Hunter Financial has four offices in New York and Connecticut, and the main office is in Tarrytown, N.Y. The 12 members of staff include five planners, as well as two attorneys, an accountant and four administrative personnel.
Juechter obtains new business by referral from other professionals and current clients, and after an initial series of interviews, can implement a financial plan through Hunter. The firm has $85 million in assets under management, having grown about 20% a year since it was founded in 2000. When Juechter decided to branch out on his own, he remembered a conversation he'd had with a client, a German professor of linguistics who had asked him if he knew where the name Juechter came from. The word is derived from the German word "jaeger," which means hunter, and Juechter thought the name was appropriate.
"Hunter was perfect to describe what I do-hunting for clients, hunting for assets and hunting for what is best for my clients," he explains. "Hunter green is also roughly the color of money."
When discussing Hunter Financial, clients and staff members always describe the firm's environment as comfortable. Evelyn Wasserman, who is now Juechter's personal assistant and Hunter's office manager, once worked with Juechter at his previous firm.
"Dan was always willing to help everyone or explain things, which my boss at that time was not," Wasserman says. The two jokingly said at that time that if Juechter ever had his own firm, Wasserman would like to work for him. After a few years' hiatus at other businesses, Wasserman came on board at Hunter in 2005.
Juechter charges fees for services, depending on the amount of time each client requires. His firm charges an average of $2,500 for financial planning, and the average asset management fee is 1%. Hunter Financial offers security and investment advisory services through National Planning Corporation (NPC) of Santa Monica, Calif.
Juechter and the staff develop each financial plan and outsource some of the back-office tasks and the asset management. Hunter Financial uses Curian Capital LLC, a registered investment advisor that provides a fee-based, separately managed account platform to financial professionals. Curian, a subsidiary of Jackson National Life Insurance Company, selects the money managers to implement Juechter's clients' plans.
The investment philosophy is based on long-term goals rather than active speculation, although the investing strategy is not completely passive, Juechter explains. His clients, who run the gamut from widows to business owners to new entrepreneurs, often bring investments or products with them when they begin discussions with the Hunter staff, and they may be advised to keep these items or make changes if necessary.
Juechter notes there is no area of investing that he favors or steers away from completely, letting the clients' needs dictate the investments. "I see myself as in the center of a wheel with my clients, reaching out to all of their other trusted advisors to coordinate all of their interests, which are the spokes of the wheel," he says. "But the process of wealth management is comprehensive, spans multiple generations, and involves much more than just money. I hope Tina and I can both help future generations understand what it took for our clients to accomplish what they did."