves and their clients. Source offers a dedicated coaching team and asset management platform, powered by Dynasty Financial Partners, to elevate them to the top of their chosen specialty.

Kristen Niebuhr, President and COO of Source, said, “At Source, we put a premium on coaching and advising financial advisors. The ‘Anatomy of a Specialist’ coaching program has made a significant difference to advisors in expanding their businesses.”
There will be limited acceptance into Smith and Source Financial’s ‘Anatomy of a Specialist’ program. Firms and advisors can apply by emailing Mark Lingenfelter at Source Financial: Mlingenfelter@sourcefa.com

About Source Financial Advisors



Source Financial Advisors is an independent RIA formed in 2012, based in New York City. Named the 5th fastest growing firm in 2014 by Financial Advisor Magazine, Source Financial and its advisors have specialties in significant financial transactions and events in clients lives. Divorce is one of the key specialties of the firm, and Source Financial has a platform and infrastructure built for advisors interested in building a brand in a specialty niche business. Michelle Smith is a member of the Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts, a holder of the Certified Divorce Financial Analyst credential, and a Divorce Mediator. She is a veteran of Wall Street financial services firms, having spent over two decades as a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch, Paine Webber, and Wachovia Securities. Source Financial Advisors is a member of the Dynasty Financial Partners Network of Advisors. For more information, please visit www.sourcefa.com.

Dynasty Financial Partners today announced NovaR Wealth Advisors is the most recent independent investment advisory firm to leverage Dynasty Financial Partners’ industry-leading platform of integrated investment services and technology.

Financial advisors Timothy Rodgers (Principal), Keith Osborne (VP, Financial Advisor), Brian Fry (Client Services Associate), and Billi Wood (Office Manager) all join NovaR Wealth Advisors from Wells Fargo. The team collectively advises on more than $400 million in client assets.

“Establishing NovaR Wealth as an independent firm allows us to best serve the individuals, professionals, entrepreneurs, business owners and executives who are our clients,” said Tim Rodgers, CEO of NovaR Wealth. “We are deeply committed to the Kansas City market and we remain dedicated to providing our clients with objective, transparent advice and investment counsel. With NovaR Wealth as an independent firm through Dynasty, we now have access to a much wider selection of financial resources.”

“Tim and his team have tremendous experience and an established presence in Kansas City. As an independent firm, they are committed to providing the best advice and investment solutions to their clients,” said Shirl Penney, President & CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners. “Dynasty is proud to be NovaR Wealth’s transition and growth partner and to add individuals of this quality to our Dynasty Network of truly independent advisors.”

NovaR Wealth selected Fidelity Investments® to provide custody services for their clients, PKS to provide brokerage services and MarketCounsel as counsel for the initial launch and to manage their regulatory compliance program.

About Timothy Rodgers:

In addition to his role of CEO of NovaR Wealth, Mr. Rodgers leverages his experience with portfolio management, investment research, financial and retirement planning into developing and implementing strategies that serve the complex needs of individual clients, families and business owners.

He has built his expertise and reputation through 30 years in the financial services industry, most recently as Managing Director of Investments at Wells Fargo Advisors. He was also a Senior Vice President at A.G. Edwards, where he spent twenty years. He began his career at Stern Brothers, reaching the position of Vice President of Investments.

Mr. Rodgers attended the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Business before achieving his Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) certification. In addition to other leadership roles, he serves on the Board of Trustees of the Shawnee Mission Medical Center and has been a member of the Foundation Board of SMMC since 1992.

About Dynasty Financial Partners

Dynasty Financial Partners is the leading independent integrated platform service provider to the industry’s elite advisor teams. Dynasty develops, sources and integrates the finest wealth management capabilities, solutions and technology into its customized open-architecture platform to help independent advisors protect and grow their clients’ wealth. Dynasty’s core principle is “objectivity without compromise”, and the firm is committed to crafting solutions that allow investment advisors to act as true fiduciaries to their clients. For more information, please visit www.dynastyfinancialpartners.com and follow us on Twitter @DynastyFP.

Innovative ESOP Offering Required Official FDIC Ruling,

Legal Opinion And Patent Filing

Champaign, IL, April 7th 2013– Archford Capital Strategies, an independent wealth management firm based in St. Louis, MO and Swansea, IL, announced the launch of their innovative FDIC-insured bank issued Principal Protected Investment, the Archford series Market Participation Certificates of Deposits (CDs) for Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOP).

The announcement took place at the Illinois chapter of the ESOP Association 2014 Conference on March 6th where Archford Capital Founder and CEO Jim Maher presented the application of FDIC Market Participation CDs for ESOP companies.

Market Participation CDs aren’t new, but broader FDIC insurance coverage for ESOPs, longer maturities, and software makes the Archford offering truly the first of its kind in structured products.

According to Mr. Maher, “Fiduciaries, trustees, and corporate officers want principal protection without sacrificing returns. This strategy over a period of time should better mirror investment performance to their future repurchase liabilities of their growing company. It also helps provide ESOP Trust participants with the potential for better returns in their Other Investment Account.”

Archford identified a gap in traditional risk adverse investments that could be used to match future repurchase obligations (and even healthcare, education or pension expenses). Working with large banking institutions to customize an existing investment product, the result is their Market Participation CD. It’s designed to reduce risk by protecting the investment principal with FDIC coverage and participates in potential equity market index gains when held to maturity.

