Article updated April 2024.
Financial advice to wealthy families should be comprehensive and objective. Most advisors can’t (or don’t) do that.
Wealth complicates matters. Wealthy families have not only more varied investments, but a wider range of goals, and maybe most importantly, greater exposure to financial risk. Financial advice to wealthy families must be comprehensive, providing for protection as well as growth; strategic, based on a comprehensive understanding of the family’s holdings and objectives; and integrated, investments and tax planning coordinated to serve the family’s long-term financial goals
Comprehensive, integrated, and strategic advice – we have focused on building expertise and service capabilities within our firm. Few firms attempt to build the infrastructure to match our capabilities in that area. The HBKS® Wealth Advisors’ client experience starts with gaining a deep understanding of the family’s needs, then proceeds to the discussion, design, implementation, and monitoring of the solutions that meet the family’s goals and priorities.
Our focus is the relationship with the family. Our culture is rooted in the principle of acting in our clients’ best interests. We believe wealth management is a relationship business grounded in service. It is not a product, financial model, or market driven business; that type of business is fraught with potential conflicts.
Acting in the families’ best interests is the shared principle of HBKS® Wealth Advisors (HBKS®) and our partner firm, HBK CPAs and Consultants (HBK). Our focus on the family and the client relationship, rather than the sale of a product or service, drives every aspect of our business. We don’t allow conflicts to affect our obligation to act in the families’ best interests.
Families need unbiased guidance, based on the best choices for their goals, needs and desires, regardless of who is managing the assets. At HBKS® Wealth Advisors, we base our investment recommendations on the best products and services we can find anywhere. We attempt to cover all investment asset classes, regardless of who is managing the assets, and in many cases, we work with other advisors or a team of advisors to achieve the best results. We structure fee arrangements to provide comprehensive, holistic advice most efficiently.
HBKS® and HBK offer the collective expertise of CPAs, CFPs, PFSs, attorneys, and other professionals, ensuring the breadth and depth of financial knowledge required to serve wealthy families. The best wealth management comes from analyzing the interactions between investment strategy, tax planning, family wealth transfer planning and charitable giving. From investment and asset allocation, from estate and business planning; for tax expertise – working together with and on behalf of our clients is what sets us apart.
Many firms claim to provide a high-level of service and unbiased advice, but few are actually capable of delivering strategic family planning and guidance. Our company is designed to provide coordinated objective guidance as the strategic advisor to our client families.
We work in many ways to enhance family net worth:
ASSET OVERSIGHT
We review your total investment assets, including illiquid assets and those managed by other investment firms. We have the ability to analyze proposed new additions to client portfolios. We have alerted families to liquidity issues related to generational transfers of assets and the consequential estate taxes. Changes made to the mix of family assets can not only enhance liquidity but add needed diversification.
FAMILY MEETINGS
Key family advisors meet regularly with family members to discuss strategy and governance issues and identify investment opportunities. HBKS advisors prepare the agendas, moderate the meetings, and manage the advisory team for a coordinated approach. Wealth management is a multi-generational endeavor; the meetings provide a venue for family members, with the support of advisors, not only to discuss important financial issues but to mentor future generations.
It seems clear the whole (all of the advisors) working together can solve complex problems, whereas individual advisors acting on their own may not arrive at the best answer for the family.
SALE OF A PRIVATELY OWNED COMPANY
We have helped families selling their privately owned businesses transfer, prior to the sale and without incurring gift tax, a sizable portion of their companies’ value to trusts for other family members. We have also assisted clients in the transition from relying on income from a privately owned company to income from a mix of tax-efficient portfolio assets.
ANNUAL TAX PLANNING
We help reduce recurring income taxes by collecting and analyzing mid and late-year tax information, which provides the effective and accurate information required to reap the benefits of pre-year-end tax planning. We have worked with families and their advisors to make family trusts more tax-efficient and generate more after-tax income.
LONG-TERM PLANNING
We recommend changes to estate plans designed to reduce estate tax liability and better align an estate plan with the family’s long-term goals. That can involve establishing a private foundation, gifting strategies, charitable giving and other creative estate planning techniques that distribute benefits even during the life of the benefactor.
REDESIGN INVESTMENT STRATEGIES
Every family’s blend of investments, assets and objectives is unique. HBKS® Wealth Advisors provides family-specific strategic planning that enhances results, communication and family well-being.
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES
The information included in this document is for general, informational purposes only. It does not contain any investment advice and does not address any individual facts and circumstances. As such, it cannot be relied on as providing any investment advice. If you would like investment advice regarding your specific facts and circumstances, please contact a qualified financial advisor.
Any investment involves some degree of risk, and different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, including loss of principal. It should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment, strategy or allocation (including those recommended by HBKS® Wealth Advisors) will be profitable or equal the corresponding indicated or intended results or performance level(s). Past performance of any security, indices, strategy or allocation may not be indicative of future results.
The historical and current information as to rules, laws, guidelines or benefits contained in this document is a summary of information obtained from or prepared by other sources. It has not been independently verified, but was obtained from sources believed to be reliable. HBKS® Wealth Advisors does not guarantee the accuracy of this information and does not assume liability for any errors in information obtained from or prepared by these other sources.
HBKS® Wealth Advisors is not a legal or accounting firm, and does not render legal, accounting or tax advice. You should contact an attorney or CPA if you wish to receive legal, accounting or tax advice.
