Work with Your Client's Children
When someone in our private client group asks if we can help one of their relatives, we don't ask about account size. --Michael Chasnoff
Adding a client's children to the client base may occur even if the children have modest assets. "When someone in our private client group asks if we can help one of their relatives, we don't ask about account size," notes Michael Chasnoff, chairman of Truepoint Capital, a wealth management firm in Cincinnati. "We do ask the other person to sign an engagement letter with us, but we will waive our minimum fee requirements. Usually, we charge the son or daughter the same low rate that the parents are paying, as a percentage of assets under management. We treat the children as separate clients, though, with specialized reporting for their assets." In this model, then, clients' youngsters are raised to think of Joe or Joan Planner as the source of their financial advice. As the next generation becomes economically self-sustaining, they eventually morph from add-ons to stand-alone clients.
-Michael Chasnoff, chairman of Truepoint Capital, a wealth management firm in Cincinnati, in Relative Strength
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