Tom Petrone, Director of Capital Markets for Dynasty Financial Partners, said, “Jim Maher has worked on this project for over a year. By leveraging Dynasty’s knowledge of structured investments and pulling together legal, regulatory and technology solutions, Jim has identified a practical solution to complex issues faced by Employee Stock Ownership Plans.”

Archford’s innovative approach to Market Participation CDs is meant to help ESOPs plan ahead to better meet future repurchase obligations. As companies increase in value and employees edge closer to retirement age, this needs to be planned for carefully. By laddering the Market Participation CDs, sponsors create an attractive opportunity to keep pace. They provide for the repayment of the principal in full at maturity (just like any traditional CD). By including a market component based on major indices (S&P 500, Dow and others), they hold the potential for capital appreciation similar to equities as well.

When the investment goes through the ESOP trust and not a company’s balance sheet, FDIC insurance protection applies to every plan participant—what’s known as pass-through FDIC insurance coverage per financial institution. Because of the inherent complexity in managing all this FDIC coverage, Archford has licensed a proprietary cloud-based software program that does all the FDIC tracking, providing real-time situational awareness for sponsors of their exposure to any financial institution. More information on this software can be found at www.fdiccalc.com.

Aimed at Plan Sponsors in primarily closely-held and middle-market C- and S-Corp companies, Archford Market Participation CDs are mainly designed to diversify portfolios, reduce risk and match investments to future liabilties.

Obligations Solutions

For Jim Maher and his team at Archford, the drive for innovation stems from his interest in psychology and behavior. “Why people or organizations are doing, or not doing, something they should is one of the questions that drives my career,” says Mr. Maher. “I believe that companies need to plan for ESOP repurchase obligations.”

According to the Employee Ownership Foundation, “13% of companies surveyed said they would cease to exist because of the burden of future repurchase liabilities.” The NCEO Repurchase Obligation Handbook also states that mature ESOPs (greater than 10 years) are currently repurchasing between 2-5% of their stock on an annual basis.

An ESOP is statutorily required to repurchase a departing participant’s shares (called a put) upon events like retirement or termination. To that end, the ESOP and its repurchase obligation are supposed to be managed in such a way as to ensure that the statutory requirements are met.

“In an industry as mature as ours, how could there not be a set of best practices for addressing these responsibilities and obligations?” asked Mr. Maher.

Archford received a favorable ruling from the FDIC and a legal opinion letter on the application of the Market Participation CDs. This confirmed that ESOPs, Defined Benefit Plans and Defined Contribution Plans are able to take advantage of each plan participant’s FDIC Insurance coverage per financial institution. This investment also provides the upside potential of participation in market index returns over the life of the investment when held to maturity.

About Archford Capital Strategies

Archford Capital Strategies, a private wealth management firm founded by James D. Maher, is represented by a skilled team of wealth management advisors with more than 20 professional designations, accreditations and certifications. Based in St. Louis, Missouri, Archford Capital Strategies offers a wide range of financial services to clients and closely held businesses. They offer planning solutions for concentrated stock strategies, foundation management, retirement plan management, credit needs, and wealth transfer strategies. They specialize in Business Transition and work with closely held businesses on business valuation, buyer intelligence, ESOP structures, transition and liquidity strategies.

For more information, please visit www.archfordcapital.com.

Dynasty Financial Partners today announced its partnership with Cable Hill Partners, the most recent independent investment advisory firm to leverage Dynasty Financial Partners’ industry-­â€�leading platform of integrated wealth management services and technology. Financial advisors David Christian, Jeffrey Krum and Brian Hefele, Registered Senior Client Associates Kendra Biller and Amanda Peters and Client Service Associate Melissa Rennie all join Cable Hill Partners from the Portland, Oregon office of Merrill Lynch.

David Christian was recently ranked in the Barron’s 2014 Top Advisor Rankings as one of the top advisors in the state of Oregon. The three advisors collectively advise on more than $700 million in client assets.

“Cable Hill Partners was created to provide advice at a higher level. ‘Cable Hill’ is a Portland historical reference to a landmark cable car that serviced Portland; our goal is to transport our clients to a higher place with consistency and predictability,” said Mr. Christian. “As an independent financial and investment planning firm, we want to provide our clients—high-­â€�net-­â€�worth individuals, families, small and private businesses, entrepreneurs, executives, foundations and endowments—with complete objectivity and transparency.”

“The Cable Hill team has really hit the ground running as an independent advisory team, ” said Tim Bello, Partner, Director of Network Development at Dynasty. “They will be a key player in the future in the Pacific Northwest with their entrepreneurial drive.”

The company will access Dynasty’s groundbreaking investment and technology platform, which leverages Dynasty’s investment committee and internal investment operations team. Fidelity Investments will provide primary clearing and custody services.

“The Cable Hill Partners team consists of two advisory teams combining to create a new independent RIA. This new firm immediately becomes one of the largest RIAs in the Northwest. David, Jeff and Brian are extraordinary investment advisors with a deep commitment to the Portland community,” said Shirl Penney, President and CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners. “Dynasty is excited to be their transition and growth partner, and we are proud to add them to our Dynasty Network of truly independent advisors.”

David Christian, Founding Partner, Managing Director, CFP®, CAP® As a Certified Financial Planner™ and a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® certificate holder, David has built his expertise and reputation by servicing the complex needs of high-­â€�net-­â€�worth individuals and their families. David was named as one of “America’s Top 1,200 Advisors”* by Barron’s Magazine for 2014, which represents the top 1% of the Wealth Management industry. He ranked #12 within the State of Oregon in the same Barron’s list.

