Her fees are based on the amount of the clients' investments, such as 1% for $1 million in investments, or can otherwise be based on the discrete planning services she provides, services ranging in cost from $4,000 to $12,000 for an initial plan and then $1,500 a year thereafter.
Winch Advisory Services grew from 187 clients in 2005 to 224 the next year and 449 in 2007, while assets under management increased from $140 million two years ago to $183 million in 2006 and $235 million last year. One of her sons, Sam, is the head of Winch & Associates and manages the client relationships for that arm of the business.
Her daughter, Tanya, is opening a branch office for the firm in Austin, Texas, and her youngest son, Adam, recently graduated from college and is helping out at Winch Financial until he enters law school, after which he may return to the family business.
Winch recently developed new departments for research and development and marketing and now has three analysts and three accountants. Among the firm's clients are several current and former members of the Green Bay Packers football team and other major league athletes, as well as entrepreneurs and retirees. In addition to growing and preserving money, Winch says she encourages clients to consider how to wisely share their wealth.
"As we grew as a firm, we started to delve into estate planning, including disability and long-term care planning. But just as important was planning charitable giving. Many people have no idea how to approach charitable giving, but many are not happy unless they share their wealth," she says.
"We have had an 80-year-old invested in annuities who wanted to leave $300,000 to charity but wanted to use the money, too. We put him in a charitable remainder trust to meet his goals," she recalls.
Winch's clients have brought other diverse types of problems to the firm. For professional athletes, such as her Green Bay football player clients, a lucrative but short career has to be used as the basis for a lifetime of income.
"An NFL player may play for five years and have another five years under contract but he often may not play because he is injured. He has to consider how much money he needs to live on, whether he has to change his lifestyle, and how does he make that income last," she warns.
To help clients accomplish their goals, Winch has developed a number of investment plans with the help of Jeff Thomasson and John Wypiszinski, two of her investment advisors. For instance, the Monday Fund is a systematic investment strategy of small and midsize common stocks selected by Thomasson based on his quantitative research. Changes are made by selling any stocks performing poorly and buying strong ones with the goal of creating aggressive returns for separately managed accounts.
Winch Financial Services also puts clients in absolute return funds that are safe and reflect almost no market volatility. The balance between these funds and riskier ones will depend on each client's needs. About half of a client's investments may be in accounts with more risk while another substantial part will be in ultrasafe accounts.