Falling Through the Cracks
by The Ferrucci Company

The mostly thriving American economy of the past decade or two has resulted in a category of people that has largely fallen under the radar of the financial world. We're talking about people who have been very successful financially—multimillionaires, even—but typically aren't considered among America's superrich. While the superrich need not worry about being under-served by financial companies, American families with between $5 million and $30 million in assets have continued to find it frustratingly difficult to be given appropriate solutions to their financial challenges.

The best research into this segment has been done by the consulting firm Capgemini, which has published an entire report on the needs of what they call the “mid-tier millionaires.” Perhaps the firm's most significant finding was that most of those studied had three or more professionals managing a portion of their portfolios, as well as additional people handling their estates, insurance, and other fiscal needs.

Some 44 percent of those studied said they use different specialists for each financial need because they feel that no single provider can be good at everything. However, they recognize the additional burdens this creates, and many are looking to consolidate the number of firms they work with.

The upshot of all this is that almost 70 percent of the people in the study say they want a single provider to coordinate their financial affairs. The arrangement that best suits these desires is the one we employ here at The Ferrucci Company: The wealth strategist model.

Putting it All Together

There are many different people who play important roles in managing your financial life. You have an estate attorney who has drawn up your living trust, and an insurance agent who safeguards your family against the financial impact of death and disaster. You may have a real estate agent who works with you on buying and selling homes, and a CPA who prepares your tax return, to name a few.

The role of a wealth strategist is to make sure that all of these experts act in concert with each other and always in your best interest, which allows each member of the team to fulfill his or her role to its highest standards. If sizable assets are being sold, such as your business, has your CPA been consulted to make sure you're receiving the most favorable tax treatment on the transaction? And has your estate planning attorney in turn updated your trust documents to maximize the value of your assets to you and your family?

The wealth strategist is the one person who can keep an eye on all aspects of your financial life, making sure all the pieces are aligned with your core values and goals and that all the team members are working together. We live in a highly complicated world these days. The more wealth we accumulate, the more complex managing it becomes. If we want to make the best of our money, we often have to resort to very sophisticated strategies, rather than the same-old cookie-cutter approaches. While a wealth strategist may be filling other roles as well, his or her ultimate job is to implement those strategies most appropriate to you, and at the same time simplifying your degree of involvement.

Perfect Harmony

When you go to a concert, just before the orchestra begins playing, you can hear the musicians tuning up, playing notes without regard for the sounds coming from the players around them. The effect is cacophonous, like a windstorm blowing through a junkyard. But moments later, when the conductor raises his baton, all the performers begin working together in harmony, and the effect is almost magical.

That's how we see our role as a wealth strategist. All the players are vital in their own way and bring an expertise that the conductor may not have. Like the conductor, the wealth strategist ensures that each expert is heard at the proper time and hears all the other experts, resulting in harmonious solutions to your concerns.