David began his career in the financial services industry with Merrill Lynch in 1998, after earning his BS in Finance from Oregon State University. He is a leader of the financial planning effort at Cable Hill Partners and sits on the Investment Committee.

Jeffrey Krum, Founding Partner, CIMA®

Jeff is a Certified Investment Management Analyst® with over 30 years of investment industry experience. Jeff leads the Investment Committee at Cable Hill Partners. Prior to forming Cable Hill Partners, he spent the entirety of his professional investment career at Merrill Lynch. Jeff’s responsibilities included serving as a guest educator at Merrill’s Financial Advisor Training School in Princeton and also chairing that firm’s Advisory Council to Management.

Jeff holds a BA in Economics and Business Administration from Lewis and Clark College.

Brian M. Hefele, Founding Partner, CFP®, CIMA®

A holder of both the Certified Financial Planner™ and Certified Investment Management Analyst™ designations, Brian brings over 19 years of experience to the firm from advising and managing client relationships and investment portfolios at Merrill Lynch.

Brian has a BA in Economics from Boston College, and has a leadership role in both the Investment Committee and the financial planning deliverables for Cable Hill Partners. He is an active member of Friendly House and Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Kendra Biller, Relationship Manager

Kendra has been in the investment advisory and management industry for over 15 years, and spent the last 13 of those at Merrill Lynch. She works with clients assisting them with goal discovery, financial planning and cash management solutions. She is a graduate of the University of Idaho, holding a BS in Secondary Education.

Amanda Peters, Relationship Manager

Amanda works closely with our clients and advisors on a day-­â€�to-­â€�day basis to provide excellent and extensive service. She brings over ten years of prior experience working with Wealth Management clients to Cable Hill Partners, and has a leadership role in the firm’s client service execution.

Originally from Miami and a graduate of the University of Florida with a BA, Amanda moved to Portland in 2004.

Melissa Rennie, Client Service Associate

Melissa is a native Oregonian with a BA in Psychology from Saint Marten’s University. She is responsible for serving client relationships, supporting the Cable Hill Partners advisors and overseeing/managing various administrative functions for the firm.

About Cable Hill Partners

Cable Hill Partners – Private Wealth Management was created to provide advice at a higher level. In electing to become a registered investment advisor, Cable Hill is required to follow the fiduciary standard. In this capacity, we will place the needs of our clients above all other interests—including our own. Our move to independence means we are no longer limited by the constraints or conflicts of interest that arise in a large corporate environment. Instead, we can provide truly objective advice, an elevated level of personalized attention and access to a comprehensive array of offerings from leading financial services providers of our choosing. We are here to help clients choose the right course to help them achieve their goals, to infuse every decision they make with the utmost in confidence, and to help them see their financial lives with absolute clarity.

About Dynasty Financial Partners

Dynasty Financial Partners is the leading independent platform service provider to the industry’s elite advisor teams. Dynasty develops, sources and integrates the finest wealth management capabilities, solutions and technology into its customized open-­â€�architecture platform to help independent advisors protect and grow their clients’ wealth. Dynasty’s core principle is “objectivity without compromise,” and the firm is committed to crafting solutions that allow investment advisors to act as true fiduciaries to their clients. For more information, please visit www.dynastyfinancialpartners.com and follow us on Twitter @DynastyFP.

Multi-Generational Strid Family Has Deep Ties To Community

NEW YORK, NY, February 20, 2014 – Dynasty Financial Partners today announced its partnership with Concentus Wealth Advisors, the most recent independent investment advisory firm to leverage Dynasty Financial Partners’ industry-leading platform of integrated wealth management services and technology. The team is joining the Dynasty Network from Wells Fargo Advisors and was formerly known as Strid Wealth Management Group.

The Concentus Wealth Advisors team consists of the following financial professionals all joining from Well Fargo Advisors:

Erik O. Strid, CFP®, ChFC, – Principal
Gerald “Zeke” Strid – Principal
Paul F. Strid – Principal
Nathan J. Hayward, CFP®, MBA – Director
Thomas J. Greco, MBA – Director

“Concentus Wealth Advisors was built around our desire to deliver independent, integrated and comprehensive wealth management advice and planning solutions to the families we serve. Our clients are notable for their expertise at creating and accumulating wealth. They’re dedicated to building businesses, raising families, shaping communities and creating lasting, meaningful legacies,” said Erik Strid, Principal of Concentus Wealth Advisors. “We built this family business with the mission to help these families manage the complexity and responsibility of their wealth. We are looking forward to significantly growing our business as an independent RIA.”

The company will access Dynasty’s groundbreaking investment platform, which integrates industry-leading proprietary research from Wilshire Associates and Callan Associates and Envestnet’s state-of-the-art portfolio tools and reporting technology. Charles Schwab will provide clearing and custody services.

“The Concentus Wealth Advisors team consists of extraordinary investment advisors who have built a remarkably successful family-based business with a deep connection to their community. With their newly launched firm, we expect they will have even greater success,” said Shirl Penney, President and CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners. “Dynasty is excited to partner with Erik and Paul Strid and their team, and we are proud to add them to our Network of truly independent advisors.”

