"We interviewed the first one and then interviewed with Kathy, and I wondered why we should bother with the third, because I knew we already had found the firm we wanted at FMP," Candy Cady says. "Kathy provides a one-stop shop for everything we need financially, and she has relationships with professionals throughout the community, if we need a lawyer or someone else."

The Cadys, who have been FMP clients for about ten years, have three children between the ages of 27 to 32, and the youngest and oldest are married. FMP is starting to help the children with their financial planning, too.

Flip Cady feels FMP does more in-depth investment research and has access to more financial instruments than many firms, and FMP has connected them with alternatives such as private equity funds and real estate ventures, as well as typical equities and bonds.

"She is so personable that we ended up socializing with her and her family," notes Flip Cady. "Kathy made us feel so at ease that they have become part of our family."

The personal side of the relationship is also important to St. Louis resident Kevin Short, who has been with FMP for about six years.

"I was running my growing business and family, and I felt the pressure begin to grow. Sometimes it is hard to separate the business and the family," Short says. "I interviewed banks and financial institutions, but needed the individual attention that a boutique firm could offer. Kathy and her staff got to know us and reflect our investment interests.

"Kathy was the only one who did not expect me to sign something after the first meeting," Short says. "I don't recommend many things in my life, but I recommend my dentist, my business coach and my financial advisor."

The feeling of personal relationships with clients permeates the office, according to the employees. Brian Fernandez, a partner at FMP, says handling the wealth for clients is not always the most important aspect of the relationship.

"Whether a client's investment performance is marginally better or worse than their golf buddy's will not have a material impact on their lives. However, if we can help improve their personal and financial lives and have a significant impact on their families, their legacy and perhaps generationally, then we have helped them in a way others don't," Fernandez says. He has worked at large firms in the past and has been with FMP for four years, in part because of the boutique nature of the firm. "There is a collaborative atmosphere here that lets us bring in anyone we need and there is practically nothing we will not do for clients."

The firm will work with other members of a client's family even if they are not clients themselves.

"We can help educate the clients about what they need for their parents or how to set up family leadership," Fernandez says. "For our clients, their parents may be the ones with the greatest needs right now, and we have the luxury to spend time with them on those important things in their lives. Or we can do things like have coffee and doughnuts with a client who just needs to talk, which is something I did the other day with a 95-year-old woman."

"Kathy works to assure that our families are preserving their wealth, and at the same time, she is hiring young, talented people who will be here 20 years from now to assure that FMP will be here for the next generations of those families," says Eric Lawrence, who has just been named FMP managing partner. Lawrence is one of those people who scheduled a breakfast meeting with Lintz and came away three hours later convinced he wanted to work with her.

Whitney Kenter, another FMP partner, had a similar experience two years ago when she interviewed with Lintz over what turned into a four-hour breakfast. She has worked with high-net-worth families her entire career on the wealth, tax and estate planning end, but she also wanted to incorporate education for family members in a multigenerational setting.

"Kathy and I were on the same page from the beginning. In addition to my client responsibilities, I have been asked to lead our business development efforts. I want to make sure we have a crisp, clear message that our core competencies include family office services. We realize investments are critically important, but the clients value family leadership, wealth planning coordination and execution just as highly. That is what differentiates us."

The FMP team members spend most of their time on the "big picture," managing the asset allocation before focusing on specific solutions. While FMP does not manage money on a discretionary basis, the firm does manage the architecture of the entire portfolio and has the flexibility to seek out the best solutions for clients, whatever the investment may be. Being completely agnostic to platform, but keenly focused on risk, potential reward, fees and tax efficiency, FMP is in a position to execute on the liquid part of the portfolio.

"We are highly sensitive to making sure the structure and allocations are right before making a recommendation on changing anything in the portfolios," Kenter says. "That is another approach that sets us apart. There is absolutely no incentive or disincentive for us to take over assets. If they have a good relationship with a money manager or bank, we do not disrupt that. We aim to minimize the disruption in their lives, but make sure it is efficient and working well for the family."

Lintz feels it is important for the firm and the clients to "fit" each other, having the same dedication to integrity and courage, an emphasis on multigenerational thinking and a respect for human capital as well as wealth. It is almost a chemical reaction as much as a logic-based decision when clients and staff mesh, her employees explain. She also relies often on "thought partners" to assist with clients' needs. And FMP recognizes that they need to grow a little each year to maintain relationships with the best professionals, wherever they are needed geographically, both internally and externally.

"We do not dictate to anyone," says Fernandez, "but we frame the options for them to make a decision."

If FMP finds another investment firm in place when it takes on a client, "we use them for what they are great at," Lintz says. Almost nothing is ruled out for investments, and investments can be handled in passive or active trading and could be public or private enterprises. None of the staff have a large client load, which enables them to meet as often as monthly with clients.

The investment process at FMP is driven by a formal investment committee made up of members of FMP and the investment research consultant Asset Consulting Group.

"We work together on capital markets, manager selection, strategic and tactical management decisions and creation of investment policies. We look at all of the relevant asset classes and build model portfolios using our combined best ideas. We monitor these investments daily together," Lintz says. "The result is that we have institutional rigor, pricing and expertise for all of our clients. We believe that the clients, large and small, benefit from this institutional level of pricing and access and thoughtful leadership."

For these services, FMP charges between 35 and 100 basis points for assets; family office services run $10,000 minimum to about $175,000 a year, depending on the family's needs. Family office services include estate plan coordination, transition plans, other financial services and plans for life's changes. Because Lintz was in the financial planning industry when it was in its infancy, she always has maintained a fee-only practice.

But the education that remains a top priority, not only for staff, but for clients and their entire families, is one thing that gives Lintz particular pride.

"Other firms sometimes try to emphasize education, but they are focused on profits, and education drops to the bottom of their priority list," says Kenter.

FMP holds financial education classes for adult clients but also holds sessions for the children in the families to teach them how banking and finances work, to illustrate what their parents needed to do to earn the money and what values their parents hope to convey.

"Teaching is an art; that is why we have a teacher on board," says Kenter. "It is so much fun to see the difference in a spouse or the children from one meeting to the next as they become educated and engaged in the finances of the family."

While many firms struggle with succession planning, Lintz says she has been thinking about it for a long time. Though she is many years away from considering retirement, she is working to build a structure that will keep FMP a privately owned company, with her staff mirroring the multigenerational profile of her client families.

"You know, basically, it's about people and about integrity and commitment and trust and judgment-about solving problems and nurturing relationships. We have great client families, and I'm focused on finding great people to serve them for a long time to come," Lintz says.

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