A: Absolutely. They are very clear about their trust or mistrust of the family advisor. I hear this every day. "Boy, Jennifer was right on top of it, she kept us informed, we understood the big picture, she took my calls, she got right back to me. The service levels were great." Or, "You know, Joe just wasn't on top of it. He didn't see it coming. His firm with all of their proclamations of competence and global reach and all this other stuff, they were clueless."
Q: Are clients angry at advisors about the poor performance of their investments?
A: Generally, clients do not leave financial advisors for just portfolio performance issues. They are much more likely to leave for service issues. If they feel no one's paying attention to them, they're gone.
Q: Are you seeing more of that?
A: Yes, I've seen more of it. They don't call it firing, they just move on. They just pull their accounts.
Q: What are the most common goals of family retreats?
A: The number one goal of a family retreat is to make a big decision. That may be to sell the family business. It may be to move the business in another direction. It may be to announce new leadership in the company. The number two issue would be education-to get everybody on the same page. By the way, apart from achieving a specific goal, there is an unexpected benefit to conducting family meetings. Down the road, a family is far less likely to end up in litigation because somebody felt they were squeezed out. Having a history of family retreats, a history of communication and a history of open meetings, a history of transparency-all of those things forestall litigation.
The third reason families get together would be for the education of the next generation. A family often wants to have the next generation understand the story behind their wealth: Where did this wealth come from? They also want to make sure that the next generation understands good stewardship. Philanthropy, incidentally, also comes up almost always at family meetings.
Q: Where do you hold a retreat?
A: I've had retreats at ranches in Montana and in a beachfront villa in the Caribbean. One was in a beautiful home in Hawaii.