In an age of specialization, the founders of Signature, a wealth management firm in Norfolk and Charlottesville, Va., decided early on to spread their knowledge around a little.

Anne B. Shumadine, chairman, and Susan R. Colpitts, executive vice president, wanted to target high-net-worth clients with a minimum of $5 million in investable assets and also wanted to serve as family offices for several families with $25 million or more in investable assets-all under one practice.

They set out to design a business model to do this about 15 years ago, when there was little precedent for serving the two different clienteles and when there also were few firms that served as a family office to more than one family. 

"The drum beat of the industry was that the segments are not well served in this way," says G. Randolph Webb Jr., Signature president and CEO. But we knew from experience that this was a great business model because of the opportunity to share ideas and infrastructure and to create solutions that are useful for all client families.

"We believe that our firm helps clients realize their wealth's potential and that has an impact at the individual level, the family level and the community level," he adds. "If we are able to work with more families, we can have a broader impact on the community."

Shumadine, a lawyer, and Colpitts, a CPA/PFS, started from diverse points before they created what they feel is a unique service that benefits both the affluent and those on a higher wealth scale who need family office services.

Shumadine was an advisor and attorney to high-net-worth families. Among her other credentials, she was selected as one of the overseers for former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner's blind trusts. Although knowledgeable in finances, she was primarily an attorney during the first part of her career.

At the same time, Colpitts was building her résumé as a tax, trust and estate expert.  Starting in the accounting department of Price Waterhouse, she later became a tax consultant with the law firms of Shumadine & Rose PC and then for McCandlish Holton PC as an individual income and estate tax expert. 

Shumadine and Colpitts, who met through shared clients, began combining estate planning, income tax work and in-depth planning for wealthy clients.

"We realized many wealthy working families did not have good financial planning," Colpitts recalls. "They built their wealth and at about $5 million it started getting complicated. They either did not know what to do or put it off. At that point, our practice sort of took on a life of its own. We left the law firm work completely, started Signature in 1994 and started working with the rich using a holistic approach for their finances, philanthropy, estate planning, income taxes and investment solutions."

They began courting more wealthy families, including those with more than $25 million in assets.

"That was at a time when the term 'wealth management' was new," Colpitts adds. "The concept of one firm serving as a family office for multiple families had not been formed yet."

They began researching how to meet the different goals of wealthy families, particularly business owners and high-level executives-an extremely discriminating client base that usually wanted large bequests to charities to be included in their legacies. The work also involved leaving clients' wealth to children and other assorted issues.

So the founders of Signature began drawing from the same base of knowledge for both groups of clients.

"I can modify the plans I am doing for high-net-worth individuals with less than $25 million to invest and their plans would have less variables and be less complicated," she adds.

Yet the two groups continue to have distinct needs, she adds.

"High-net-worth individuals are more concerned with protecting and growing their wealth. Wealthy families think more about what they now want to do with their wealth," Shumadine says.

Signature had to figure out how to serve both clienteles without making either feel they were being shortchanged. The ultra-wealthy families do not want to feel they are underwriting the individual clients and the individual clients do not want to feel they are being assigned second-class status, according to the founders.

The common ground between the two is that both groups are in a position to start considering how they can have an impact on their families or on the community, they say.

"The people of these wealth levels start realizing the potential of their money," Webb says. "There is an escalating complexity as the wealth grows, but there are opportunities for the two different client bases to overlap."

Signature now has 12 family office clients and about 140 other clients with a total of $2 billion in assets under management. A staff of 29 includes nine financial planners, three analysts and five attorneys.

"The office infrastructure and the depth of thinking required translate well across clients of all sizes," Webb says.

"The relationship managers work only with wealthy individuals or with family office clients, not both, and that is by design," Shumadine adds. "But they all share their knowledge. The substance is the same."

For instance, managing investments for tax efficiency adds value over and above investment returns for both groups, particularly in years when traditional markets are struggling. Philanthropic strategies may be used to accomplish the creation of a legacy, as well as tax efficiency for income and transfer tax purposes. In cases where either type of client holds illiquid assets, or has concentrated positions in liquid assets, those assets must be understood and included in the overall strategy.

Signature fees are negotiated based on a variety of criteria designed to show there are no conflicts of interest for the advisors, Colpitts says. Most family office clients are charged a flat fee based on the complexity of the work required and the assets being managed, with fees averaging $100,000 a year and up. For others, fees range from 67 or 68 basis points to 40 or 50 basis points as assets increase.

The firm does little marketing and adds fewer than a dozen clients a year. The courtship period for taking on a new client is lengthy and thorough, according to the founders.

Signature does not invest funds but instead designs asset allocations and selects money managers. Investments cover a wide range of allocations, including commodities, private equity, long-only traditional equity and hedge funds. Those same investments can be useful to both groups of clients.

The difference in handling affairs is how much of a "hands-on" approach Signature provides, according to Colpitts.
"For a family office, we will find the best aviation deal or advice on particular health care services," Colpitts says. "For the high-net-worth client, we will use this same knowledge to tell them where to find what they need. But the knowledge we need is the same."