Her next career step was a move to St. Louis where she began her own firm, KBL Financial, which she describes as a small practice with three employees and a holistic approach to advisory work. The firm had 22 high-net-worth families, most of whom were first-generation wealth, similar to the average client family FMP now serves.

"The catalyst to change the name from my initials to Financial Management Partners was that we began to evolve into a firm with a deep expertise provided by a diverse group of professionals to back us up. Back then, we were a financial planning group that did taxes, mortgages, investments and estate planning," she remembers. "We handled the investments and had accountants and attorneys for other services."

FMP has maintained that deep bench of professionals, either on staff or through its national networking, which the firm can call on when needed. Although the firm is headquartered in St. Louis and has a new office in Denver, FMP's clients are located all over the United States.

Between the early 2000s and today, FMP has grown by five to ten new clients per year as a full-service family office for high-net-worth families. New clients are only accepted if they seem to be a good fit for the firm and if the firm can serve them well. There are 21 staff members, 17 of whom are considered professionals, including 12 financial advisors. In addition to CFPs, the staff's credentials include JDs, CPAs, MBAs and an M.A. in teaching.

"We need to know we will enjoy working with a family for years or generations to come before we accept them, and we have to know we can serve them well," Lintz says. She is building a business which she says is designed to be multigenerational; the younger staff now being hired will take on the next generations of families in what will always be a privately held financial firm.

FMP serves about 120 families, though only about 70 of them are big and complex enough to require the full breadth of FMP's family office services. Most clients are owners of closely held businesses, so Lintz and her staff often become involved in business sales or transitions to new generations. In some cases, the firm is dealing with four generations of one family. Typical clients have between $20 million and $100 million in liquid assets, though that figure can go as low as $5 million and as high as $250 million. Most are the creators of their own wealth.

"Our clients understand how to build a business and usually have a strong work ethic and a strong passion for what they do," she says. "For instance, we have spent a tremendous amount of time with one couple like this who is debating what legacy they want to leave their children. It is fifty-fifty whether the next generation in that family will take over the business or sell it, but the couple want to pass on the family culture and values whether the children are working in the business or not."

This is one of the ways Lintz says the education program she developed helps.

"For some families, we are in our ninth or tenth year of family meetings," she says. "We started when the kids were in their teens. Now they are young adults with their own families and we have talked a lot about finances and whether they want to work individually or together."

The members of the families say it is the personal and in-depth attention FMP provides that makes them loyal clients. Flip and Candace Cady of St. Louis were referred by an estate attorney to three financial planning firms when they were looking for an advisor.