Biographies

Erik O. Strid, CFP®, ChFC | Principal

With over 20 years of industry experience, Erik guides the overall investment planning and portfolio strategy of our group. After graduating from Amherst College in 1991, Erik spent a year working with Rittenhouse Capital Management, before joining Gerry in 1992. Erik currently holds his general securities registrations and insurance licenses, as well as CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and Chartered Financial Consultant designations. He serves on the boards of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Salvation Army, Acting Without Boundaries (serving young people with disabilities) and Rosemont School of the Holy Child. In addition, he is on the financial advisory board of the Sisters of St. Francis in Media, PA. Erik resides in Bryn Mawr, PA with his wife and three children.

Gerald D. Strid | Principal

Gerry Strid graduated from Villanova University in 1966 and leads our team with over 40 years of experience in the Financial Services industry. Gerry spent the majority of his career as a “Circle of Excellence” Financial Advisor at Merrill Lynch, before leaving to form the Strid Wealth Management Group in 2003. He has devoted much of his time and energy to support Project H.O.M.E, a non-profit outreach program in Philadelphia. Gerald resides in Villanova, PA with his wife and has five children.

Paul F. Strid | Principal

Paul manages the day-to-day operations of the team. After graduating with a Finance degree from Georgetown in 1997, Paul spent three years working for Credit Suisse First Boston in New York on their institutional sales desk and then as Director of Global Equities Information Technology. Paul joined the Strid Wealth Management Group in 2003. Paul resides in Berwyn, PA with his wife and four children.

Nathan J. Hayward, CFP®, MBA | Director

Prior to joining the Strid Wealth Management Group in 2008, Nathan worked with the Kessler Baker Wealth Management Group. Nathan graduated from Arcadia University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics & Business Administration and then received his International MBA from Arcadia University in 2009. In addition, Nathan has received his CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation. He currently serves on the executive committee for the Arcadia University MBA Alumni Association, is an active finance committee member of the Scleroderma Foundation (Delaware Chapter) and participates with the non-profit organization Yoga Unites as the active Treasurer. A native of Bermuda, Nathan currently resides in Berwyn, PA.

Thomas J. Greco, MBA | Director

Thomas joined Strid Wealth Management in the spring of 2010 with twelve years of experience in the financial services industry. His previous experience was with The Vanguard Group and Turner

Investment Partners. Thomas graduated Bloomsburg University in 2002 with a B.S. in Finance. He also earned his MBA from St. Joseph’s University with a concentration in Finance.

Thomas resides in Chester Springs, PA with his wife and two children.

About Concentus Wealth Advisors

As a family-based team of independent Registered Investment Advisors, Concentus Wealth Advisors is committed to helping high net worth families achieve their most important financial goals. Our advice goes well beyond the accumulation of assets to address virtually every aspect of their wealth. The detailed and disciplined process we follow with each client results in a personalized wealth management roadmap integrating investment strategy, family governance, estate planning, liability and life insurance solutions, philanthropic endeavors, real estate and more—for both today and tomorrow. Our completely objective and transparent service model allows us to act in a truly advisory and fiduciary capacity for our clients; each solution we present is drawn from the best of Wall Street and is presented entirely in the best interests of the families we serve. In today’s complex financial world, Concentus Wealth Advisors brings welcomed clarity, vision and results to our clients’ financial lives.

About Dynasty Financial Partners

Dynasty Financial Partners develops, sources and integrates the finest wealth management capabilities for the industry’s leading independent investment advisor teams. Dynasty offers a customized open-architecture platform of wealth management solutions and technology to help independent advisors protect and grow their clients’ wealth. Dynasty’s core principle is “objectivity without compromise,” and the firm is committed to crafting solutions that allow investment advisors to act as true fiduciaries to their clients. For more information, please visit www.dynastyfinancialpartners.com.

Dynasty Financial Partners today welcomes Ed Friedman as Director of Strategic Relationships reporting jointly to Shirl Penney, President and CEO, and Ed Swenson, Chief Operating Officer of Dynasty Financial Partners.

Based in New York, Mr. Friedman’s responsibilities will include business development, management of key client relationships, and delivering practice management programs working with Dynasty’s Network Advisors. Mr. Friedman has been a consultant to the financial services industry after leaving HighTower Advisors in 2011. He worked at HighTower since 2008 as part of the founding management team and was, most recently, Director of Advisor Development for HighTower. Mr. Friedman also has a long career as a leader in wealth management having held branch management positions and senior wealth management roles at Morgan Stanley over the course of his career.

“I am delighted to welcome Ed to Dynasty Financial Partners. We continue to see an acceleration in our business with the number and the size of teams looking to join Dynasty’s Network and thus continue to look to add top intellectual capital to the team to support this growth,” said Shirl Penney, President and CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners. “Ed brings a unique perspective to Dynasty having experience in wirehouse world, independent space, and as a consultant to advisors around areas of practice management. He will be a great educator for advisors considering independence, and a great advisor advocate and coach for those in our growing network.”

Mr. Friedman said, “I am thrilled to be joining the Dynasty team. They have proven over and over that they provide the industry-leading platform for advisors seeking independence or to RIAs looking for a growth partner. I look forward to bringing my experience to Dynasty’s Network Advisors in helping them to achieve all their business goals.”

Ed Friedman Bio

Mr. Friedman began his career at Morgan Stanley in 1985 as a Financial Advisor and worked at the firm in increasingly senior positions reaching Executive Director, Complex Manager at Morgan Stanley Global Wealth management from 2004-2008. After that, he moved to HighTower Advisors as Director of Business Development, assisting in attracting the first 18 teams to HighTower Advisors. Mr. Friedman left HighTower in 2011 to become an industry consultant counseling advisors in areas of practice management, expense controls, vendor selection, organic and inorganic growth strategies, and succession planning.

