Brian Powell: Hi, I’m Brian Powell, Executive Director of the Practice Management group here at Janus Henderson Investors. I have with me my colleague Jeff Brooks, who is the Wealth Strategist, Executive Director of that department.

What we want to do is, we’ve been doing a series here, sharing our knowledge and our experience working with all these great advisory teams across the nation. All different wirehouses, RIAs, independents, and they all come and say, “Brian, I have an ideal client in mind. That’s who I want to attract to my organization.” And what we see is, sometimes they’re successful, sometimes they’re not.

Today, what we want to focus on is ultra-high net worth clients. Jeff, I can’t tell you how many times I have an advisory team show up and say, “Brian, that’s who I want to attract to my practice going forward.”

Now, there’s some missteps that happen. There’s also some successes that occur as well. So, what I thought we would do today is maybe share what are some of the topics that come up when you think about ultra-high net worth clients, and what these advisory teams really need to be focused on to earn that business.

Jeff Brooks: It’s interesting you say that, and what you said before was so important. It’s funny how every advisor wants to attract that particular client. What does that mean? Think about that. It means you’re going to have a lot of competition. It means every advisor is looking for that same client. How can you build your practice so you’re distinguishing yourself from all those others? How does a client distinguish from one advisor to another?

Well, number one, they’re looking for somebody who has experience in working with those. So, if you have one or two, focus on that one or two. Make sure that they’re having a great experience with you. They can pass the word along to their friends about what great service you provide. That’s one.

Number two, think about investing not simply as an immediate investment, but rather as a legacy investment. This is something that clients have built up enough wealth where it’s unlikely they’re going to go through that money in their lifetime, though I have an example of that later. But it’s unlikely they’re going to. That means they’re investing now, not just for themselves, not just to send their kids to college, but to send their great grandchildren to college. Those are the kinds of issues that if you can express that to your prospect, to your client, they’re going to have a better experience with you, a better view of you, and distinguish your services from most other financial advisors.

Powell: Yeah, you mentioned services. And the one thing I would say from a practice management standpoint, when we start thinking about teams that are successful in this space, it’s not your traditional client. So, when we start thinking about how you show up as a team, how you’re able to deliver all the different topics and services to make sure that they’re knowledgeable about, whether it’s from trust and estate planning, it might be really thinking about like, how do I actually succeed this legacy in the future and transfer this wealth to my children?

It can be a lot of their charities that they want to really get involved in that they feel passionate about. So how do you make sure that you can proactively have these conversations, that you have it in your onboarding process to bring these topics up, but also that you have those areas of expertise on there.

A second thing that comes in as well is really thinking about your CRM system. So, when we started thinking about ultra-high net worth clients, it’s not just about that client in front of you. Every team member needs to understand who they work with. How do we get plugged in as a piece of their board of directors?

So, when we start thinking about getting connected with their CPA, their attorneys, all the people that matter for them. Once you’re able to do that, that’s how you can really provide that additional service that comes with supporting the ultra-high net worth clients, as well as some of the topics that come up, such as how do I finance that personal jet in the future as well, right? So, these things come out when we start thinking about focusing on this type of client. You need to be aware of it. You need to be educated about it. You need to be confident about how you put that in front of these types of clients.

Jeff, I know you said we have some successes, we have some missteps. I know you have a story. Could you share that story where we’ve had some missteps with ultra-high net worth clients?

Brooks: I don’t know if it’s a misstep as much as it’s a surprising result, that’s for sure. I worked with a client. He was worth about $70 million dollars. He and his wife, they had a wonderful life together. He earned about $1 million a year and was banking a fair portion of that. I did a financial plan for them, and the analysis showed that even though they were at $55, $70 million, [at] $1 million a year, they ran out of money before their life expectancy if they continued spending at the level they were spending.

Do you know what they were spending on? Horses. You know, she enjoyed riding horses, and she enjoyed riding horses with her children. That was important. That was her goal. It doesn’t make it wrong, it’s just important for clients to be aware of these, and if we can provide that insight, if we can distinguish ourselves by saying, “We’re shooting for your goals, not the goals we think you should have, but your goals.” They appreciate that.

Powell: Yeah, that resonates. When we start thinking about stories like that from a practice management standpoint, I get excited as a coach/consultant because this industry is shifting right now. No longer are we showing up and just talking about investments or just the financial plan. From what Jeff was talking about, there was a financial plan in place there. So as an advisory team, how are you growing the ability to be confident in your skills, to open up those difficult conversations, to make sure we start thinking about things like behavioral finance and what that means to each family member. When we’re working with the ultra-high net worth clients, that is going to be something, an attribute that you need to have instilled in your team going forward.

As the industry changes, we’ve seen it for decades. This is going to be another big shift. So, you need to be proactive in this space on how you’re going to have these dialogues. Be open about it so that you can assist families like this, like we’re discussing today.

If you have any questions, please reach out to your National Director. Also, you can always feel free to send an email to Jeff or I – we’re here to support. So, if there’s anything we do from a consulting coaching perspective, just please feel free to reach out.