A financial advisor who really cares about the client – as opposed to one who only cares about selling – will proceed in a profoundly different way in meeting with families.
An advisor should do his best to establish himself as a valued part of the client’s investment team. An advisor should focus on the high-level issues that would have the most impact on the family’s fortunes over the long haul: an equity-oriented strategy, governance and decision making in the family, educating younger family members. Only then should an advisor move to short-term issues: manager selection and performance reporting.
An advisor should also not shy away about giving his opinions. Many advisors prefer to keep their opinions to themselves out of fear of alienating the client. But clients want to hear an advisor’s opinion – that is part of why they are hired.
An unbiased, client-focused advisor that sees his job as working hand-in-hand with its clients to ensure their wealth would remain intact across generations is of central importance to the families.
Advisors sometimes make the mistake of viewing the families they work with as clients instead of families. Families are flesh and blood and they have family histories that are often utterly fascinating. Advisors should learn about those histories and, to the extent the families themselves aren’t already telling family stories, they should be encouraged to do so.
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