About Dynasty Financial Partners

Dynasty Financial Partners develops, sources and integrates the finest wealth management capabilities for the industry’s leading independent investment advisor teams. Dynasty’s integrated platform services delivery offers a customized open-architecture platform of wealth management solutions and technology to help independent advisors protect and grow their clients’ wealth. Dynasty’s core principle is “objectivity without compromise,” and the firm is committed to crafting solutions that allow investment advisors to act as true fiduciaries to their clients. For more information, please visit www.dynastyfinancialpartners.com and follow Dynasty on LinkedIn and on Twitter @DynastyFP.

The Opsahl Group Joins TRUE in Portland, Continuing the Firm’s Rapid Growth in the Region

SALEM, OR, October 28, 2013 – TRUE Private Wealth Advisors announced today that The Opsahl Group will join the firm. Based in Portland, OR, the team includes Senior Advisor Joseph Opsahl and Advisor Chris Hatfield joining from Merrill Lynch’s Private Client Group.

“We are delighted to welcome the quality, experience and expertise of Mr. Opsahl and his team into the TRUE partnership. This expansion demonstrates our focus on growth in the Pacific Northwest and ongoing commitment to provide the highest quality resources to high net worth families,” said Steve Altman, Founding Partner and Senior Wealth Advisor at TRUE. “Joe and Chris’s proactive, consultative approach is an ideal fit with the client-centric focus that TRUE embodies.”

Senior Advisor Joseph Opsahl is a CPA with nearly 30 years experience in the financial industry. Most recently, he spent four years with Merrill Lynch in their Portland office. Prior to that, he led a successful practice at Smith Barney for 21 years. Mr. Opsahl provides a wide range of wealth management, investment consulting and financial planning services to high-net-worth families, corporations, retirement plans and foundations. He leverages his proprietary process for advising clients in developing optimal plans for building, maintaining and transferring wealth. Before entering wealth management, Joe was a practicing CPA at an international accounting firm where he advised clients on a variety of tax and accounting matters. He earned his BS in Business Administration and Accounting from Portland State University.

According to Mr. Opsahl, “I did extensive due diligence in the independent space and reviewed the business models available. When I met the team at TRUE Private Wealth Advisors, it was an immediate fit. TRUE has developed the right model for both serving clients and supporting advisors. The partnership model is unique and fosters growth. Through their strategic partnership with Dynasty Financial Partners, they have the infrastructure in place to both remain dynamic and to serve complex client needs long-term.”

Advisor Chris Hatfield joins TRUE from Merrill Lynch’s Portland office. A native of McMinnville now settled in Portland, Chris received his bachelor’s in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Oregon State University. He is actively involved in both the Portland and McMinnville communities and serves on the Central Catholic Alumni Association Board, serves as Secretary of the South Portland Business Association and is a member of the McMinnville Area Chamber of Commerce.

Shirl Penney, President and CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners, said, “We are excited about this significant addition to the TRUE team. Dynasty remains committed to being their transition and growth partner, as they continue to add clients and advisors on the path to becoming one of the premier wealth management brands in the region.”

About The Opsahl Group

The Opsahl Group provides each of their clients with a personalized approach to simplifying, managing, growing, preserving and transferring their wealth. They have developed a proprietary consultative process for advising clients in formulating and executing plans for building and maintaining wealth. As a multi-faceted and experienced team, they manage and consult on assets held by individuals, families, retirement plans, corporations and foundations with a focus on goal-oriented results.

About TRUE Private Wealth Advisors

TRUE Private Wealth Advisors was launched in September 2012 as an independent, SEC-registered investment advisory firm. With offices in Salem and Portland, Oregon, TRUE Private Wealth Advisors provides an array of sophisticated services to meet the unique needs of clients including individuals, families and businesses. TRUE Private Wealth provides wealth planning, retirement and estate planning. For more information, please visit www.truepwa.com.

Firm Focuses on Closely Held Companies, Entrepreneurs, Executives and Family Wealth; Deep Expertise in ESOPs and Retirement Plans

New York, NY (April 2, 2013) Dynasty Financial Partners today announced that Archford Capital Strategies becomes the most recent independent investment advisory firm to select Dynasty Financial Partners’ open-architecture platform of wealth management services and technology.

Based in the St. Louis Metro East area, Archford Capital Strategies is a private wealth management firm, founded by James D. Maher, a National Association of Board Certified Advisory Practices Regional Award Winner. Mr. Maher had previously worked as a leading advisor at Merrill Lynch since 2001. Formerly known as The Maher Group, Mr. Maher and his team created Archford Capital Strategies in 2013. Archford also has a second office location in Creve Coeur, MO.

“At Archford Capital Strategies, we specialize in business transitions. The ability to leverage Dynasty’s access to best in industry resources for our clients is a large part of what led us to partner with them. Many of our clients are business owners and we understand their needs at every point along the spectrum, from transition services to liquidity strategies, as they develop solutions for business continuation. We want to continue to even better serve individuals and families as an independent practice with more flexibility and freedom to focus on our clients’ specific needs and obligations,” said Mr. Maher. “With this move, we’ll also be able to continue investing in the depth and experience of our team to help our clients navigate through life’s financial hurdles.”

Tim Bello, Partner and Director of Strategic Implementation at Dynasty Financial Partners, said, “After a long and thoughtful process, Jim and his team determined that being an independent firm puts them in a better position to ensure that their client needs are being served first and foremost. And Archford Capital also has access to the widest platform of products and services, and the best investments and expertise available.”

