Next, the family plans a "heritage day," which might include any of these topics as well as investments, philanthropy, human capital development, or anything else the family wants to focus on. The second heritage day is planned by the second generation. They choose whatever topic interests them or whatever they believe might give the family a good learning experience. "The parents step back and let the children have a pre-inheritance experience and begin building a foundation of how to work together as a family." After that, the family continues to plan annual heritage days.
Kinsight has 16 employees. Although recruitment is a problem area that Haines has mentioned in the past, he hasn't had much trouble recruiting for this company. Haines splits clients into two groups: $1 million to $10 million, and above $10 million. The most recent hire, who will be a portfolio manager for the clients in the $1 million to $10 million range portfolio, has an MBA, a master's degree in accounting and a master's degree in tax. When I went back and read past articles about Haines as I was preparing to interview him, I was amused to see that in one of the books I wrote for financial advisors, the chapter about his business model was titled: "Charlie Haines: The Care of Kith and Kin."
Haines believes individuals have unlimited potential, which he refers to as "wing span." He hopes the Heritage Process will result in better lives for his clients. And by weaving together multiple generations of the family and assigning young people in the firm to work with younger family members, he hopes to avoid losing the younger generation, a problem for most wealth management firms.
To prove his point about increasing "wing span," Haines says: "I'm evidence that even at age 55 you still don't know what's in you until you take the risks."
Mary Rowland can be reached at [email protected]. She has been a business and personal finance journalist for 30 years and has written two books for financial advisors: Best Practices and In Search of the Perfect Model.