The future of being a financial planner may be that of an overseer or “quarterback” managing other advisors, says Jimmy Lee, a certified fund specialist (CFS) and managing partner of Strategic Wealth Associates.

That is the way he sees himself and his wealth management firm, based in Arizona, California, Nevada and New Mexico, especially in dealing with high-net-worth individuals and families that have more than one financial advisor.

"The financial advisor of tomorrow, who will operate in a more fluid marketplace, will find a real need for financial quarterbacks," Lee says. "High-net-worth investors do not have all their eggs in one basket and for good reasons, so they have more than one advisor, but who is looking at all the different advisors?"

Lee calls the new position a quarterback, a CFO or manager of managers. Whatever the name, he has seen the potential for the position to save millions of dollars for high-net-worth individuals.

Lee had one prospect with several advisors, each managing a portfolio, which the client thought assured him of diversity. Instead, all of the portfolios were being managed nearly the same and when the market took a nose dive, he lost substantial amounts of money.

"He made an emotional decision to get out of the market at the wrong time and never got back in. He was also managing a substantial part of his assets himself," Lee explains. "This person went from more than $60 million to $5 million. If he had had a CFO overseeing the investments, this never would have happened."

In other instances, assets are mislabeled, which can affect the way a trust account is handled. Another client moved from a non-community property state to a community property state, which would have changed the distribution of his assets. The quarterback is needed to straighten out these types of problems, Lee says.

When confronted with these situations, Lee says, he brings in an attorney or a tax expert from the firm to give advice. The firm aggregates accounts so they can see all investments. They will work with all the clients' advisors, with the client making the ultimate decisions. Strategic Wealth Associates offers a gamut of possibilities, from taking over all of the money management and investments, to working with the clients' advisors and attorneys while managing some of the funds, to acting purely as a consultant.

"To be an effective advisor for the future, it is important to understand the need for a financial quarterback for the ultra-high-net-worth clients, and not have the client's investments operating in separate silos and managed by separate, autonomous people," Lee says.

—Karen DeMasters