“Jim and his team are extraordinary investment advisors who have built a remarkably successful business. With their newly launched firm, Archford Capital Strategies, we expect that they will have even greater success working with and serving client families and business owners,” said Shirl Penney, President and CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners. “At Dynasty, we are delighted to be a growth partner with Archford Capital Strategies and proud to add them to our Network of industry-leading independent advisors.”

Archford Capital Strategies will continue its award-winning work with families on their charitable giving, an important part of the firm’s practice. The firm also specializes in Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) business and retirement plans.

The company will access Dynasty’s groundbreaking investment platform, which integrates the industry-leading proprietary research of Callan Associates and Envestnet’s state-of-the-art tools, reporting services and technology.

Pershing Advisor Solutions LLC will provide clearing and custody services for Archford Capital Strategies. Archford will tap Wilshire Associates and Callan for institutional investment research and access to alternative investments.

Mark Tibergien, Chief Executive Officer of Pershing Advisor Solutions, said: “We’re delighted that Archford Capital Strategies has chosen Pershing Advisor Solutions for its custody and clearing services. One of the challenges in the advisory space is differentiating a business from the competition. Archford’s clearly defined focus should give it a definite competitive advantage. We wish them all the best.”

Archford Capital Strategies is the 17th independent advisory firm to join Dynasty’s wealth management platform and brings deep expertise in estate planning and working with closely held businesses to the Dynasty Network of advisors.

Jim Maher, CEPA, CRPC, CRPS, JD and CPA will be joined at Archford Capital Strategies by long-term team members:

* John R. Russo, CFA, CAIA, CRPC, Chief Operating Officer and Wealth Management Advisor

* Jerry L. West, CFA, CAIA, CRPC, Chief Investment Officer and Wealth Management Advisor

* Robert G. Schlueter, Jr. CRPC and CPA, Director of Operations and Wealth Management Advisor

* Tracy L. Winters, Assistant Branch Manager and Senior Registered Client Associate

* Julie A. Hanger, Senior Administrative Assistant

* Joshua E. Anderson, Associate Analyst

* Bernard E. Thebeau Jr. CRPS, Retirement Specialist

About Archford Capital Strategies

Archford Capital Strategies, a private wealth management firm founded by James D. Maher, is represented by a skilled team of six wealth management advisors with more than 16 professional designations, accreditations and certifications. Based in St. Louis, Missouri, Archford Capital Strategies offers a wide range of financial services to clients and specializes in closely held businesses, concentrated stock strategies, foundation management, retirement plan management and wealth transfer strategies. They specialize in Business Transition and work with closely held businesses on business valuation, buyer intelligence, ESOP structures and transition and liquidity strategies. For more information, please visit www.archfordcapital.com.

About Dynasty Financial Partners

Dynasty Financial Partners develops, sources and integrates the finest wealth management capabilities for the industry’s leading independent investment advisor teams. Dynasty offers a customized open-architecture platform of wealth management solutions and technology to help independent advisors protect and grow their clients’ wealth. Dynasty’s core principle is “objectivity without compromise,” and the firm is committed to crafting solutions that allow investment advisors to act as true fiduciaries to their clients. For more information, please visit www.dynastyfinancialpartners.com.

Firm Focuses on Closely Held Companies, Entrepreneurs, Executives and Family Wealth; Deep Expertise in ESOPs and Retirement Plans

New York, NY (April 2, 2013) Dynasty Financial Partners today announced that Archford Capital Strategies becomes the most recent independent investment advisory firm to select Dynasty Financial Partners’ open-architecture platform of wealth management services and technology.

Based in the St. Louis Metro East area, Archford Capital Strategies is a private wealth management firm, founded by James D. Maher, a National Association of Board Certified Advisory Practices Regional Award Winner. Mr. Maher had previously worked as a leading advisor at Merrill Lynch since 2001. Formerly known as The Maher Group, Mr. Maher and his team created Archford Capital Strategies in 2013. Archford also has a second office location in Creve Coeur, MO.

“At Archford Capital Strategies, we specialize in business transitions. The ability to leverage Dynasty’s access to best in industry resources for our clients is a large part of what led us to partner with them. Many of our clients are business owners and we understand their needs at every point along the spectrum, from transition services to liquidity strategies, as they develop solutions for business continuation. We want to continue to even better serve individuals and families as an independent practice with more flexibility and freedom to focus on our clients’ specific needs and obligations,” said Mr. Maher. “With this move, we’ll also be able to continue investing in the depth and experience of our team to help our clients navigate through life’s financial hurdles.”

Tim Bello, Partner and Director of Strategic Implementation at Dynasty Financial Partners, said, “After a long and thoughtful process, Jim and his team determined that being an independent firm puts them in a better position to ensure that their client needs are being served first and foremost. And Archford Capital also has access to the widest platform of products and services, and the best investments and expertise available.”

“Jim and his team are extraordinary investment advisors who have built a remarkably successful business. With their newly launched firm, Archford Capital Strategies, we expect that they will have even greater success working with and serving client families and business owners,” said Shirl Penney, President and CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners. “At Dynasty, we are delighted to be a growth partner with Archford Capital Strategies and proud to add them to our Network of industry-leading independent advisors.”

Archford Capital Strategies will continue its award-winning work with families on their charitable giving, an important part of the firm’s practice. The firm also specializes in Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) business and retirement plans.

