"Our platform is much more comprehensive than just asset management would be," he says.
Focusing specifically on musicians, athletes and motor sports, this unit specializes in a number of products designed just for celebrities, such as business valuations for NASCAR racing teams and loans based on intellectual property and royalty rights.
Carroll says that since its meager beginnings in the late 1980s, his group has grown to a team of 70 in 11 offices across the country. He agrees that it is not easy work.
"The advisor can't view this as just a job," he says. "Accessibility is very important. It literally is 24/7. You have to be willing to get on a plane at a moment's notice, to take calls at off hours. ... If a client is out and about late and his debit card is inactive for some reason, you have to reactivate the card."
For many of SunTrust's clients, he says, that kind of service is even more important than large increases in their investment portfolios.
Since celebrities are used to having a cadre of agents, managers and other advisors catering to their every need, some expect a financial advisor to be available around the clock too. But many advisors won't accommodate such requests.
"I had one client who used to call with no regard for time or day," Morgan says. "I had to fire him. It was too crazy. He thought you should be there at his beck and call."
Expectations of special treatment are only one of the challenges facing advisors who work with celebrities. Others include the clients' lack of knowledge about investing and, frequently, their inability to handle the large sums of money they make. Athletes in particular often come into this money when they are very young.
Mirkine blames the lure of "that hyper-consumptive, glitzy lifestyle" for many of the problems athletes and celebrities face. "No one dissuades them from that," he says.
Says Cole, further explaining the mentality: "If you pull up to the practice facility in a $100,000 Mercedes, I can't pull up in a Camry. ... They have to have a sports car, a Range Rover and a German sedan, even if they're paying 18% interest."