The company will access Dynasty’s groundbreaking investment platform, which integrates the industry-leading proprietary research of Callan Associates and Envestnet’s state-of-the-art tools, reporting services and technology.

Pershing Advisor Solutions LLC will provide clearing and custody services for Archford Capital Strategies. Archford will tap Wilshire Associates and Callan for institutional investment research and access to alternative investments.

Mark Tibergien, Chief Executive Officer of Pershing Advisor Solutions, said: “We’re delighted that Archford Capital Strategies has chosen Pershing Advisor Solutions for its custody and clearing services. One of the challenges in the advisory space is differentiating a business from the competition. Archford’s clearly defined focus should give it a definite competitive advantage. We wish them all the best.”

Archford Capital Strategies is the 17th independent advisory firm to join Dynasty’s wealth management platform and brings deep expertise in estate planning and working with closely held businesses to the Dynasty Network of advisors.

Jim Maher, CEPA, CRPC, CRPS, JD and CPA will be joined at Archford Capital Strategies by long-term team members:

* John R. Russo, CFA, CAIA, CRPC, Chief Operating Officer and Wealth Management Advisor

* Jerry L. West, CFA, CAIA, CRPC, Chief Investment Officer and Wealth Management Advisor

* Robert G. Schlueter, Jr. CRPC and CPA, Director of Operations and Wealth Management Advisor

* Tracy L. Winters, Assistant Branch Manager and Senior Registered Client Associate

* Julie A. Hanger, Senior Administrative Assistant

* Joshua E. Anderson, Associate Analyst

* Bernard E. Thebeau Jr. CRPS, Retirement Specialist

About Archford Capital Strategies

Archford Capital Strategies, a private wealth management firm founded by James D. Maher, is represented by a skilled team of six wealth management advisors with more than 16 professional designations, accreditations and certifications. Based in St. Louis, Missouri, Archford Capital Strategies offers a wide range of financial services to clients and specializes in closely held businesses, concentrated stock strategies, foundation management, retirement plan management and wealth transfer strategies. They specialize in Business Transition and work with closely held businesses on business valuation, buyer intelligence, ESOP structures and transition and liquidity strategies. For more information, please visit www.archfordcapital.com.

About Dynasty Financial Partners

Dynasty Financial Partners develops, sources and integrates the finest wealth management capabilities for the industry’s leading independent investment advisor teams. Dynasty offers a customized open-architecture platform of wealth management solutions and technology to help independent advisors protect and grow their clients’ wealth. Dynasty’s core principle is “objectivity without compromise,” and the firm is committed to crafting solutions that allow investment advisors to act as true fiduciaries to their clients. For more information, please visit www.dynastyfinancialpartners.com.

Deep Expertise in Large Cap Value and Mid to Small Cap Socially Responsible Investing

(New York., NY) September 18, 2012. Radnor Capital Management LLC has launched as the most recent independent investment advisory firm to select Dynasty Financial Partners’ open-architecture platform of wealth management services and technology.

Doug Pyle launched Radnor Capital Management, LLC on May 1, 2012 after resigning from Columbia Management Group. Joining Mr. Pyle today is Pierce Archer who is leaving the Pennsylvania Trust Co. Mr. Pyle and Mr. Archer worked together at the original Radnor Capital Management for over a decade.

Radnor Capital Management provides investment advice to families, trusts, and high net worth clients, as well as charitable organizations, foundations and other institutional portfolios. In addition to wealth management services, both Mr. Pyle and Mr. Archer manage Separately Managed Accounts. Mr. Pyle is a portfolio manager specializing in socially responsible Mid-to-Small Cap stocks; Mr. Archer has a focus on Large Cap Value and balanced accounts.

The original Radnor Capital Management, established in 1989, was sold to U.S. Trust in 1999; U. S. Trust was subsequently acquired by the Charles Schwab Corp., who then sold it to Bank of America, who in turn sold its institutional advisory, Columbia Management, to Ameriprise Financial. The “new” Radnor Capital Management is now 100% employee-owned and financed.

“We are thrilled to be bringing back the Radnor brand and working together again as an independent team providing traditional investment counseling. Our goal is to create an investment boutique that enables us to deliver uncompromised excellence to our clients who have a long-term investment horizon,” said Doug Pyle, the founder of Radnor Capital Management. “As a result of our partnership with Dynasty and access to its robust wealth management platform, we are now well positioned to build out Radnor Capital Management by adding advisors and expanding our footprint in Pennsylvania.”

“Doug and Pierce have a strong long-term investment track record of managing portfolios for high net worth families and institutions,” said Shirl Penney, President and CEO of Dynasty. “It’s a great time to bring back Radnor Capital Management to the Radnor market and join Dynasty’s community of successful advisors and entrepreneurs.”

According to Morningstar, Inc. the Columbia Select Small Cap Fund ranked in the top quintile of all like funds for the decade that Mr. Pyle actively managed it.

Joining Mr. Pyle and Mr. Archer are a number of other original team members of Radnor Capital Management including Andrea Funk, Chief Operating Officer, Elisabeth Schwan, C.F.A., securities analyst, and Pat Barlow, account administrator.

Radnor Capital Management is located at 123 West Wayne Avenue, Wayne, Pennsylvania in the heart of Philadelphia’s Main Line suburb, Radnor Township.

Radnor Capital Management is using Dynasty’s state-of-the-art capabilities, including technology, managed investments, institutional research, trust and insurance services and credit facilities. The company will use Schwab as their custodian and will access Dynasty’s groundbreaking investment platform, which integrates the industry-leading proprietary research of Callan with Envestnet’s state-of-the-art reporting tools and technology.
About Radnor Capital Management

Radnor Capital Management, LLC is a registered investment advisor established on May 1, 2012 and headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania. Radnor Capital Management provides investment advice to families, trusts, and high net worth clients, as well as charitable organizations, foundations, and other institutional portfolios. For more information, please call Andrea Funk at 610-674-0401 or visit www.RadnorCM.com.
About Dynasty Financial Partners

Dynasty Financial Partners develops, sources and integrates the finest wealth management capabilities for the industry’s leading independent investment advisor teams. Dynasty offers a customized open-architecture platform of wealth management solutions and technology to help independent advisors protect and grow their clients’ wealth. Dynasty’s core principle is “objectivity without compromise,” and the firm is committed to crafting solutions that allow investment advisors to act as true fiduciaries to their clients.

Dynasty Financial Partners announced today that True Private Wealth Advisors becomes the most recent independent investment advisory firm to join their growing network of sophisticated advisor teams.

Based in Salem, Oregon, True Private Wealth Advisors is comprised of two experienced teams from Merrill Lynch Private Client Group – including Branch Manager Steve Altman – who will combine to form the new firm. The Davis/Altman Group and the Gescher/Herber Group will remain as two separate groups under the True Private Wealth Advisors banner.

By coming together as True Private Wealth Advisors, the group now combines to bring the best in retirement planning, college funding, business succession planning, philanthropic interests and capital preservation for its high net worth clients. The firm has a strong corporate client base consisting of entrepreneurs and many small and mid-sized companies. True Private Wealth Advisors is the 15th independent advisory firm to join Dynasty’s wealth management platform and brings expertise in both commercial banking and private families to the Dynasty Network of advisors.

As the Davis/Altman Group, Brett Davis and Steve Altman will provide wealth management services to high net worth individuals, businesses, corporations and foundations. They are distinguished by a proactive wealth management approach that has earned them recognition as one of the top teams in the region.

As The Gescher/Herber Group, Todd A. Gescher and Jason D. Herber work as a team serving a variety of different clients including corporate retirement plans, cash management accounts, non-profit organizations, family offices and individual investment accounts. Their successful practice has focused on long-term relationships based on a deep understanding of client goals and financial objectives.

Rebecca Engeln, Sr. Registered Client Associate, and Deborah Parosa, Sr. Registered Client Associate are also joining True Private Wealth Advisors from Merrill Lynch.

“Our new firm represents our unwavering commitment to our clients, and we are extremely proud to be owners of our own business. The power of our partnership as an independent firm will ensure that our clients will get uncompromised advice, outstanding service and access to leading investments,” said Steve Altman, Founding Partner of True Private Wealth Advisors. “We also believe there is tremendous potential for expanding our business, particularly in the Northwest.”

Todd Gescher, Founding Partner, True Private Wealth Advisors added, “Our team has always been steadfastly committed to serving our clients. Our research convinced us that we could offer better service with an independent business model, especially when we reviewed the resources that are now available through independent partnerships. As owners, we have made significant changes that we believe will be of tremendous benefit to our clients.”

“True Private Wealth Advisors is now well positioned to broaden their business by hiring additional advisors and expanding their footprint in the Pacific Northwest. At Dynasty, we are looking forward to partnering with this experienced team,” said Shirl Penney, President and CEO of Dynasty.

“What is unique about the launch of True Private Wealth Advisors is that we have two successful teams coming together to form one firm with greater scale and broader expertise than each team would have on their own. What they have in common is an entrepreneurial spirit and drive to build a client-focused advisory business in the Pacific Northwest. Under Steve, Brett, Todd and Jason’s leadership, True Private Wealth Advisors will be an attractive destination for additional advisors to join,” said Tim Bello, Partner and Director of Strategic Implementation at Dynasty. “We think this multi-advisor partnership model is the next wave in the breakaway advisor movement. We are getting calls from groups of advisors and branch managers who want to start their own firms while keeping their individual team structures inside the new central brand.”

True Private Wealth Advisors will leverage Dynasty’s state-of-the-art capabilities, including technology, managed investments, institutional research, trust and insurance services and credit facilities. The company will access Dynasty’s groundbreaking investment platform, which integrates the industry-leading proprietary research of Callan Associates. Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services will provide custody services and Envestnet will provide portfolio trading tools and reporting for True Private Wealth Advisors.

True Private Wealth Advisors will be based in a new location – in the historic Capitol Building in the heart of downtown Salem, Oregon at 388 State St, Suite 1000, Salem, OR, 97301.
About True Private Wealth Advisors

True Private Wealth Advisors was launched in September 2012 as an independent, SEC-registered investment advisory firm. Based in Salem, Oregon, True Private Wealth Advisors provides an array of sophisticated services to meet the unique needs of clients including individuals, families and businesses. True Private Wealth provides wealth planning, retirement and estate planning. For more information, please visit www.truepwa.com.
About Dynasty Financial Partners

Dynasty Financial Partners develops, sources and integrates the finest wealth management capabilities for the industry’s leading independent investment advisor teams. Dynasty offers a customized open-architecture platform of wealth management solutions and technology to help independent advisors protect and grow their clients’ wealth. Dynasty’s core principle is “objectivity without compromise,” and the firm is committed to crafting solutions that allow investment advisors to act as true fiduciaries to their clients.